The German Public and the Persecution of Jews, 1933-1945: "No One Participated, No One Knew" [Hardcover]

Jorg Wollenberg (Editor), Rado Pribic (Editor, Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1996

Wollenberg examines the painful question of the extent to which the German public was aware of Nazi persecution of the Jews. By weaving together eyewitness reports of Reichskristallnacht, this 'night of arson, terror, and destruction' of November 9, 1938, with interpretative essays by contemporary scholars, he constructs an eerie insider look at a gruesome event. Written in stark, almost conversational tones, the eyewitness testimony of Jews, half-Jews and non-Jews is both moving and horrifying. The first-person narratives of the non-Jews document how impossible it was not to know what was happening on Reichskristallnacht and how painful it is years later to deal with repression and denial. The victims whose accounts are included here struggle with the subjectivity of their childhood memories, filling gaps with adult verification and continuing to agonise about distrust of their record. The text is arranged in two parts: first the eyewitness accounts from Nuremberg of the events of November 1938; then a section containing analyses of policies, behaviour, and events as they were directed at the Jews during the Third Reich.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

With the current debate and accompanying loud publicity over Daniel J. Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners (LJ 3/15/96), this slim volume will probably be overlooked, especially by general readers. This is unfortunate, since the book, a result of a recent Bavarian conference entitled "No One Participated, No One Knew," contributes to the continual debate: Did the "average" German know what was happening to the Jews during the Nazi years? In the series of accounts presented here, followed by scholarly essays, eyewitnesses living in Germany during the Nazi years all state that German citizens knew what was happening. Wollenberg (Univ. of Bremen), who edits the German, and Pribic (Layfayette Coll.), who translates, do not make the English easy for general readers. Those who are willing to try, however, will be rewarded. This book should be in all academic libraries and public libraries with strong collections on the Holocaust.?Dennis L. Noble, Sequim, Wash.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Originally published in Germany in 1989, this important book contains 15 contributions to a symposium sponsored by the city of Nuremberg to explore the behavior of German citizens toward the Jews during the Third Reich. There are seven eyewitness testimonies of Jews and non-Jews who survived the Holocaust and eight essays by scholars who question the extent of the German public's awareness of Nazi persecution of the Jews. Wollenberg, organizer of the 1988 symposium, in his lucid introduction emphasizes the need to "discuss the whole system of robbery, persecution, and destruction of the Jews which was accepted by the majority of the population." The eyewitness accounts are horrifying, the essays balanced and incisive; the book is an essential work in confronting this dark chapter of Germany history. George Cohen

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 217 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039103913X
• ISBN-13: 978-0391039131
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,592,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)