This book examines how Jewish intellectuals during and after the Second World War reinterpreted Homer's epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, in light of their own wartime experiences, drawing a parallel between the ancient Greek genocide of the Trojans and the Nazi genocide of the Jews. The wartime writings of Theodore Adorno, Hannah Arendt, Erich Auerbach, Rachel Bespaloff, Hermann Broch, Max Horkheimer, Primo Levi, and others were attempts both to understand the collapse of European civilization and the Enlightenment through critiques of their foundational texts and to imagine the place of the Homeric epics in a new post-War humanism. The book thus also explores the reception of these writers, analyzing how Jewish child-survivors like Geoffrey Hartman and Helene Cixous and writers of the post-Holocaust generation like Daniel Mendelsohn continued to read the epics as narratives of grief, trauma, and woundedness into the twenty-first century..

By the beginning of 1941 there was a fully fledged Polish Air Force operating alongside the RAF. With 14 Squadrons it was larger than any other of the Air Force from Nazi-occupied Europe that had joined the Allies. Over 17,000 men and women passed through the ranks of the Polish Air Force while it was stationed in the UK. They shot down 745 enemy aircraft, with a further 175 unconfirmed. They dropped thousands of bombs and laid hundreds of mines, flying 102,486 sorties notching up a total of 290,895 operation flying hours. They achieved this at a cost of 1,973 killed and 1,388 wounded. They won 342 British gallantry awards.

Throughout the Second World War, a wide range of people, including political leaders and government officials, experts and armchair internationalists, civil society groups and private citizens talked about and formulated plans to ensure national security and to promote individual well-being in the postwar world. Rebuilding the Postwar Order explains how civil society and governments of the wartime allies conceived of peace and traces the international negotiations and conferences that later resulted in the United Nations system. It adopts a multilateral approach, connects wartime ideas to earlier peacemaking efforts, and reveals support for, as well as resistance and alternatives to, the emerging postwar order. In chapters on the United Nations, UNRRA, the IMF, World Bank and GATT, the FAO and WHO, UNESCO, and human rights, McKenzie explores the tensions between national sovereignty and international responsibility, national security and individual well-being, principles and compromises, morality and power, privilege and justice, all of which influenced the UN system.

Advance Praise for Border Crossings from Madeleine Albright:

"Border Crossings" is the well-told and dramatic story of a young man whose comfortable life is abruptly transformed by the savagery of World War II. Forced to rely on primal instincts and his familiarity with the rugged highlands of Moravia, Charles Novacek casts his lot first with the anti-Hitler Underground and then with the resistance to the Nazis Communist successors. My recollections pain me, he writes, still, they have made me who I am. Novacek s experience as a Hungarian-speaking Czecho-Slovak patriot demonstrates the folly of petty nationalism and the resilience of human decency and love. Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State

Description:

"Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance" is the captivating, tender memoir of Charles Novacek, a Czechoslovakian whose idyllic childhood exploring the Tatra Mountains was shattered by the Nazi occupation of his homeland. He spent his youth defending his neighbors, his family, and his country, first from the Nazi atrocities of World War II and then from the Soviet oppression of the ensuing Cold War.

Charles was eleven years old when his father and uncle recruited him into the Czech Resistance. Antonin Novacek not only taught his son to survive in the wild, but also prepared him for wartime: how to resist pain, hunger, and fear and to trust no one. His assignments included delivering messages to soldiers parachuting behind enemy lines and hiding them in caves he equipped for their shelter.

As a young man, Charles was captured and jailed by the Communists and rescued by an underground resistance network. In too much danger to remain in Czechoslovakia, he staged a daring escape only to land in a miserable displaced persons camp. His will to live prevailed once again, and Charles eventually married and built a successful life in America.

Filled with heroic adventures and great bravery, Border Crossingsis one man s remarkable tale of his incredible life and a testament to the human capacity to survive.

Additional Praise for Border Crossings:
"I have been transformed by this honest, extraordinary telling. In"Border Crossings"Charles Novacek shows us, through his personal story (told as if we are right there in the room with him) the true face of totalitarianism; he reminds us of the preciousness, the miracle, of freedom. What a gift he has given us--and what a gift his wife, Sandra, has offered us, as well, in making sure that his brave story is here for the world to read. This is a powerful memoir that crosses all borders and speaks directly to the human heart."Joseph Hurka, author of"Fields of Light: A Son Remembers His Heroic Father"

Here is a story that is meant to survive, just as its teller was. I got to know Charles in his later years but only had hints of what is contained in these pages. They are riveting. I was drawn into the best and worst of humanity and, not incidentally, into the history of the West in the mid-twentieth century. Courage, love, despair, a fierce will are all preserved with the help of one who was not the love of Charles life. . . but his last love. " John Kotre, Ph.D., author of "White Gloves: How We Create Ourselves Through Memory"

