Jews, Germans, and Allies: Close Encounters in Occupied Germany
In the immediate aftermath of World War II, more than a quarter-million Jewish survivors of the Holocaust lived among their defeated persecutors in the chaotic society of Allied-occupied Germany, Jews, Germans, and Allies draws upon the wealth of diary and memoir literature written by the people who lived through postwar reconstruction to trace the conflicting ways Jews and Germans defined their own victimization and survival, comprehended the trauma of war and genocide, and struggled to...
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"Atina Grossmann has written a beautiful book, methodologically sophisticated and rich in its detailed reconstruction of everyday life. It opens a grand view on the fascinating and critical period of the years immediately following the end of World War II in Europe."--Jan T. Gross, author of Neighbors"Jews, Germans, and Allies stakes out new historical and theoretical ground. Beautifully written, studded with verbal and pictorial images, Grossmann's text takes us on a gripping historical journey. A master narrative: she maintains complete control of the riveting history she tells, while weaving in amazing snapshots of individual lives and contemporary reports."--Debórah Dwork, director of the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University"Diving into the wreckage, Professor Grossmann expertly sifts through the chaos, refusing reductionist paradigms and describing in detail the many complex encounters between Germans, Americans, Brits, Russians, French, and Jews in postwar Germany. This is fascinating social history that focuses as much on women as on men, on the occupiers as well as on the occupied."--Helen Epstein, author of Children of the Holocaust and Where She Came From"An evocative and richly documented book set in the rubble-strewn streets of postwar Berlin, in the Jewish refugee camps, and in the offices of the Allied occupiers. With an eye for drama and an ear for distinctive tonalities, Grossmann interweaves the three closely related and intersecting stories of Jewish survivors, defeated Germans, and American occupiers to show how these 'close encounters' produced contrapuntal memories of the experience of World War II and the Holocaust. This remarkable work transcends the genres of German and Jewish history and sets a new standard for writing the history of 'entanglements' in the post-1945 era."--Anson Rabinbach, Princeton University"Atina Grossmann's book is, without any doubt, a pioneering work on postwar German, Jewish, and partly also American history. Grossmann uses a whole range of previously unknown sources. The picture emerging from this wealth of new material is quite different from the many stereotypes, which still dominate our view of this unlikely historical episode. The most striking difference is the crucial role that gender plays in her analysis."--Michael Brenner, University of Munich"Few other books, if any, have told the story of Germany's postwar Jews with such an eye to their interaction with non-Jewish Germans. Grossmann shows that both groups were victims in different ways, but that the status and character of their victimhood was of course very different. She has an eye for telling detail, and the gendered aspects to the story are particularly rich."--Mark Roseman, Indiana University Benjamin Lapp - Central European History Grossmann has succeeded marvelously in reintegrating the history of Jews into the history of postwar Germany. Her book . . . is an essential contribution to the social and cultural history of the immediate postwar era.
List of Illustrations ixPreface: Where is Feldafing? xiiiAbbreviations xviiIntroduction: Entangled Histories and Close Encounters 1Chapter 1 "Poor Germany": Berlin and the Occupation 15Chapter 2 Gendered Defeat: Rape, Motherhood, and Fraternization 48Chapter 3 "The survivors were few and the dead were many": Jews in Occupied Berlin 88Chapter 4 The Saved and Saving Remnant: Jewish Displaced Persons in the American Zone 131Chapter 5 Mir Zaynen Do: Sex, Work, and the DP Baby Boom 184Chapter 6 Conclusion: The "Interregnum" Ends 237Abbreviations in Notes 269Notes 271Select Bibliography 359Acknowledgments 369Index 373
\ Books & CultureAtina Grossmann's great insight is that the postwar reappearance of a traumatized Jewish population—and the survivors' high rates of marriage, pregnancy and childbearing—cannot be understood apart from the parallel victimhood of the 'German' population.\ — Paul Grant\ \ \ \ \ European History QuarterlyAny historian with even the vaguest idea of the monumental effort that goes into producing a research monograph like this, with thousands of archival and secondary sources used (the notes alone run to some 100 pages), will find it difficult to level serious criticism against it. Thoroughly researched and beautifully written, Jews, Germans, and Allies has rightfully won a number of awards.\ — Kay Schiller\ \ \ Journal of Modern History[Grossmann] has achieved that most enviable of goals: she has written a book about Jewish/non-Jewish relations that will be required reading for any scholar of German postwar history for many years to come. Indeed, I would go as far as to suggest that Grossmann's Jews, Germans, and Allies is one of those few books that appear in each decade that will be read with considerable benefit and enjoyment not only by historians of any specialization but also by any scholar with an arts and humanities or social science background and a smattering of historical sensitivity.\ — Lars Fischer\ \ \ \ \ Holocaust and Genocide StudiesAll told, Grossmann's book paints a fascinating portrait of the 'close encounters' in occupied Germany among Jews, Germans, and Allies. Her gendered lens helps better nuance our understanding of this chaotic period. I highly recommend this book for scholars, students, and the general public.\ — Lynn Rapaport\ \ \ \ \ ShofarAtina Grossman has written an exceptionally fascinating book. . . . Atina Grossman has done us all a great service.\ — Julia Schulze Wessel\ \ \ \ \ H-Net ReviewsThis book makes a significant contribution by illuminating the fascinating and complex interactions between surviving Jews and their neighbors in postwar Germany.