Collect and record! : Jewish Holocaust documentation in early postwar Europe /

Jockusch (Hebrew Univ., Israel) documents the first steps in the evolution of Holocaust history. As soon as they had left the camps, Jews who survived the Holocaust in various regions of Europe used various means to begin documenting Jewish life before, during, and after the catastrophe brought on by the Nazi regime. In the main, the first efforts consisted of personal recollection and eyewitness accounts. From the start, there were differences in aims among the collectors: some strove to satisfy memories of their family or shtetl, others wrote academic histories, yet others prepared data for legal action. Although there was an attempt to see the Holocaust as a pan-European event, the first accumulation of information broke down by regions. The main ones were in France, Poland, and the displaced persons camps in Germany, Austria, and Italy. In due time, Holocaust studies reached academies and lands that were not directly involved in the Holocaust: the UK, the US, and Israel. This is a historiographical study documenting the birth of a new field of study, and as such will be of interest mostly to those who pursue Holocaust topics. Well documented and written; competent index and bibliography. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. A. Ezergailis emeritus, Ithaca College