Dictionary of the Holocaust: Biography, Geography, and Terminology [Hardcover]

Epstein (Author), Philip Rosen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 1997 | ISBN-10: 031330355X | ISBN-13: 978-0313303555 | Edition: 1

This concise, easy-to-use resource on the Holocaust is rich in factual and statistical information, and provides a comprehensive compilation of the people and terms that are essential for an understanding of the Holocaust. In 2,000 entries, it profiles major personalities, covers concentration and death camps, cities and countries, and significant events. Also included are important terms translated from German, French, Polish, Yiddish, and twelve other languages. Biographical entries give a brief history, the person's significance, and their historical context. Geographical entries pinpoint exact locations using other cities or countries as landmarks, and give the number of Jewish inhabitants before Nazi occupation, and the percentage of Jews killed. Historical background is provided for such events as Kristallnacht and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and entries on concentration and death camps give details on the nationalities interned, the camp's specific location, and its history. This reference is impressive in its scope and includes major perpetrators, bystanders, collaborators, victims, rescuers such as Righteous Gentiles, Jewish ghetto fighters, and partisans. It also explores the role of women and the complicity of physicians and industrialists during the Holocaust more fully than any other reference. This dictionary provides the information needed by students whose understanding of the Holocaust is limited by the absence of a single accessible research text.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This dictionary covers all aspects of the Holocaust--people, places, and events. Designed as a quick reference for high-school and college students, it gives brief factual or statistical information. The authors both teach Holocaust studies on the higher-education level and intend this work to provide the reader with concise information to be used for background material. It contains data revealed as late as 1997, and the authors hope to update it periodically.

The nearly 2,000 entries are arranged alphabetically. Biographies record birth and death dates, the person's connection to the Holocaust, and his or her fate. Among the personalities profiled here are Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Anne Frank, Primo Levi, Oskar Schindler, Harry S. Truman, and Elie Wiesel. Place entries include references to well-known locations, the number of prewar Jewish inhabitants, the date of liberation, and the number of Jews left after liberation. Entries dealing with concentration camps are generally the longest and identify camps by location, type, when opened and liberated, nationalities incarcerated, numbers murdered, other victimization, and camp commandants. Among the terms that are defined are many foreign expressions--Italian, Latvian, Slovakian, and others, in addition to German, Hebrew, and Yiddish. Generally from two or three lines to half a page in length, entries contain an abundance of cross-references so that the reader can put together extended information on related topics. Suggested readings at the end of each entry provide only the author's last name and the title, with full citations given in the bibliography at the end of the volume. This bibliography contains books and periodicals, many with 1990s copyrights, and a listserv, but no Web sites. A comprehensive index completes the work.

Data contained in the entries take the information beyond 1945 and include war crimes and trials. Information on the postliberation whereabouts of many Nazis is included. An effort has been made in both the text and the bibliography to present a balanced delivery with differing points of view. Although most of the entries deal with the Jewish situation, coverage of Nazi victimization of other groups is included. High-school or academic libraries looking for basic Holocaust information should consider this work. It is a good ready-reference supplement to the more in-depth treatment found in The Encyclopedia of the Holocaust [RBB Mr 1 90].

Review

“This dictionary covers all aspects of the Holocaust--people, places and events.... Data contained in the entries take the information beyond 1945 and include war crimes and trials. Information on the postliberation whereabouts of many Nazis is included.... Although most of the entries deal with the Jewish situation, coverage of Nazi victimization of other groups is included. High-school or academic libraries looking for basic Holocaust information should consider this work. It is a good ready-reference supplement...”–Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin

“This is an eminently useful reference work that contains some 2,000 entries relating to the Holocaust. These entries are succinct (rarely longer than a paragraph) and in most cases include biographical references.”–Dimensions

“[T]he dictionary's entries are not only succinct but also passionless in a reportorial objectivity that gives them unimpeachable credibility and authority....No collection on 20th-century history will be complete without this.”–Rettig on Reference

“...provides a great deal of information in a compact form....This information has a great deal of impact. It brings the events to life for readers and helps them understand what happened. This work is a welcome addition for public, school, and academic libaries.”–ARBA

“This resource on the Holocaust providesreaders with factual and statistical information and acts as a compilation of the people and term that are essential for an understanding of the Holocaust.”–Bulletin of the Arnold and Leona Finkder Institute of Holocaust Research

“This is the kind of book that makes you wonder why someone hadn't done it 40 years ago. It fills a need...because [it] is so comprehensive.”–Harry James Cargas Professor Emeritus Webster University

“[A] most useful body of information because it is the one source that could help both students and teachers as well as researchers to discover the meaning of words that are new to them. Because of the unique topic, many different sources and their meanings and interpretations are necessary. The Dictionary clearly describes the meanings and clarifies many new ideas. Only persons with many years experience working with varied people who were a part of this ghastly period in history as well as experienced in reading, writing, and lecturing in the field could possibly have completed a work as outstanding as this.”–Irene G. Shur Professor of History West Chester University

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 440 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press; 1 edition (November 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031330355X
• ISBN-13: 978-0313303555
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,698,119 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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