The Day the Holocaust Began: The Odyssey of Herschel Grynszpan (Hardcover)

by Gerald Schwab (Author) "The news came to the attention of a nervous world through newspapers and the radio on November 7, 1938..." (more)
Key Phrases: propaganda trial, pretrial investigation, examining magistrate, Herschel Grynszpan, Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Propaganda (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
When Grynzpan, a distraught Jewish refugee, assassinated a German embassy official in Paris, he gave the Nazis a pretext for unleashing the infamous Kristallnacht pogrom. Arrested by the French, Grynzpan came into the Germans' hands after the fall of Paris; they planned a major show trial to demonstrate the evils of world Jewry. In this meticulously researched book, Schwab, himself a survivor of Kristallnacht , examines the events that led to Grynzpan's desperate act and, drawing from French and German archives, reproduces the arguments defense and prosecution lawyers hoped to use at the trial. It never occurred, and Grynzpan disappeared with millions of fellow Jews into the Holocaust. Schwab, however, has rescued an important event from historical limbo. This title belongs in most 20th-century history collections.
- An drea Caron Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, Kan.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
“The day the Holocaust began was November 7, 1938, when Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Polish-German Jew, shot and killed Eduard vom Rath, an officer in the German embassy in Paris. Grynszpan proclaimed that he wanted `to avenge the great wrong which had been visited on his fellow Jews in general and on his family in particular.' What followed was the Kristallnacht, in which 265 synagogues were destroyed, 7,500 Jewish businesses looted, and 30,000 Jews sent to concentration camps--the first step in the Holocaust. Schwab's father was one of those sent to the camps. Schwab became interested in the Grynszpan case and eventually met an embassy clerk who had been a key witness at Grynszpan's trial, as well as Grynszpan's defense lawyer. Schwab describes Grynszpan's experiences while in French and German custody and gives a detailed background of the assassin-hero. The author asserts that in the final analysis, Grynszpan performed a valuable service for European Jews--for although his dee”–Booklist

“This history, a footnote to that of the Holocaust, tells the story of the trial and eventual liquidation of Grynzspan as completely as it ever will be known.”–Washington Post Book World

“The Day the Holocaust Began gives a detailed picture of the planning and preparations the Nazis undertook in order to stage a show trial--with Herschel Grynszpan as the representative of World Jewry...The extensive chronology in this book is impressive and should prove quite useful for historians...it fills a void in historiography, and I am sure it will be read by a vast and appreciative audience.”–Simon Wiesenthal

“Gerald Schwab's The Day the Holocaust Began is fascinating reading. It is an extremely valuable account of the story of Herschel Grynszpan, the expulsion of Polish Jews from Germany, the November 1938 pogrom (Crystal Night), and of Grynszpan's subsequent fate as a prisoner of the Nazis. This vivid and dramatic story is both biographical and historical and fills a critical gap in our understanding of the Holocaust.”–Sybil Milton, Resident Historian U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

“Gerald Schwab has written a compelling story about the aftermath of one of the most important events to take place on the path to the Holocaust. Using primarily official German documents, Schwab has written a fascinating, exhaustively researched book which is sure to become a standard work on this subject. He is to be congratulated for producing a work which maintains the reader's interest throughout while maintaining the highest levels of scholarship.”–Senator Rudy Boschwitz

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers; First Trade Edition edition (November 9, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275935760
• ISBN-13: 978-0275935764
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,312,126 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)