Microhistories of the Holocaust

Claire Zalc is a Research Professor (directrice de recherche) in history at the Institut d’histoire moderne et contemporaine, CNRS-ENS and at the EHESS. Among several publications, she recently edited "L'histoire de la Shoah face à ses sources", a special issue of Vingtième siècle. Revue d'histoire, 2018. She specializes in the history of immigration in twentieth-century France and the history of French Jews during World War II. She was awarded the CNRS Bronze Medal in 2013.

• AcknowledgmentsList of tablesList of photosIntroduction: Towards a Microhistory of the HolocaustClaire Zalc and Tal BruttmannPART I: BIOGRAPHIES, GROUPS, TRANSPORTS, GHETTOS: THE SCALES OF ANALYSISChapter 1. An Inconceivable Emigration. Richard Frank’s flight from Germany to Switzerland in 1942Christoph KreutzmüllerChapter 2. Pursuing Escape from Vienna: The Katz Family’s CorrespondenceMelissa Jane TaylorChapter 3. Moving Together, Moving Alone: The Story of Boys on a Transport from Auschwitz to BuchenwaldKenneth WaltzerChapter 4. Dehumanizing the Dead. The Destruction of Thessaloniki’s Jewish CemeteryLeon SaltielChapter 5. Reconstructing Trajectories of Persecution: Reflections on a Prosopography of Holocaust VictimsNicolas Mariot and Claire ZalcChapter 6. Microhistories, Microgeographies: Budapest, 1944 and Scales of AnalysisTim ColePART II: FACE-TO-FACE: VICTIMS AND PERPETRATORSChapter 7. Microhistory of the Holocaust in Poland: New Sources, New TrailsJan GrabowskiChapter 8. Jewish Slave Workers in the German Aviation IndustryDaniel UzielChapter 9. The Devil in Microhistory: The “Hunt for Jews” as a Social Process, 1942-1945Tomasz FrydelChapter 10. On the Persistence of Moral Judgment: Local Perpetrators in Transnistria as Seen by Survivors and Their Christian NeighborsVladimir SolonariChapter 11. Defiance and Protest. A Comparative Microhistorical Reevaluation of Individual Jewish Responses to Nazi PersecutionWolf GrunerChapter 12. The Murder of the Jews in Ostrów Mazowiecka in November 1939Markus RothChapter 13. Échirolles, August 7 1944: a Triple ExecutionTal BruttmannChapter 14. The Beginning: First Massacres against the Jews in the Romanian Holocaust. Level of Decision, Genocidal Strategy and Killing Methods regarding Dorohoi and Galati Pogroms, June-July, 1940Alexandru MuraruPART III: THE MATERIAL FOR SHIFTING SCALES: SOURCES BETWEEN TESTIMONIES AND ARCHIVESChapter 15. The Holocaust and Postwar Justice in Poland in Three ActsAndrew KornbluthChapter 16. The Small and the Good: Microhistory Through the Eyes of the Witness. A Case StudyHannah Pollin-GalayChapter 17. The Witness against the Archive: towards a Microhistory of ChristianstadtJeffrey WallenBibliographyIndex

“This selection of mostly highly stimulating and well-researched case studies not only gives insight into the diversity of what we think of as the Holocaust, but also a sense of how differently we can go about studying this topic and past social life in general. There is much to be gained, therefore, from reading this collection not selectively, according to one’s own research interests, but as a whole. In this sense, this is a very effective publication and a great addition to the literature.” • H-Soz-Kult“The contributions underline the extra value of microhistory, particularly for the study of relations and interactions between Jews and their non-Jewish fellow citizens. More generally, the volume demonstrates that the traditional tripartite division into victims, perpetrators, and bystanders is at least questionable. In most of the presented microstudies bystanders are absent, if not nonexistent. … The editors' main aim was to show through their collection of microstudies the complexity and diversity of the Holocaust. In this, they have succeeded admirably.” • H-Net Reviews“This excellent volume not only displays an admirable thematic and geographic diversity, but also presents a range of interpretations of the methodology known as ‘microhistory.’ Together, the chapters provide a refreshing and important look at the genocide against the Jews, illuminating aspects and incidents that must, by definition, be overlooked by macrohistorical studies.” • Jonathan R. Zatlin, Boston University“With historians in many countries turning increasingly to microhistory as an effective way to explore questions of human behavior and historical causation, now is the right time for this collection devoted to the Holocaust. The volume offers broad geographic and thematic coverage, provides examples of a variety of microhistorical approaches, and features the work of established scholars as well as younger colleagues engaged in innovative scholarship.” • Alan E. Steinweis, University of Vermont