When Europe Was a Prison Camp

When Europe Was a Prison Camp PDF Author: Otto Schrag
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253017858
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
In a compelling approach to storytelling, When Europe Was a Prison Camp weaves together two accounts of a family's eventual escape from Occupied Europe. One, a memoir written by the father in 1941; the other, begun by the son in the 1980s, fills in the story of himself and his mother, supplemented by historical research. The result is both personal and provocative, involving as it does issues of history and memory, fiction and "truth," courage and resignation. This is not a "Holocaust memoir." The Schrags were Jews, and Otto was interned, under execrable conditions, in southern France. But Otto, with the help of a heroic wife, escaped the camp before the start of massive transfers of prisoners "to the East," and Peter and his mother escaped from Belgium before the Jews were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz. Yet, the danger and suffering, the comradeship and betrayal, the naïve hopes and cynical despair of those in prison and those in peril are everywhere in evidence.

When Europe Was a Prison Camp

When Europe Was a Prison Camp PDF Author: Otto Schrag
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253017858
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 326

Get Book

Book Description
In a compelling approach to storytelling, When Europe Was a Prison Camp weaves together two accounts of a family's eventual escape from Occupied Europe. One, a memoir written by the father in 1941; the other, begun by the son in the 1980s, fills in the story of himself and his mother, supplemented by historical research. The result is both personal and provocative, involving as it does issues of history and memory, fiction and "truth," courage and resignation. This is not a "Holocaust memoir." The Schrags were Jews, and Otto was interned, under execrable conditions, in southern France. But Otto, with the help of a heroic wife, escaped the camp before the start of massive transfers of prisoners "to the East," and Peter and his mother escaped from Belgium before the Jews were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz. Yet, the danger and suffering, the comradeship and betrayal, the naïve hopes and cynical despair of those in prison and those in peril are everywhere in evidence.

Nazi Labour Camps in Paris

Nazi Labour Camps in Paris PDF Author: Jean-Marc Dreyfus
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1782381139
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
On 18 July 1943, one-hundred and twenty Jews were transported from the concentration camp at Drancy to the Lvitan furniture store building in the middle of Paris. These were the first detainees of three satellite camps (Lvitan, Austerlitz, Bassano) in Paris. Between July 1943 and August 1944, nearly eight hundred prisoners spent a few weeks to a year in one of these buildings, previously been used to store furniture, and were subjected to forced labor. Although the history of the persecution and deportation of France's Jews is well known, the three Parisian satellite camps have been subjected to the silence of both memory and history. This lack of attention by the most authoritative voices on the subject can perhaps be explained by the absence of a collective memory or by the marginal status of the Parisian detainees - the spouses of Aryans, wives of prisoners of war, half-Jews. Still, the Parisian camps did, and continue to this day, lack simple and straightforward descriptions. This book is a much needed study of these camps and is witness to how, sixty years after the events, expressing this memory remains a complex, sometimes painful process, and speaking about it a struggle.

Origins Of The Gulag

Origins Of The Gulag PDF Author: Michael Jakobson
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 081316138X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
A vast network of prison camps was an essential part of the Stalinist system. Conditions in the camps were brutal, life expectancy short. At their peak, they housed millions, and hardly an individual in the Soviet Union remained untouched by their tentacles. Michael Jakobson's is the first study to examine the most crucial period in the history of the camps: from the October Revolution of 1917, when the tsarist prison system was destroyed to October 1934, when all places of confinement were consolidated under one agency -- the infamous GULAG. The prison camps served the Soviet government in many ways: to isolate opponents and frighten the population into submission, to increase labor productivity through the arrest of "inefficient" workers, and to provide labor for factories, mines, lumbering, and construction projects. Jakobson focuses on the structure and interrelations of prison agencies, the Bolshevik views of crime and punishment and inmate reeducation, and prison self-sufficiency. He also describes how political conditions and competition among prison agencies contributed to an unprecedented expansion of the system. Finally, he disputes the official claim of 1931 that the system was profitable -- a claim long accepted by former inmates and Western researchers and used to explain the proliferation of the camps and their population. Did Marxism or the Bolshevik Revolution or Leninism inexorably lead to the GULAG system? Were its origins truly evil or merely banal? Jakobson's important book probes the official record to cast new light on a system that for a time supported but ultimately helped destroy the now fallen Soviet colossus.

