Synopses & Reviews
Using archival materials from the Jewish communities of East and West Germany as well as governmental and political party records, Jay Howard Geller analyzes the reestablishment of organized Jewish life in Germany and the Jews' critical ties to political leaders. Whereas the West German community needed to overcome deep cultural, religious, and political differences before uniting, the small Jewish community in Eastern Germany was forced to struggle against communist opposition.
Review
"Jay Howard Geller's book . . . is the best work on the early history of the Jews in Germany--in any language. It supersedes more general overviews that lack documentary support. It supplants German studies . . . that amass documentary support but lack focus. And it moves well beyond the many edited volumes whose focus is often one-sided and whose contributions can be particularly spiritless. For anyone wishing to gain an understanding of Jewish life in postwar Germany, Geller is the best place to start." Anthony D. Kauders, H-Net Online
Review
"The book is well organized and readers will find much to think about." TULSA World, Judy Randle, World Books Editor
Review
"Gellar does an admirable job of navigating this tangled history. Concise introductions and concluding summaries for each chapter anchor the reader in the process, making it possible to keep track of the key plays and their ever-changing strategies, conflicts, and agendas." American Historical Review Richard S. Levy, University of Illinois, Chicago
Review
"Jews in Post-Holocaust Germany, 1945 - 1953 represents an extremely well researched and readable work that approaches its subject from a qualitative, as oppose to quantitative, perspective....Geller's work is magisterial..."
--James I. Martin Sr., Campbell University, History: Review of New BooksSynopsis
This is the story of how Jewish survivors of the Holocaust re-established their organized communities in Germany.
Synopsis
This is the story of the reemergence of the Jewish community in Germany after its near total destruction during the Holocaust. Using archival materials from Jewish communities as well as governmental records, Geller elucidates the reestablishment of organized Jewish life in Germany and the Jews' critical ties to political leaders.
About the Author
Jay Howard Geller is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Tulsa. His articles have appeared in the Leo Baeck Institute Year Book and The Journal of Military History. He has contributed chapters in Konrad Adenauer Israel und das Judentum, edited by Hanns Jürgen Küsters, and entries in the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Antisemitism, H-Net Humanities & Social Sciences Online, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and Europe since 1945: An Encyclopedia.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements; List of acronyms and abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Liberation, disunity, and divided organization in Western Germany; 2. Two communities unite in West Germany; 3. The challenge of Jewish life under Soviet occupation; 4. Politicians, political parties, and the Jews in West Germany, 1945-1950; 5. Jewish organization between State and Party in East Germany; 6. The Jewish community and the West German Government before the Luxembourg agreement; 7. West Germany and reparations to Israel and World Jewry; 8. The central council's external relations and internal reforms after the Luxembourg agreement; Conclusion; Bibliography.