Jews in Germany after the Holocaust: Memory, Identity, and Jewish-German Relations (Cambridge Cultural Social Studies) [Paperback]

Lynn Rapaport (Author)

Book Description

Series: Cambridge Cultural Social Studies | Publication Date: August 13, 1997

Jews in Germany After the Holocaust uses extensive interviews to show how Holocaust memory shapes the lives of Jews who were born and raised in Germany after the Holocaust. It focuses on Jews' views of other Germans, of themselves, their integration into German society, and their friendships, sexual and love relationships with Germans. It considers the problem of defining Jewish identity in the context of modernity, and the difficulties Jews in Germany face dealing with Germans in everyday life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Laced with engaging case histories, this well-written account will appeal to the scholarly community as well as educated general readers." G.P. Blum, Choice

"This book is a major addition to the small, but growing, body of scholarship abouth Jewsih life in post-World War II Germany. Rapaport presents a richly textured portrait of Jewish daily life, focusing primarily on the processes that produce and preserve a sense of Jewish identity. Historians...will find in Rapaport a good example of how to understand ethnic menatality as the product of an interaction between collective memory and the dense reality of everyday life." Alan E, Steinweis, Jrnl of Interdisciplinary History

"Rapaport shows nicely how today's Jews in Germany -- who, tellingly, would never identify themselves as German Jews -- possess all the characteristics of being an indistinguishable segment of German culture and society. In short, they would be indistinguishable from the Germans but for one major fact: their collective memory about the Holocaust. This, as Rapaportdemonstrates in impressive detail, affects all their perceptions of and interactions with Germans: on the job, in private life, as coworkers, friends, and lovers." Andrei S. Markovits, American Journal of Sociology

"This book is a major addition to the small, but growing, body of scholarship about Jewsih life in post-World War II Germany. Rapaport presents a richly textured portrait of Jewish daily life, focusing primarily on the processes that produce and preserve a sense of Jewish identity." Alan E. Steinweis, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"Lynn Rapaport's stimulating work provides a sociological examination of the Holocaust's impact on the relations between Jews and Germans in the postwar Federal Republic." Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, German Studies Review

Book Description

Jews in Germany After the Holocaust uses extensive interviews to show how Holocaust memory shapes the lives of Jews who were born and raised in Germany after the Holocaust. It focuses on Jews' views of other Germans, of themselves, their integration into German society, and their friendships, sexual and love relationships with Germans. It considers the problem of defining Jewish identity in the context of modernity, and the difficulties Jews in Germany face dealing with Germans in everyday life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (August 13, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052158809X
• ISBN-13: 978-0521588096
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #318,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well researched and well written., November 16, 1998

By 

David A. Meier ([e-mail]) (Dickinson State University (ND)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jews in Germany after the Holocaust: Memory, Identity, and Jewish-German Relations (Cambridge Cultural Social Studies) (Paperback)

Rapaport's first book outlines the results of her research into how Jews in postwar Germany responded to the challenges of living in the shadow of the Holocaust, the difficult questions of their sense of personal identity, and their willingness to continue to identify with German culture. This work has also been chosen by the American Sociological Association in 1998 as the best book in the category of religion and sociology. It can be highly recommended for everyone interested in postwar German history, the Holocaust, and modern Jewish history.