"Border Crossings" helps fill the lack of personal accounts of resistance movements amidst a voluminous array of World War II literature. This compelling memoir, written through the eyes of young Charles, shows how circumstances required him to become a shrewd hero. In his opposition first toward Nazism and then Communism, Charles Novacek s personal story illustrates why people sacrifice themselves and their families for an ideal. Intimate, intense, fascinating Christina Vella, coauthor of "The Hitler Kiss"

It was the British victory at the Battle of El Alamein in November 1942 that inspired one of Winston Churchill's most famous aphorisms: 'This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning'. And yet the significance of this episode remains unrecognised. In this thrilling historical account, Jonathan Dimbleby describes the political and strategic realities that lay behind the battle, charting the nail-biting months that led to the victory at El Alamein in November 1942. It is a story of high drama, played out both in the war capitals of London, Washington, Berlin, Rome and Moscow, and at the front in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morrocco and Algeria and in the command posts and foxholes in the desert. Destiny in the Desert is about politicians and generals, diplomats, civil servants and soldiers. It is about forceful characters and the tensions and rivalries between them. Drawing on official records and the personal insights of those involved at every level, Dimbleby creates a vivid portrait of a struggle which for Churchill marked the turn of the tide - and which for the soldiers on the ground involved fighting and dying in a foreign land. Now available in paperback in time, Destiny in the Desert, which was shortlisted for the Hessell-Tiltman prize 2012-13, is required reading for anyone with an interest in the Desert War.

This is Operation Barbarossa as experienced by the soldiers of the 3rd Panzer Division and reported on the German homefront. After smashing its way deep into Soviet territory during the summer of 1941, the tanks of the division encountered difficulties as they got closer to Moscow, eventually being halted not far from the Soviet capital. Written by eyewitnesses to the invasion, these accounts chronicle the Division's exploits as the pace of advance slowed and the ravages of winter began to be felt. Two panzer experts have provided commentary, placing these events in their historical context and providing details about commanders, vehicles, and more.

A medical officer in the 34th "Red Bulls" Infantry Division on the front lines of World War II, Lt.Col./Maj. Arthur L. Ludwick, Jr., was responsible for the well-being of traumatized and wounded American soldiers through some of the bloodiest engagements in North Africa and Italy: Kasserine and Fondouk Passes, Hill 609, Monte Pantano, Cassino, and Anzio. He was awarded both the Purple Heart and Silver Star, unusual combat commendations for an unarmed medical officer. His articulate letters home detail his experiences, with keen observations of the people and landscapes he encountered. Based on Ludwick's letters and an archive of interviews, military documents and photos, this multifaceted narrative, compiled by his daughter, also tells the story of her discovery of her father as the young man she never knew.

During World War Two, death and violence permeated all aspects of the everyday lives of ordinary people in Eastern Europe. Throughout the region, the realities of mass murder and incarceration meant that people learnt to live with daily public hangings of civilian hostages and stumbled on corpses of their neighbors. Entire populations were drawn into fierce and uncompromising political and ideological conflicts, and many ended up being more than mere victims or observers: they themselves became perpetrators or facilitators of violence, often to protect their own lives, but also to gain various benefits. Yugoslavia in particular saw a gradual culmination of a complex and brutal civil war, which ultimately killed more civilians than those killed by the foreign occupying armies. Therapeutic Fascism tells a story of the tremendous impact of such pervasive and multi-layered political violence, and looks at ordinary citizens' attempts to negotiate these extraordinary wartime political pressures. It examines Yugoslav psychiatric documents as unique windows into this harrowing history, and provides an original perspective on the effects of wartime violence and occupation through the history of psychiatry, mental illness, and personal experience. Using previously unexplored resources, such as patients' case files, state and institutional archives, and the professional medical literature of the time, this volume explores the socio-cultural history of wartime through the eyes of (mainly lower-class) psychiatric patients. Ana Antic examines how the experiences of observing, suffering, and committing political violence affected the understanding of human psychology, pathology, and normality in wartime and post-war Balkans and Europe.

Formed in July 1940 for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering behind enemy lines, the Long Range Desert Group was the first British special force unit. In no time the LRDG earned itself an enviable reputation for deep penetration patrols into German and Italian held territory. Its successes on prolonged missions into harsh terrain and under extreme climatic conditions were out of all proportion to its size. Wide-ranging military skills, including exceptional navigation techniques, and the highest standards of discipline and leadership were required from all ranks. Many of the previously unpublished and well captioned images in this comprehensive and well researched book come from the collections of LRDG veterans. They show the weapons, equipment, uniforms and insignia used and, together with personal accounts and operational reports, bring to life the extraordinary achievements of this legendary unit. The result is a fascinating record of the LRDG's contribution to the Allied victory in North Africa.

