Holocaust Testimonies : European Survivors and American Liberators in New Jersey [Hardcover]

Joseph J. Preil (Editor), Elie Wiesel (Foreword)

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From the Back Cover

A project of the Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University, New Jersey, this book is a reference tool for teaching the Nazi Holocaust, for survivors and their families, and for the general reader. Drawing on the center's mission is to produce and preserve a series of oral-history videotapes based on the experiences of survivors residing in New Jersey. Joseph J. Preil brings together 153 of these testimonies as well as accounts by twenty American liberators. Through these wrenching personal accounts, the book traces the mass murder of the Jews across Europe within a geographical as well as chronological framework. The testimonies in each chapter are grouped by the witnesses' country or region of origin, preceded by a brief introduction of the history of events in a particular area. This is followed by a chapter in which American soldiers recount their impressions of being present at the liberation of the camps. The book concludes by relating how survivors rebuilt their lives - often very successfully - in the New World.

About the Author

Joseph J. Preil is a professor of education at Kean University.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (October 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813529476
• ISBN-13: 978-0813529479
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,677,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lifting the veil, September 6, 2010

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Ernie B - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Holocaust Testimonies : European Survivors and American Liberators in New Jersey (Hardcover)

This book really strikes home for me, lifting the veil on a much-discussed, sometimes denied (which I find unfathomable), and extremely dark moment in human history, made very personal because my father-in-law was one of the liberators who relates his story in his own words in this account. The book as a whole provides context and substance that's deep, penetrating, and thought-provoking, but his account--which he had rarely spoke of in his lifetime with his daughters or myself--struck a very deep chord in my soul. He was the medical doctor who was the third person to enter Dachau and oversaw the medical concerns upon liberation, and the horror he relates is uncanny. Read this book and gain a far deeper understanding of how wrong human nature can go. Forgive but never forget, lest we keep repeating such atrocities.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, April 13, 2011

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Kelly Lane (Warren, MI United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Holocaust Testimonies : European Survivors and American Liberators in New Jersey (Kindle Edition)

I have been recently reading everything I can get my hands on about the Holocaust. This book was an excellent read. A lot of short accounts from different angles and experiences.