The Holocaust in the Soviet Union

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The Holocaust in the Soviet Union

Yitzhak Arad
Translated by Ora Cummings

Comprehensive History of the Holocaust Series

720 pages
1 map, 7 tables

Paperback

July 2013

978-0-8032-4519-8

$40.00 Add to Cart
eBook (EPUB)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

May 2020

978-1-4962-1079-1

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eBook (PDF)
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July 2009

978-0-8032-2270-0

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About the Book

Published by the University of Nebraska Press and Yad Vashem, The Holocaust in the Soviet Union is the most complete account to date of Soviet Jews during World War II and the Holocaust (1941–45). Reports, records, documents, and research previously unavailable in English enable Yitzhak Arad to trace the Holocaust in the German-occupied territories of the Soviet Union through three separate periods in which German political and military goals in the occupied territories dictated the treatment of Jews. Arad’s examination of the differences between the Holocaust in the Soviet Union compared to other European nations reveals how Nazi ideological attacks on the Soviet Union, which included war on “Judeo-Bolshevism,” led to harsher treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union than in most other occupied territories.

This historical narrative presents a wealth of information from German, Russian, and Jewish archival sources that will be invaluable to scholars, researchers, and the general public for years to come.

Author Bio

Yitzhak Arad served as the director of Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Authority, from 1972 to 1993. He is the author or editor of several books, including Documents on the Holocaust: Selected Sources on the Destruction of the Jews of Germany and Austria, Poland, and the Soviet Union, 8th edition (Nebraska, 1999) and In the Shadow of the Red Banner: Soviet Jews in War Against Nazi Germany.

Ora Cummings is a literary agent in Rehovot, Israel, and the translator of many works, most recently Rina Frank’s Every House Needs a Balcony: A Novel.

Praise

"A significant contribution to the continuous effort of scholars to fathom the phenomenon known as 'The Holocaust.'"—Jewish Book World

"[The Holocaust in the Soviet Union] is a magisterial work of great significance. Particularly for readers more familiar with the Holocaust in western Europe and occupied Poland, there is a great deal to learn from it."Maarten Pereboom, Shofar

"This book is a supreme achievement and an essential work for all Holocaust libraries."Hallie Cantor, Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter

"A masterful synthesis. . . . This study provides a much-needed panoramic view in a field that has produced mostly regional and microstudies in the past two decades. . . . Arad's remarkable tome has both an encyclopedic as well as broad-brush quality to it that makes it required reading in Holocaust Studies."Bradley D. Woodworth, Russian Review

"Arad's book constitutes a welcome and valuable contribution to Holocaust scholarship."Šarūnas Liekis, Journal of Baltic Studies

"Yitzhak Arad has produced a notable work that is particularly valuable for its comprehensive documentation of Nazi crimes over a large geographic area."Waitman W. Beorn, Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface
Part 1. The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union before World War II
1. Jews in Czarist Russia
2. Jews in the USSR and in the Annexed Territories between the Two World Wars
Part 2. The Impact of Political and Military Developments on the Jews of Eastern Europe, September 1, 1939, to June 22, 1941
3. German-Soviet Relations and Geopolitical Changes in Eastern Europe   
4. The Jews in the Soviet Annexed Territories          
5. Preparations in Germany for the Attack on the Soviet Union and the Annihilation of the Jews 
Part 3. The German Attack on the Soviet Union
6. Invasion under the Slogan "War on Judeo-Bolshevism"   
7. Evacuation of the Soviet Population: Jews in Organized and Individual Evacuation      
8. Anti-Jewish Pogroms during the Early Days of Occupation         
9. The German Administration in the Occupied Territories and Its Anti-Jewish Policy       
Part 4. Mass Murder, First Stage: June 22, 1941, to Winter 1941-42
10. Einsatzgruppen Routes of Advance and Method of Extermination       
11. Reichskommissariat Ostland: Ghettos and Extermination          
12. Reichskommissariat Ukraine: Ghettos and Extermination          
13. Military Administration Areas: Ghettos and Extermination       
14. Extermination of the Jews of Crimea      
15. The German Army from "Freedom of Action" for the Einsatzgruppen to Active Collaboration in the Murders           
16. Persecution of the Jews in District Galicia          
17. Romania and Transnistria: Expulsion and Mass Murder 
Part 5. Mass Murder, Second Stage: From Spring to Late 1942
18. The Killing Actions in Ostland and the Grodno-Volkovysk Region (Generalbezirk Bialystok)
19. Annihilation in Reichskommissariat Ukraine       
20. Mass Murder in District Galicia: Operation Reinhard     
21. Annihilation in Areas under Military Administration      
22. Transnistria: Life in the Shadow of Death          
Part 6. Mass Murder, Third Stage: From Early 1943 until the End of German Occupation
23. Liquidation of the Last Ghettos in Reichskommissariat Ostland
24. Liquidation of the Last Ghettos in Reichskommissariat Ukraine
25. Survival in Transnistria    
26. Action 1005         
Part 7. The Murder of Specific Jewish Groups
27. The Murder of Mixed Marriages, Their Offspring, and Jewish Children in Boardinghouses     
28. The Murder of Jewish Prisoners of War  
29. Extermination in Ostland of Jews from the Third Reich 
Part 8. The Robbery of Jewish Property and Cultural Values
30. Confiscation and Plunder            
31. The Pillage of Cultural Assets     
Part 9. Non-Jewish Society and Its Reaction to the Genocide of the Jews
32. The Local Population       
33. The Righteous among the Nations           
34. Attitudes of the Churches and Clergy toward the German Administration and Its Anti-Jewish Policy
Part 10. The Jews in Their Struggle for Life and in Armed Resistance
35. The Individual, the Public, and Jewish Councils in a Battle for Survival           
36. The Jewish Armed Underground in the Ghettos 
37. The Jews in Forests and the Partisan Movement 
38. Blood Account: Casualties and Survivors           
Conclusion     
Epilogue: The Holocaust and Soviet Governing Authorities
Notes  
Bibliography  
Index  

Awards

Winner of the 2009 National Jewish Book Award in the Writing Based on Archival Material category.
 
Named an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice magazine

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