The German-Jewish Soldiers of the First World War in History and Memory - Hardcover

Grady, Tim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 184631660X ISBN 13: 9781846316609

Publisher: Liverpool University Press, 2011

Synopsis

The First World War saw almost 100,000 German Jews wear the uniform of the Imperial army; some 12,000 of these soldiers lost their lives in battle. Over the last century, public memory of their sacrifice has been very gradually subsumed into the much greater catastrophe of the Holocaust. This book focuses on the multifaceted ways in which these Jewish soldiers have variously been remembered and forgotten from 1914 through until the late 1970s. During and immediately after the conflict, Germany's Jewish population were active participants in a memory culture that honoured the war dead as national heroes. With the decline of the Weimar Republic and the National Socialists' rise to power, however, the public commemoration of the Jewish soldiers gradually faded, as Germany's Jewish communities were systematically destroyed by the Nazi regime. It was only in the late 1950s that both Jews and other Germans began to rediscover and to re-remember this largely neglected group. By examining Germany's complex and continually evolving memory culture, this book opens up a new approach to the study of both German and German-Jewish history. In doing so, it draws out a narrative of entangled and overlapping relations between Jews and non-Jews during the short twentieth century. The Jewish / non-Jewish relationship, the book argues, did not end on the battlefields of the First World War, but ran much deeper to extend through into the era of the Cold War.

About this title

About the Author:

Dr Tim Grady is Senior Lecturer in European History, University of Chester and Honorary Fellow, Parkes Institute for Jewish / non-Jewish Relations, University of Southampton.

Review:

"Tim Grady has written a compelling book, exceptional both in its interpretations and the importance of its subject matter. His research is a major contribution to our knowledge of both German attitudes towards Jews between World War One and the early years of the Federal Republic, and of Jewish perceptions of their place in German society".--H-Soz-u-Kult

"This is a thought-provoking book. Many readers will remember their fathers' participation in the First World War and the medals they earned and wore with pride. Alas, although they had hoped that these medals would protect them once the Nazis came to power, this was not to be. I should add that this book is written entirely with West Germany in mind. In East Germany (the DDR), where culpability for the Nazi crimes was never acknowledged, it would have been a very different story."--Association of Jewish Refugees

"An interesting subject, well treated. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General collections, graduate students, and faculty."--Choice

"Grady's book presents many illuminating examples and carefully chosen quotations. The six chapters are clearly structured and draw upon a broad base of original source material, including newspapers, personal memoirs, and official documents from communal archives.--The American Historical Review

"Grady has done a great deal in this book, done it well, and those interested in Germany's memory culture owe him their thanks."--Central European History

"In his study, Grady has provided a commendable contribution to the history of the Jewish war veterans in Germany, in particular during the interwar years. He illustrates the opinions of both non-Jewish Germans towards their Jewish fellow-citizens as well as Jewish interpretations of their own position in contemporary German history."--Zeitschrift fur Geschichtswissenschaft

"This valuable examination of Germany's complex and evolving culture of memory in the twentieth century is a novel approach to the study of German-Jewish history during the first half of the twentieth century. With its focus on memory and commemoration, the author provides a unique lens into the complex and often conflicting political, social, and cultural responses (between, as well as among, Jewish and non-Jewish German communities) to Jewish emancipation and assimilation since the Enlightenment."--The English Historical Review

"The author provides some stimulating reflections on the public and historical discourse about Jewish soldiers in West Germany after 1945. Grady presents an interesting new perspective on German-Jewish history."--European History Quarterly

"Grady's book deserves praise and should find a wide audience among scholars of the war, of memory, and of the German Jewish experience in the violent twentieth century."--Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies

"Superb and outstandingly intelligent."--War in History

About this edition

• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 184631660X
• ISBN 13: 9781846316609
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 260