Warehouse Stock Clearance Sale

Grab a bargain today!


Sign Up for Fishpond's Best Deals Delivered to You Every Day
Go
The Holocaust, the French, ­and the Jews

Rating
1 Rating
Already own it? Write a review
Format
Paperback, 408 pages
Published
United States, 1 March 1999

Many recent books have documented the collaboration of the French authorities with the anti-Jewish German policies of World War II. Yet about 76 percent of France's Jews survived-more than in almost any other country in Western Europe. How do we explain this phenomenon? Certainly not by looking at official French policy, for the Vichy government began preparing racial laws even before the German occupiers had decreed such laws. To provide a full answer to the question of how so many French Jews survived, Susan Zuccotti examines the response of the French people to the Holocaust. Drawing on memoirs, government documents, and personal interviews with survivors, she tells the stories of ordinary and extraordinary French men and women. Zuccotti argues that the French reaction to the Holocaust was not as reprehensible as it has been portrayed. Susan Zuccotti teaches modern European history at Barnard College and Columbia University. She is the author of The Italians and the Holocaust: Persecution, Rescue, and Survival (Nebraska 1996), which won the National Jewish Book Award in 1987.


Our Price
£11.91
Elsewhere
£15.99
Save £4.08 (26%)
Ships from UK Estimated delivery date: 3rd Feb - 5th Feb from UK

Buy Together
+
Buy together with Jews and the German State at a great price!
Buy Together
£35.17

Product Description

Many recent books have documented the collaboration of the French authorities with the anti-Jewish German policies of World War II. Yet about 76 percent of France's Jews survived-more than in almost any other country in Western Europe. How do we explain this phenomenon? Certainly not by looking at official French policy, for the Vichy government began preparing racial laws even before the German occupiers had decreed such laws. To provide a full answer to the question of how so many French Jews survived, Susan Zuccotti examines the response of the French people to the Holocaust. Drawing on memoirs, government documents, and personal interviews with survivors, she tells the stories of ordinary and extraordinary French men and women. Zuccotti argues that the French reaction to the Holocaust was not as reprehensible as it has been portrayed. Susan Zuccotti teaches modern European history at Barnard College and Columbia University. She is the author of The Italians and the Holocaust: Persecution, Rescue, and Survival (Nebraska 1996), which won the National Jewish Book Award in 1987.

Product Details
EAN
9780803299146
ISBN
0803299141
Other Information
1
Dimensions
15.2 x 2 x 22.9 centimeters (0.54 kg)

Promotional Information

Tells the stories of ordinary and extraordinary French men and women, arguing that the French reaction to the Holocaust was not as reprehensible as it has been portrayed

About the Author

Susan Zuccotti teaches modern European history at Barnard College and Columbia University. She is the author of The Italians and the Holocaust: Persecution, Rescue, and Survival (Nebraska 1996), which won the National Jewish Book Award in 1987.

Reviews

"This is an important work of 20th-century history. It is admirably researched, but remains lucid. It is, of necessity, sometimes harrowing, but illuminates moments of selfless heroism. Above all, it details a period of French history which has for too long been known to foreigners in only the broadest outlines... This is a valuable book deserving a wide readership."--Morning Star, 13 December, 1999 "Valuable and lucid ... Susan Zuccotti's book is admirable in many important ways."--New York Times Book Review "A book on the French occupation needs to point out that a lot of Jews were saved and a lot of Frenchmen acted well. Susan Zuccotti ... accomplishes exactly that."--Forward

"This is an important work of 20th-century history. It is admirably researched, but remains lucid. It is, of necessity, sometimes harrowing, but illuminates moments of selfless heroism. Above all, it details a period of French history which has for too long been known to foreigners in only the broadest outlines... This is a valuable book deserving a wide readership."--Morning Star, 13 December, 1999 "Valuable and lucid ... Susan Zuccotti's book is admirable in many important ways."--New York Times Book Review "A book on the French occupation needs to point out that a lot of Jews were saved and a lot of Frenchmen acted well. Susan Zuccotti ... accomplishes exactly that."--Forward

Despite the French Vichy regime's complicity in the roundup and deportation of Jews to Nazi death camps, roughly three-fourths of France's Jews, an estimated 250,000 people, survived. Zuccotti, author of the National Jewish Book Award-winner Italians and the Holocaust , attributes their survival partly to ``benign neglect''--the vast majority of French men and women kept silent, allowing Jews to remain in hiding or to cross borders. Many Jews in France with fake papers and ration cards survived by living quietly and taking odd jobs, abetted, according to Zuccotti, by the passive goodwill of hundreds of thousands of French men and women who simply went about their own business. Using a wealth of archival documents, the author chronicles the clandestine networks of Jewish rescue organizations, the heroic efforts of armed Jewish resistance groups and the assistance provided by non-Jews such as the 3000 residents of Le Chambon who hid some 5000 Jews in their homes. She also charts the treachery of Vichy politicians and of countless French collaborators who joined fascist leagues to hunt down resistants and Jews. European history professor at Barnard and Columbia, Zuccotti forces us to rethink the French response to the Holocaust in this challenging book. Photos. (July)

Show more
Review this Product
Ask a Question About this Product More...
 
Look for similar items by category
Item ships from and is sold by Fishpond World Ltd.

Back to top
We use essential and some optional cookies to provide you the best shopping experience. Visit our cookies policy page for more information.