Tomorrow We Escape

Tomorrow We Escape PDF Author: Tom Trumble
Publisher: Penguin Group Australia
ISBN: 1743484674
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
On a November morning in 1943, escaped Australian POW Ian Busst comes within a day's march of Allied lines after journeying hundreds of miles on foot through war-torn Italy. The young man is starving and hypothermic, and the German 10th Army stands between him and freedom. Years later, 95-year-old Busst – the unlikely survivor – can still recall his wartime experiences in the Royal Australian Engineers in incredible detail, from the sound of a strafing Messerschmitt to the appalling vision of his two mates blown apart by a high-calibre bomb. Busst's odyssey took him through the dark days of the Battle of Britain and fighting in the Western Desert. Captured near Tobruk during a daring night mission ahead of the German advance into Libya, he was sent to the prison camps of Italy and eventually to the dreaded Campo 57. Subjected to appalling conditions, Busst – known as 'Mad Bugger' – became obsessed with one objective: escape. This is a thriller set amid the great battlefields and prison camps of the Second World War. Tom Trumble brings to life one man's extraordinary story of high adventure, courage, resilience and, above all, mateship.

KL

KL PDF Author: Nikolaus Wachsmann
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0374118256
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 881

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Book Description
The award-winning author of Hitler's Prisons presents an unprecedented, integrated account of the Nazi concentration camps from their inception in 1933 through their demise in the spring of 1945.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933 –1945: Volume II

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933 –1945: Volume II PDF Author: Geoffrey P. Megargee
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253002028
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 2015

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Book Description
“Stands without doubt as the definitive reference guide on this topic in the world today.” —Holocaust and Genocide Studies This volume of the extraordinary encyclopedia from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum offers a comprehensive account of how the Nazis conducted the Holocaust throughout the scattered towns and villages of Poland and the Soviet Union. It covers more than 1,150 sites, including both open and closed ghettos. Regional essays outline the patterns of ghettoization in nineteen German administrative regions. Each entry discusses key events in the history of the ghetto; living and working conditions; activities of the Jewish Councils; Jewish responses to persecution; demographic changes; and details of the ghetto’s liquidation. Personal testimonies help convey the character of each ghetto, while source citations provide a guide to additional information. Documentation of hundreds of smaller sites—previously unknown or overlooked in the historiography of the Holocaust—make this an indispensable reference work on the destroyed Jewish communities of Eastern Europe. “A very detailed analysis and history of the events that took place in the towns, villages, and cities of German-occupied Eastern Europe . . . .A rich source of information.” —Library Journal “Focuses specifically on the ghettos of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe . . . stands without doubt as the definitive reference guide on this topic in the world today. This is not hyperbole, but simply a recognition of the meticulous collaborative research that went into assembling such a massive collection of information.” —Holocaust and Genocide Studies “No other work provides the same level of detail and supporting material.” —Choice

Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany

Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany PDF Author: Nikolaus Wachsmann
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135263221
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Offers an overview of the scholarship that has changed the way the concentration camp system is studied over the years.

POW

POW PDF Author: Adrian Gilbert
Publisher: Thistle Publishing
ISBN: 9781910198360
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 562

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Book Description
'Gilbert is to be congratulated; with verve and scholarship he has illuminated a murky area of the Second World War.... Excellent.' - Ian Thomson, The Daily Telegraph 'A big subject given a comprehensive and worthwhile examination.' - Peter Lewis, The Daily Mail (Critics' Choice) 'Touching but often amusing stories.' - John Crossland, The Sunday Times' Books of the Year 'One of the most compelling untold stories of the Second World War.' - Soldier Magazine 'An excellent new account of the POW experience.' - The Good Book Guide Just under 300,000 Allied servicemen from Britain, the Commonwealth and the United States were captured in Europe and North Africa between 1939 and 1945. Using a wealth of new sources and archival material, POW describes their experiences in both German and Italian prisoner-of-war camps. Prisoners' daily lives are vividly rendered: the workings of the prison-camp system; the distinctions of rank, service nationality and race; the ways in which prisoners maintained contact with the outside world; artistic and intellectual endeavours; and an acknowledgment of the dark undercurrents of corruption and collusion with the enemy. Everyday life is offset by high drama: the secret organizations that smuggled aid into the camps, the prisoners' daring escape plots, sabotage plans and other resistance activities. Adrian Gilbert brings to the fore the often forgotten voices of the prisoners to provide a compelling window on to a crucial aspect of the Second World War.

The Dent Atlas of the Holocaust

The Dent Atlas of the Holocaust PDF Author: Martin Gilbert
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9780460861717
Category : Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Atlas of the Holocaust, the product of seven years' research, is a comprehensive record of the Nazi attempt to annihilate the Jews of Europe during World War II. World-renowned historian Martin Gilbert has drawn each of the 316 maps especially for this atlas. All are fully annotated and are based on documentary evidence from a wide range of sources.

Perpetrators Victims Bystanders

Perpetrators Victims Bystanders PDF Author: Raul Hilberg
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060995076
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
The man the New York Times has called "the preeminent scholar of the Holocaust" tells the stories of those who caused, experienced, and witnessed the great human catastrophe.