\ — Timothy Schroer\ \ \ \ \ Journal of Military HistoryAtina Grossman's tale of the complicated relationship between surviving Jews, Germans, and Allies is enthralling and well written. The author has an eye for the telling anecdote and genuine sympathy for the people she writes about. Her extensive and creative use of German and Yiddish sources and her family connections to the Jewish DPs make the book both personal and scholarly.\ — Hal Elliott Wert\ \ \ \ \ American Historical ReviewDespite legend and conventional wisdom, there was intense interaction between Jews and Germans. Germans and Jews have both overlooked or forgotten this episode in their joint history, which Grossmann brings to life with a particularly fascinating examination of gendered experience and sexuality.\ — Jay Howard Geller\ \ \ \ \ East Hampton StarJews, Germans, and Allies is an important historical document, especially in light of those revisionists who would impose a universal amnesia about the suffering and losses incurred during the Holocaust. The grim statistics that Ms. Grossmann presents in her carefully researched and well-organized book carry evidence of the terrible truth. But the testimony of the survivors she quotes contains the final, ineradicable facts of history.\ — Hilma Wolitzer\ \ \ \ \ Central European HistoryGrossmann has succeeded marvelously in reintegrating the history of Jews into the history of postwar Germany. Her book . . . is an essential contribution to the social and cultural history of the immediate postwar era.\ — Benjamin Lapp\ \ \ \ \ Journal of Modern History[Grossmann] has achieved that most enviable of goals: she has written a book about Jewish/non-Jewish relations that will be required reading for any scholar of German postwar history for many years to come. Indeed, I would go as far as to suggest that Grossmann's Jews, Germans, and Allies is one of those few books that appear in each decade that will be read with considerable benefit and enjoyment not only by historians of any specialization but also by any scholar with an arts and humanities or social science background and a smattering of historical sensitivity.\ \ \ \ \ East Hampton StarJews, Germans, and Allies is an important historical document, especially in light of those revisionists who would impose a universal amnesia about the suffering and losses incurred during the Holocaust. The grim statistics that Ms. Grossmann presents in her carefully researched and well-organized book carry evidence of the terrible truth. But the testimony of the survivors she quotes contains the final, ineradicable facts of history.\ — Hilma Wolitzer\ \ \ \ \ Jewish Post and NewsGrossmann, herself the daughter of German-Jewish refugees, . . . has written the definitive history of [Allied-occupied Germany].\ \ \ \ \ Holocaust and Genocide StudiesAll told, Grossmann's book paints a fascinating portrait of the 'close encounters' in occupied Germany among Jews, Germans, and Allies. Her gendered lens helps better nuance our understanding of this chaotic period. I highly recommend this book for scholars, students, and the general public.\ \ \ \ \ Journal of Modern History[Grossmann] has achieved that most enviable of goals: she has written a book about Jewish/non-Jewish relations that will be required reading for any scholar of German postwar history for many years to come. Indeed, I would go as far as to suggest that Grossmann's Jews, Germans, and Allies is one of those few books that appear in each decade that will be read with considerable benefit and enjoyment not only by historians of any specialization but also by any scholar with an arts and humanities or social science background and a smattering of historical sensitivity.\ \ \ \ \ Jewish Post and NewsGrossmann, herself the daughter of German-Jewish refugees, . . . has written the definitive history of [Allied-occupied Germany].\ \ \ \ \ Books & CultureAtina Grossmann's great insight is that the postwar reappearance of a traumatized Jewish population—and the survivors' high rates of marriage, pregnancy and childbearing—cannot be understood apart from the parallel victimhood of the 'German' population.\ \ \ \ \ Central European HistoryGrossmann has succeeded marvelously in reintegrating the history of Jews into the history of postwar Germany. Her book . . . is an essential contribution to the social and cultural history of the immediate postwar era.\ \ \ \ \ ShofarAtina Grossman has written an exceptionally fascinating book. . . . Atina Grossman has done us all a great service.\ \ \ \ \ Journal of Military HistoryAtina Grossman's tale of the complicated relationship between surviving Jews, Germans, and Allies is enthralling and well written. The author has an eye for the telling anecdote and genuine sympathy for the people she writes about. Her extensive and creative use of German and Yiddish sources and her family connections to the Jewish DPs make the book both personal and scholarly.\ \ \ \ \ American Historical ReviewDespite legend and conventional wisdom, there was intense interaction between Jews and Germans. Germans and Jews have both overlooked or forgotten this episode in their joint history, which Grossmann brings to life with a particularly fascinating examination of gendered experience and sexuality.\ \ \ \ \ H-Net ReviewsThis book makes a significant contribution by illuminating the fascinating and complex interactions between surviving Jews and their neighbors in postwar Germany.\ \ \ \ \ European History QuarterlyAny historian with even the vaguest idea of the monumental effort that goes into producing a research monograph like this, with thousands of archival and secondary sources used (the notes alone run to some 100 pages), will find it difficult to level serious criticism against it. Thoroughly researched and beautifully written, Jews, Germans, and Allies has rightfully won a number of awards.\ \ \ \ \ East Hampton StarJews, Germans, and Allies is an important historical document, especially in light of those revisionists who would impose a universal amnesia about the suffering and losses incurred during the Holocaust. The grim statistics that Ms. Grossmann presents in her carefully researched and well-organized book carry evidence of the terrible truth. But the testimony of the survivors she quotes contains the final, ineradicable facts of history.\ \
