The Crime of My Very Existence: Nazism and the Myth of Jewish Criminality (S. Mark Taper Foundation Imprint in Jewish Studies) [Hardcover]

Michael Berkowitz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520251121 | ISBN-13: 978-0520251120 | Publication Date: September 3, 2007 | Edition: 1

The Crime of My Very Existence investigates a rarely considered yet critical dimension of anti-Semitism that was instrumental in the conception and perpetration of the Holocaust: the association of Jews with criminality. Drawing from a rich body of documentary evidence, including memoirs and little-studied photographs, Michael Berkowitz traces the myths and realities pertinent to the discourse on "Jewish criminality" from the eighteenth century through the Weimar Republic, into the complex Nazi assault on the Jews, and extending into postwar Europe.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Making excellent use of rich archival resources, Berkowitz has constructed a tightly argued study. . . . A worthwhile, suggestive investigation that belongs in every library."--Choice

About the Author

Michael Berkowitz is Professor of Modern Jewish History in the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College London. He is author of The Jewish Self-Image, Western Jewry and the Zionist Project, and Zionist Culture and West European Jewry before the First World War, and has co-edited, most recently, Fighting Back? Jewish and Black Boxers in Britain.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (September 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520251121
• ISBN-13: 978-0520251120
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,996,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars disregard the first review, January 22, 2008

By 

Leucippe (new york, ny USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Crime of My Very Existence: Nazism and the Myth of Jewish Criminality (S. Mark Taper Foundation Imprint in Jewish Studies) (Paperback)

The previous reviewer, touting his own book, Sharing the Land of Canaan, is obviously a very biased reader. Please disregard his by now familiar rant against Zionists as criminals vs Jews. Berkowitz is a distinguished historian.

10 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fails at a crucial test, September 3, 2007

By 

Mazin B. Qumsiyeh "Mazin Qumsiyeh" (Connecticut and Palestine) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Crime of My Very Existence: Nazism and the Myth of Jewish Criminality (S. Mark Taper Foundation Imprint in Jewish Studies) (Hardcover)

While the general thesis of this book is correct though not a novel concept (that Jews are accused of criminality), the book does not pass a crucial test: distinguishing between Judaism and Zionism. In many paragraphs I read, the author seems to view accusations of criminal intent on the parts of Zionists (these are far better documented in other books) as if it is accusations of criminal intent in the part of what he considers "the Jewish people". This is deeply problematic. For example, the book by the child of Holocaust survivors, Norman Finkelstein titled "The Holocaust Industry" makes significant and factual (well documented) evidence of how Zionists abused the holocaust to enrich themselves and fund Zionism rather than help the victims of Nazi atrocities. This criminal behavior has nothing to do with Judaism (unless one buys the Zionist argument that conflates Zionism with Judaism). A similar thing can be said about Zionist attacks against Jewish targets in Palestine in the 1930s and in Iraq in the 1950s (see Iraqi Jewish author Naiem Giladi's excellent book on "Ben Gurion Scandals"). That criminality is not Judaism. I detail others in my book "Sharing the Land of Canaan".