Publication date:
05 September 2013Length of book:
510 pagesPublisher
AltaMira PressDimensions:
235x162mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9780759121980
The Holocaust in Hungary provides a comprehensive documentary account of one of the most brutal and effective killing campaigns in history. After Nazi Germany took control of Hungary late in World War II, Jews were rounded up with unprecedented speed and sent directly to Auschwitz. They would form the largest group of victims who perished in that camp. The complex interplay between German and Hungarian actors brought about the annihilation of a once-thriving Jewish community and the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jewish men, women, and children. The authors present extensive reports, testimonies, and other primary sources of these events accompanied by in-depth commentary that spans the years from the late 1930s to the fractured political landscape of postwar Hungary.
This book is special because the sources it presents are not only explained in the footnotes but contextualized by an introduction that provides commentary. . . .The diversity of sources is particularly remarkable. Official pronouncements, decrees, and reports by perpetrators are contrasted with primary sources that show the victims’ perspective: appeals and assessments by Jewish communities, personal writings (letters, diaries). By including a broad range of the contemporary perceptions of non-Jews the authors also document the (all too often apathetic) knowledge about the crimes committed against the Hungarian Jews. . . .[The book] presents history and historic sources in a very gripping and multi-faceted manner. Readers are not only introduced to the history of the Holocaust in Hungary, but also to the sources with their innumerable aspects and perspectives (perpetrators and victims, official declarations and private accounts). The volume is thus not only useful for Holocaust researchers, but also for classroom teaching and self-study.