This second volume chronicles aerial warfare in the South Pacific for the two crucial months of March and April 1942 when a deadly struggle for Port Moresby played out. It can be read alone or as part of a trilogy that culminates in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942. The period begins with the stunning 10 March US Navy carrier strike against Lae and Salamaua, which caused the Japanese to pause their advance until their own carriers were available. Instead, they tried to grind the Allied forces at Port Moresby into submission through an unrelenting air assault by their Betty bombers and superlative Zero fighters. After a long wait, Allied land-based fighters finally arrived in the form of Royal Australian Air Force No. 75 Squadron Kittyhawks. These were backed up by a growing collection of United States Army Air Force bombers, including A-24 Banshees, B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-25 Mitchells and B-26 Marauders (the latter two types making their worldwide combat debut over the skies of New Guinea). Together, this motley force took the fight to the Japanese, resulting in a complex aerial campaign that saw units from both sides reach exhaustion. Never before has such a detailed chronicle of this air war been published, and for the first time the authors match Allied accounts with Japanese records. The result is both thrilling and surprising, with the resulting dispositions of the air forces of both sides setting the scene for the Battle of the Coral Sea in May.

First Published in 1981. The objective of this study is to reconstruct the difficulty faced by American and British policy-makers in 'determining the capabilities and intentions' of their two main wartime allies regarding the Middle East. Specifically, it seeks to explore the role of great power relations in the Middle East in the breakdown of the wartime alliance and in the origins of the Cold War.

This book, part media history and part group biography, tells the story of the BBC's attempts to reach out to listeners in Nazi Germany at a time when Anglo-German relations were particularly strained. Who were the individuals behind the microphone, whose names could only be mentioned in whispered conversations on the continent? Who wrote the satirical sketches that offered comic relief to housewives struggling to obtain enough food to feed their families? And who made decisions about programme delivery and staffing? Drawing extensively on previously unexamined archival material, The BBC German Service during the Second World War: Broadcasting to the Enemy sheds light on the complex, often difficult working arrangements at the wartime BBC where people from different nationalities and socio-political backgrounds collaborated and argued about the delivery of an effective propaganda programme that would assist the Allies in defeating the Nazis.

During the final years of the Second World War, a decisive change took place in the Italian left, as the Italian Communist Party (PCI) rose from clandestinity and recast itself as a mass, patriotic force committed to building a new democracy. This book explains how this new party came into being. Using Rome as its focus, it explains that the rebirth of the PCI required that it subdue other, dissident strands of communist thinking. During the nine-month German occupation of Rome in 1943-44, dissident communists would create the capital's largest single resistance formation, the Communist Movement of Italy (MCd'I), which galvanised a social revolt in the capital's borgate slums. Exploring this wartime battle to define the rebirth of Italian communism, the author examines the ways in which a militant minority of communists rooted their activity in the everyday lives of the population under occupation. In particular, this study focuses on the role of draft resistance and the revolt against labour conscription in driving recruitment to partisan bands, and how communist militants sought to mould these recruits through an active effort of political education. Studying the political writing of these dissidents, their autodidact Marxism and the social conditions in which it emerged, this book also sheds light on an often-ignored underground culture in the years that preceded the armed resistance that began in September 1943. Revealing an almost unknown history of dissident communism in Italy, outside of more recognisable traditions like Trotskyism or Bordigism, this book provides an innovative perspective on Italian history. It will be of interest to those researching the broad topics of political and social history, but more specifically, resistance in the Second World War and the post-war European left.

This book analyses the process of 'reshaping' liberated societies in post-1945 Europe. Post-war societies tried to solve three main questions immediately after the dark times of occupation: Who could be considered a patriot and a valuable member of the respective national community? How could relations between men and women be (re-)established? How could the respective society strengthen national cohesion? Violence in rather different forms appeared to be a powerful tool for such a complex reshaping of societies. The chapters are based on present primary research about specific cases and consider the different political, mental, and cultural developments in various nation-states between 1944 and 1948. Examples from Italy, France, Norway, Denmark, Greece, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary demonstrate a new comparative and fascinating picture of post-war Europe. This perspective overcomes the notorious East-West dividing line, without covering the manifold differences between individual European countries.

