Older Jews and the Holocaust: Persecution, Displacement, and Survival - Hardcover

by Christine Schmidt (Editor), Elizabeth Anthony (Editor), Joanna Sliwa (Editor)

Insight into the lives of older Jews before, during, and after the Holocaust.

Elderly Jews were among the most vulnerable groups during the Holocaust, yet little scholarly and literary work has focused on their experiences. Not only were they often the first to be murdered by the Nazis but they were also less likely to survive the physical strains of persecution. Editors Christine Schmidt, Elizabeth Anthony, and Joanna Sliwa and thirteen additional scholars center this marginalized group in historical research and counter other narratives in historiography and memory that only recount the devastation and despair associated with older age during the Holocaust. While these chapters explore how age and physical ability made older adults especially susceptible to violence and death, they also illuminate life and moments of agency within devastating circumstances. This volume is a powerful recovery of history and memory that expands our understanding of the Holocaust and the human experience during genocide.

Back Jacket

Elderly Jews were among the most vulnerable groups during the Holocaust. Not only were they often the first to be murdered by the Nazis but they were also less likely to survive the physical strains of persecution. This volume presents some of the first scholarly work to focus on the experiences of older Jewish adults before, during, and after the Holocaust. The contributors show that centering this marginalized group offers new perspectives on Holocaust history and the physical and psychological impact of genocide. This volume is a powerful recovery of history and memory that illuminates the lives and agency of the older population during humanitarian crises.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Anthony is a historian and director of Visiting Scholar Programs at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She is the author of The Compromise of Return: Viennese Jews After the Holocaust (Wayne State University Press), which was a finalist for the Wiener Holocaust Library's Ernst Fraenkel Prize. Christine Schmidt is a historian and deputy director and head of research at the Wiener Holocaust Library in London. Schmidt is coeditor of Survivors of Nazi Persecution: Beyond Camps and Forced Labour; Holocaust Letters: Methodologies, Cases, and Reflections; and "Gender, Archiving, and Knowledge Production After the Holocaust: A Postwar Republic of Letters," a special issue of History of Intellectual Culture. She is currently writing a book on German Jewish women and archiving after the Holocaust. Joanna Sliwa is a historian and administrator of academic programs at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference). She is the author of Jewish Childhood in Kraków: A Microhistory of the Holocaust and coauthor, with Elizabeth B. White, of The Counterfeit Countess: The Jewish Woman Who Rescued Thousands of Poles During the Holocaust.