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...
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.
[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.
...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.
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.
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