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Return Holocaust Survivors and Dutch Anti-Semitism
Book Code: C8046
ISBN: 0-275-98046-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-98046-7
224 pages, photos, document
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 10/30/2003
List Price: $79.95 (UK Sterling Price: £44.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Series Title: Contributions to the Study of Religion
Series Number: 71
Reviews:
  • In this interesting book, Hondius seeks to explain an apparent paradox: the people of the Netherlands have long had the reputation of being among the most tolerant of Europeans, yet there was almost no resistance to persecution of Holland's Jews during the Nazi occupation (1940-45). Ultimately, three quarters of the Dutch Jews died during the Holocaust, the highest proportion in Western Europe....As Hondius correctly points out, much more research needs to be carried out concerning the experiences of displaced Jews returning to the Netherlands and other European countries. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.
    —Choice
    June 2004
  • Return is a nuanced contribution to our understanding of the disproportionate destruction of Dutch Jewry, because it extends the tableau beyond structural failings to the political culture....[f]rank and useful book.
    —Journal of Genocide Research
    2006
  • [R]eturn is not simply a translation of the older publication, but is rather an updated and enormously enhanced version that has benefited from consideration of new historiography and from the author's efforts to nuance the conclusions on this emotionally laden subject....This is an important and sobering story, and the author has told it carefully here. The appearance of this work in English is enormously beneficial for students and scholars alike.
    —Holocaust and Genocide Studies
    .
  • This book, based on research in archives, survivors' memoirs, and interviews with survivors, chronicles the experience of repatriated Jews in the Netherlands light on the continuing uneasiness and sensitivities between Jews and non-Jews today.
    —SHOFAR
    Summer 2004
  • [w]ell written monograph...[t]his book is highly recommended for all readers.
    —Jewish Book World
    Spring 2004
  • Endorsement From Michael Berenbaum
    Sigi Ziering Institute, The University of Judaism, Author of The World Must Know:
    This is a much-needed study of the return of Jews to the Netherlands after the Holocaust. It presents significant insights into Dutch society before, during, and especially after the Holocaust and to the issues that were provoked when survivors surprisingly emerged alive. She raises all the troubling questions; her answers are quite disturbing, which is the great virtue of this work.
  • Endorsement From Deborah Dwork
    Rose Professor of Holocaust History,
    Director, Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University:
    Breaking loose of the myth of the heroic Netherlands, Hondius questions what the Dutch actually did during the war and how they dealt with their all-too-few returning Jewish neighbors afterwards. Her pathbreaking portrait of the effect of the German occupation on a population free of endemic antisemitism shows how five years of warping propaganda and punishing living conditions changed Dutch attitudes towards the Jews.
Description: While the Netherlands had often been thought of as a champion of racial and ethnic tolerance before and during the Second World War, more than 75% of Dutch Jews were killed and those returning after the war were met with subtle but tough anti-Jewish sentiments as they tried to reclaim their former lives. For most survivors, the negative reactions were unexpected and shocking. Before the war, Dutch Jews had become part of the fabric of Dutch life and society, so the obstacles they faced upon their return were particularly painful and difficult to handle. The sobering picture presented in this book, based on research in archives, survivor's memoirs, and interviews with survivors, examines and chronicles the experiences of repatriated Jews in the Netherlands and sheds light on the continuing uneasiness and sensitivities between Jews and non-Jews there today. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, survivors returned to their home countries not knowing what to expect. In the Netherlands, considered a more tolerant nation, returnees wondered how they would be received by their neighbors; what had happened to their homes, their businesses, and their possessions; and whether or not they would be welcomed back to their jobs or their schools. The answers to many of these questions are now more important than ever, as claims for restitution continue to be made. Hondius shows that survivors returning to the Netherlands were met with a revival in anti-Semitism around the issue of liberation and that many were forced to create two memories of the time: one around the rejoicing and displays of triumph that took place in public and the other around the secret discrimination and cruelty, dealt subtly, in the private arenas of everyday life. The blinding effect of a long history of generally good Jewish/non-Jewish relations turns out to be a most tragic aspect of the history of the Holocaust and the Netherlands.
Table of Contents:
  • Acknowledgments
  • Return from Hell: The Story behind a Photograph.
  • Introduction
  • Echoes of Nazi Germany, 1933-1940
  • Registration, Isolation, Deportation, 1940-1945
  • No Distinction: Planning the Repatriation in London
  • The Journey Back
  • Arrival in Amsterdam Central Station, June 1945: An Orderly Reception Center
  • Mistreatment of Stateless Repatriates
  • Reactions of Non-Jews to Jewish Survivors: From Incomprehension to Overt Anti-Semitism
  • Jews on the Limits of Liberation
  • Concern about Anti-Semitism
  • Foreign Observers' Impressions of the Netherlands, 1945-1946
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Sources
  • Glossary
  • Index
LC Card Number: 2002193046
LCC Class: DS146
Dewey Class: 940
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