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Prior to Hitler’s occupation, nearly 120,000 Jews inhabited the areas that would become the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; by 1945, all but a handful had either escaped or been deported and murdered by the Nazis. This pioneering study gives a definitive account of the Holocaust as it was carried out in the region, detailing the German and Czech policies, including previously overlooked measures such as small-town ghettoization and forced labor, that shaped Jewish life. Drawing on extensive new evidence, Wolf Gruner demonstrates how the persecution of the Jews as well as their reactions and resistance efforts were the result of complex actions by German authorities in Prague and Berlin as well as the Czech government and local authorities.
“This translation of a prizewinning monograph by a major Holocaust scholar breaks new historical ground in several ways. Based on an exceptional number of archival and secondary sources—including materials seen for the first time—this volume by Gruner (Univ. of Southern California) adds important new details to knowledge of the decimation of Czech Jewry during WW II… Extensive footnotes, a full bibliography, and six statistical tables add to the book’s value, and its clear organization and lucid text are further supplemented by photographs, charts, and maps…Highly Recommended.” • Choice
“This book is rich in details, statistics, and complex documentary narratives. It is therefore an especially valuable resource for scholars… it is a key reference for any specialist working on the Holocaust.” • Austrian History Yearbook
“This book makes a significant contribution to historians’ knowledge about the Holocaust. Gruner’s discoveries regarding anti-Jewish policies that were first introduced by Czech organizations and municipalities will certainly spur much-needed further research.” • European History Quarterly
“This is undoubtedly an important book. Readers of the English edition will also owe a debt to the excellent translation by Alex Skinner, which often includes original German terms and thus gives an insight to those with some knowledge of the language into the horrors of Nazi jargon. Gruner himself deserves great credit for providing the new insights that have resulted from his meticulous research, which even revealed that, contrary to earlier belief, Jews’ pets were not killed after confiscation but found new homes.” • Contemporary European Studies
“Whoever is working on the National Socialist persecution of the Jews won’t be able to ignore Wolf Gruner’s work.” • Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
“This study is stimulating, closes a gap in scholarship and opens up a wide range of new sources.” • Sehepunkte
“It should be considered as the standard work on this topic.” • Historische Zeitschrift
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Chapter 1. The Czechoslovak Republic and its Minorities
Chapter 2. Annexation: Violence, Flight and Emigration Ban
Chapter 3. German Expulsion and Czech Persecution
Chapter 4. The War and Greater German Deportation Plans
Chapter 5. Reorientation, Ghettoization and Protest
Chapter 6. Local versus Central Persecutory Initiatives
Chapter 7. Isolation, Forced Labour and Opposition
Chapter 8. Repression, Deportation and Resistance
Chapter 9. Transports, Theft, Forced Labour and Flight
Chapter 10. Those Left Behind and the End of the War
Conclusion
Appendix: Tables
Bibliography
Index