Terry s father, Norris Wadsworth, was sent to help start a pineapple plantation and cannery on a new frontier in the Philippines. While the rich, dark soil produced golden fruit, the Wadsworths and other families built their homes on a remote plateau at the edge of the jungle. The compound was eventually called, Del Monte, a namesake to their company. The tropical oasis with a 9 hole golf course and even a grass airstrip became a popular destination for many government and military dignitaries. As a young child, Terry s days were full of happiness and adventure. Life, like the growing pineapple, was sweet. She had a little pony, attended a small school, and enjoyed playing with the other young Del Monte children. The only threats to her edenic life were occasional cobra and python snakes found around, and sometimes even in, their home. That is, until a much fiercer enemy struck 5000 miles away at Pearl Harbor. Within hours of the surprise attack in Hawaii, the Japanese military launched a similar assault on the Philippine islands and began their campaign to overtake the American Protectorate. Just before the war started the Del Monte management had helped the U.S. Army Air Corps build an airbase with two long, grassy runways nearby. Soon, the peaceful skies above their paradisiacal home were swarming with military war machines. Terry and her family found themselves on the dangerous battle front. General Douglas MacArthur, Philippine President Manuel Quezon and their families, plus many other important people hid from the Japanese in Terry s remote home as they waited to secretly fly from Del Monte to Australia. As the fighting intensified, Terry s family abandoned Del Monte to hide in the dense, mountain jungle and wait for an opportunity to also escape to Australia. While the families were in hiding, Del Monte itself became a target of the Japanese military. Bombs and shells rained down, on the homes, cannery, and airfield. Eventually the Japanese pushed the American forces into retreat. Terry and her family found themselves with only one option. Surrender As they surrendered to the Japanese, Terry s father counseled her, Live each day to the best of your ability. Do not get caught up looking so far ahead that, worrying about the future, you get discouraged and lose hope. The advice served her well, as the next three years of her interment as a prisoner of war were full of hardship and suffering. Though stripped of her possessions and freedom, Terry was grateful to be alive and to be with her parents. Together, the family hovered on the brink of starvation, battling deadly infections and disease, and eluding death at the hands of their captors. Yet, despite these conditions, they found purpose in living a meaningful life. Each prisoner had a job to perform and holidays were still observed, even if it meant singing Christmas carols in the hold of a rat infested cargo ship or feasting on wormy prunes for Thanksgiving. Terry s unconquerable spirit, as an eight to eleven year old prisoner of war, is a reminder that even in the most deplorable circumstances, life is what you make of it. Meanwhile, General McArthur and the United States military returned to take back the Philippines from Japan. Military leaders learned of a Japanese plan to execute all prisoners of war before they could be freed. A special American military unit was charged with the dangerous assignment to pass behind enemy lines, 70 miles deep into Japanese territory, and liberate the prisoners. Terry s life and the lives of thousands of other men, women, and children depended on the success of this miraculous rescue mission

'The most significant issue that Dockrill addresses is that of how Japan views the war in retrospect, a question which not only tells us a lot about how events were seen in Japan in 1941 but is also, a matter still of importance in contemporary East Asian politics.' Antony Best, London School of Economics This multi-authored work, edited by Saki Dockrill, is an original, unique, and controversial interpretation of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific. Dr Dockrill, the author of Britain's Policy for West German Rearmament, has skilfully converted the proceedings of an international conference held in London into a stimulating and readable account of the Pacific War. This is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the subject.

This timely volume brings together an international team of leading scholars to explore the ways that women responded to situations of immense deprivation, need, and victimization under Hitler's dictatorship. Paying acute attention to the differences that gender made, Women Defying Hitler examines the forms of women's defiance, the impact these women had, and the moral and ethical dilemmas they faced. Several essays also address the special problems of the memory and historiography of women's history during World War II, and the book features standpoints of historians as well as the voices of survivors and their descendants. Notably, this book also serves as a guide for human behaviour under extremely difficult conditions. The book is relevant today for challenging discrimination against women and for its nuanced exploration of the conditions minorities face as outspoken protagonists of human rights issues and as resisters of discrimination. From this perspective the voices being empowered in this book are clear examples of the importance of protest by women in forcing a totalitarian regime to pause and reconsider its options for the moment. In revealing so, Women Defying Hitler ultimately foregrounds that women rescuers and resisters were and are of great continuing consequence.

Originally published in 1994, This Working-Day World is lively collection of essays presenting a social, political and cultural view of British women's lives in the period 1914-45. The volume describes women's activities in many different areas, ranging from the weekly wash to the rescue of child refugees. Each essay, from an international list of contributors, is based on new research which will complement existing studies in a range of disciplines by adding information on, among other topics, women's teacher training colleges, and women in the BBC, in medical laboratories and in Art schools. The book does not, however, idealise women: the militarism and racism of the period infected women too, and this is revealed in the account of women in the British Union of Fascists, and the analysis of the Pankhursts' merging of patriotism and gender issues. Through studies and personal accounts, This Working-Day World reveals past issues that are still pertinent to debates in today's society. As we read the chapter on the recently discovered Diary of Doreen Bates which outlines possibly the first female civil servant campaign for rights as a single mother, we hear echoes of issues being discussed today. Indeed, as we approach the end of the century it is a good moment to look back and re-evaluate areas and degrees of progress - or the reverse - in society, and in British women's lives in particular. With its unusual photographs, this accessible and informative collection provides a rich resource for students in twentieth century social and cultural history, and women's studies courses, and an enlightening volume for general readers.