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Based on never previously explored personal accounts and archival documentation, this book examines life and death in the Theresienstadt ghetto, seen through the eyes of the Jewish victims from Denmark.
"How was it in Theresienstadt?" Thus asked Johan Grün rhetorically when he, in July 1945, published a short text about his experiences. The successful flight of the majority of Danish Jewry in October 1943 is a well-known episode of the Holocaust, but the experience of the 470 men, women, and children that were deported to the ghetto has seldom been the object of scholarly interest. Providing an overview of the Judenaktion in Denmark and the subsequent deportations, the book sheds light on the fate of those who were arrested. Through a micro-historical analysis of everyday life, it describes various aspects of social and daily life in proximity to death. In doing so, the volume illuminates the diversity of individual situations and conveys the deportees' perceptions and striving for survival and 'normality'.
Offering a multi-perspective and international approach that places the case of Denmark into the broader Jewish experience during the Holocaust, this book is invaluable for researchers of Jewish studies, Holocaust and genocide studies, and the history of modern Denmark.
List of contents
1. The Jews in Denmark on the Eve of the 'Judenaktion' 2. The 'Judenaktion' 3. Ghetto Theresienstadt and the Arrival of the Danish Transports 4. Housing and Work for Adults and Children 5. Relationships Inside and Outside the National Group 6. Everyday Life 7. Despair, Disease and Death 8. Shipments of Parcels 9. Danish Parcels Seen from the Ghetto 10. The Visit of the International Delegation, June 23, 1944 11. After the Visit 12. Witnessing the Transports 13. The Last Months in Theresienstadt 14. Life After the Ghetto
About the author
Silvia Goldbaum Tarabini Fracapane holds a PhD in Modern History from Technical University Berlin, and a MA in Comparative Literature from University of Copenhagen.
Summary
Based on never previously explored personal accounts and archival documentation, this book examines life and death in the Theresienstadt ghetto, seen through the eyes of the Jewish victims from Denmark.
