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Recovering a Voice - West European Jewish Communities after the Holocaust (Hardcover, New)
Loot Price: R1,796
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Recovering a Voice - West European Jewish Communities after the Holocaust (Hardcover, New)
Series: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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David Weinberg's multi-national study focuses on the efforts by the
Jews of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands to reconstruct their
lives after the Second World War. These efforts have largely been
ignored, perhaps because the emphasis on assisting survivors in
displaced persons camps in occupied Germany, Austria, and Italy and
in developing Israel as the centre of the Jewish world after the
Holocaust diverted attention from the struggle by Jews in western
Europe to recover their voice and sense of purpose. Weinberg
attempts to set the record straight, presenting the challenges that
were faced both in the national context and in the world Jewish
arena and examining how they were dealt with. Weinberg begins his
study by reviewing the action taken to revive Jewish communities in
the three countries materially and institutionally, remodelling
them as efficient, self-sustaining, and assertive bodies that could
meet new challenges. With the creation of the State of Israel, Jews
who stayed in western Europe had to defend their decision to do so
while nevertheless showing public support for the new nation. There
was also a felt need to respond quickly and effectively to any sign
of antisemitism. In addition, tensions arose between Jews and
non-Jews concerning wartime collaboration in deportations, and the
need to memorialize Jewish victims of Nazism. The Cold War offered
challenges of its own: the perceived need to exclude communist
elements from communal affairs was countered by a resistance to
pressures from American Jewish leaders to sever links with Jews in
eastern Europe. Yet beneath the show of assertiveness Jewish life
was fragile, not only because of the physical depletion of the
population and of its leadership but because the Holocaust had
shaken religious beliefs and affiliations and had raised questions
about the value of preserving ethnic and religious identity. At the
same time, new forms of Jewish consciousness had evolved, meaning
that Jewish leaders had to provide for diverse educational,
religious, and cultural needs. This book's comprehensive approach
offers a broad and valuable addition to existing studies on the
regeneration of Jewish life in individual European countries.
Underscoring the similar political, cultural, social, and economic
issues facing Jewish survivors in France, Belgium, and the
Netherlands after the Holocaust, David Weinberg demonstrates how,
with the aid of international Jewish organizations, they used
unprecedented means to meet unprecedented challenges. It is a story
worth telling that adds much to our understanding of postwar
European Jewish life.
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