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These fourteen interviews of Holocaust survivors who settled in Wisconsin assign names and faces to what might otherwise be an abstract reckoning of terror and inhumanity. They describe the richness and variety of pre-war Jewish life in Europe; the advent of proscriptive laws, arrests, and deportation; the unspeakable horrors of the Nazi camps; and ultimately the liberation and postwar experiences of the survivors. They show how Jews in different parts of Europe experienced the Holocaust - ranging from Holland and Germany, where Jews were integrated into the nation's educated and professional classes, to Poland and Lithuania, where there had long existed a tradition of overt anti-Semitism. All suffered for their ethnic origins or religious beliefs, yet no two stories are alike. The few who survived Dachau and Auschwitz have very different stories to tell than those who were interned in Italy or who lived in comparatively peaceful exile in China. Remembering the Holocaust helps us to see the survivors as individuals, each with his or her own unique perspective, rather than primarily as victims.
About the author
Michael E. Stevens is the State Historic Preservation Officer at the Wisconsin Historical Society. He is editor of the series
Voices of the Wisconsin Past, which also includes
Letters from the Front,
Women Remember the War, and
Remembering the Holocaust.
