This is the portrait of a world on the eve of its destruction. Bernard Wasserstein presents a disturbing interpretation of the collapse of European Jewish civilization even before the Nazi onslaught.Wasserstein shows how the harsh realities of the age devastated the lives of communities and individuals. By 1939, the Jews faced an existential crisis that was as much the result of internal decay as of external attack.Ranging from Vilna ('Jerusalem of Lithuania') to Salonica with its Judeo-Español-speaking stevedores and singers, and beyond, the book's focus is squarely on the Jews themselves rather than their persecutors. Wasserstein's aim is to 'breathe life into dry bones.' Based on vast research, written with compassion and empathy, and enlivened by dry wit, On the Eve paints a vivid and shocking picture of the European Jews in their final hour.
On The Eve: The Jews of Europe before the Second World War
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'Nothing less than a marvel' -- Dominic Sandbrook
'A wide-ranging, marvelously complete overview of a diverse, teeming civilization poised for ruin.' -- Kirkus
'One of our most distinguished writers on Jewish history' -- Sunday Times
'Only the finest historian could hope to expose the anti-semitic idiocies of 1930s Europe and explore the Jewish response in a sensitive and even-handed way. Enter Wasserstein, who has written one of the most important books I've ever read' -- Herald
'A substantive, perceptive, and highly valuable kaddish for lost lives and lost worlds' -- Publishers Weekly
--Publishers Weekly
'A wide-ranging, marvelously complete overview of a diverse, teeming civilization poised for ruin.' -- Kirkus
'One of our most distinguished writers on Jewish history' -- Sunday Times
'Only the finest historian could hope to expose the anti-semitic idiocies of 1930s Europe and explore the Jewish response in a sensitive and even-handed way. Enter Wasserstein, who has written one of the most important books I've ever read' -- Herald
'A substantive, perceptive, and highly valuable kaddish for lost lives and lost worlds' -- Publishers Weekly
--Publishers Weekly
Book Description
A major new history examining the realities of Jewish life across Europe up to the very eve of World War Two.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By sirharry79
Format:Kindle Edition
This is a very detailed history of Continental Jewry between the wars.The statistics are supported and explained along with the names of the movers and shakers of Europe including the USSR. The decline in the use of Yiddish is illustrated by the absorbtion of Jews into the mainstream of the nations. It is hard to avoid the fact that if the Nazis had been patient, they could have made Europe almost 'Judenrein' within 2 or 3 generations without the need for death camps or economic measures against the Jews. It reveals many little known antipathies which occurred between different Jewish religious and political movements at the time. A really interesting read, especially for those who are involved in political activities.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Ralph Blumenau
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This portrait of the Jews of Europe in the period between the First and the Second World War of necessity covers much ground that will be familiar to people who have a good general knowledge of the subject; but there is an enormous amount that is not easily found elsewhere: Wasserstein's list of sources runs to 27 pages. In particular, in the early chapter he describes the life of the Jews in Amsterdam ("Jerusalem of the West") and gives detailed accounts of the Jews of Vilna ("Jerusalem of the North"), of Minsk ("Red New Jerusalem") and of Salonika ("The Jerusalem of the Balkans"). The atmosphere in the Jewish quarters of these places are all vividly described, and we are introduced to the names and deeds of the leading personalities in those communities of whom most readers will never have heard.
We learn in great detail of all the different religious groups and their schools in Eastern Europe; and about the position of women inside Jewish communities; about various kinds of Jewish delinquents. There is even a section about Jewish deaf-mutes and the institutions that cared for them. Jewish sporting achievements are recorded, and we learn that in table tennis "all the Polish national champions in the inter-war period were Jews".
It is well known that many Jews tried to escape being regarded as Jews by changing their names or by conversion - here documented with many individual stories. (There is also the story of an entire community of 80 Italian "primitive and illiterate" peasants converting TO Judaism in the early 1930s, persevering in the faith even after the fascists introduced anti-Jewish laws in 1938).... Read more ›
We learn in great detail of all the different religious groups and their schools in Eastern Europe; and about the position of women inside Jewish communities; about various kinds of Jewish delinquents. There is even a section about Jewish deaf-mutes and the institutions that cared for them. Jewish sporting achievements are recorded, and we learn that in table tennis "all the Polish national champions in the inter-war period were Jews".
It is well known that many Jews tried to escape being regarded as Jews by changing their names or by conversion - here documented with many individual stories. (There is also the story of an entire community of 80 Italian "primitive and illiterate" peasants converting TO Judaism in the early 1930s, persevering in the faith even after the fascists introduced anti-Jewish laws in 1938).... Read more ›
5 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The fault lies with me rather than the author. I hadn't taken enough trouble to understand the focus of the book I.e. the period it focuses on and its very learned nature. Therefore the life of the shtetls, family life and food is not the remit of the author, no doubt thinking these aspects have been dealt with ad nauseam elsewhere. Bearing this in mind only a few of the chapters interested me.
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