Book Description
The presentation of Europe's immediate historical past has quite dramatically changed. Conventional depictions of occupation and collaboration in World War II, of wartime resistance and post-war renewal, provided the familiar backdrop against which the chronicle of post-war Europe has mostly been told. Within these often ritualistic presentations, it was possible to conceal the fact that not only were the majority of people in Hitler's Europe not resistance fighters but millions actively co-operated with and many millions more rather easily accommodated to Nazi rule. Moreover, after the war, those who judged former collaborators were sometimes themselves former collaborators. Many people became innocent victims of retribution, while others--among them notorious war criminals--escaped punishment. Nonetheless, the process of retribution was not useless but rather a historically unique effort to purify the continent of the many sins Europeans had committed. This book sheds light on the collective amnesia that overtook European governments and peoples regarding their own responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity--an amnesia that has only recently begun to dissipate as a result of often painful searching across the continent.
In inspiring essays, a group of internationally renowned scholars unravels the moral and political choices facing European governments in the war's aftermath: how to punish the guilty, how to decide who was guilty of what, how to convert often unspeakable and conflicted war experiences and memories into serviceable, even uplifting accounts of national history. In short, these scholars explore how the drama of the immediate past was (and was not) successfully "overcome." Through their comparative and transnational emphasis, they also illuminate the division between eastern and western Europe, locating its origins both in the war and in post-war domestic and international affairs. Here, as in their discussion of collaborators' trials, the authors lay bare the roots of the many unresolved and painful memories clouding present-day Europe.
Contributors are Brad Abrams, Martin Conway, Sarah Farmer, Luc Huyse, László Karsai, Mark Mazower, and Peter Romijn, as well as the editors. Taken separately, their essays are significant contributions to the contemporary history of several European countries. Taken together, they represent an original and pathbreaking account of a formative moment in the shaping of Europe at the dawn of a new millennium.
Customer Reviews:
Combines Facts and Gross Mischaracterizations.......2004-04-27
Mention of the killings of Jews in postwar Hungary (Judt, p. 321) needs further elaboration, as it refutes the common claim that this happened only in postwar Poland. The two articles by Jan Thomas Gross detract considerably from the remaining ones. The title of this review has an intentional double meaning, as Gross shows us the depths of convoluted reasoning that Polonophobes willingly go through to unfairly blame Poles for not aiding more Jews. More Poles are honored at Yad Vashem for saving Jews than any other nationality. Paulsson (SECRET CITY) has shown that, at least for Warsaw's Jews, the limiting factor in Jewish survival was the infrequency of Jews fleeing the ghettoes. It was NOT Polish "inaction". Nor was it the rate of Polish betrayal of fugitive Jews. Had more Jews sought Polish help, more Jews would have been saved.
Gross cites some indicators of the "diffuse hostility of Poles to Jews' and then, without any evidence, jumps to the conclusion that this made Poles disinclined to help Jews. In fact, the acknowledged anti-Semitic beliefs of many Polish rescuers of Jews argue for the opposite. The long history of considerable Jewish disloyalty to Poland, the most recent instance of which was the large-scale Jewish-Soviet collaboration against Poles (Gross' attempts to minimize it notwithstanding) was a major cause of Polish hostility to Jews.
Gross would have us believe that, since Poles already defied the German-imposed death penalty in numerous ways, they could just as easily have defied it by saving many more Jews--had they only wanted to. But his equating of various risky behaviors carrying the death penalty is transparently ridiculous, and he, being from Poland, should know better (unless, of course, he has discarded all semblance of objectivity). Gross disingenuously cites Polish incurrence of the death penalty through considerable "black marketeering". Common sense teaches that it is incomparably easier to hide contraband food than to hide (and feed) a living fugitive Jewish human being. The same holds for livestock slaughtered without German authorization, firearms, radios, and other verboten objects. Assuredly, the Germans directed far greater attention to fugitive Jews than to Polish "black marketers". Also, Gross overlooks the fact that German officials could often be bribed to spare from death a Pole who was caught "black marketeering", etc., but seldom for helping a Jew.
Gross also falsely conflates the risk of Polish participation in the Underground with that of hiding Jews. In actuality, successful participation in the Underground required one to live an inconspicuous double life that was in some ways the opposite of the overt risky behaviors necessary to save Jews. Numerous Polish guerillas nevertheless fell into German hands. Gross also exaggerates the significance of Poles covering up for each other. Contrary to Gross' selectively quoted anecdotes, membership in the Underground was a closely-guarded secret. Even close neighbors often had no inkling of each other's involvement in the Underground until they both came out in open warfare during Operation Burza (Tempest) during the closing months of the German occupation.
Despite significant efforts by the Underground to hide them, some 50% of all educated Poles were found and murdered by the Germans. Hiding a fugitive Jew from the Germans was far harder than hiding a fugitive Pole, as most Polish Jews had easily recognizable characteristics, and didn't blend readily into Polish society. Gross also ignores the fact that all Polish Underground activity was carefully weighed for maximum military benefit for the cost in terms of German reprisals. More extensive assistance to Jews would have triggered commensurate German action against Poles, and excessive incitement of German terror, resulting from any Underground action(s), would have discredited the Underground in the eyes of the Polish population.
Gross engages in blatant circular reasoning when he (selectively) cites some Polish rescuers of Jews who claim not to have been intimidated by the death penalty in order to "prove" its unimportance in the rescue of Jews. That's like going to a convention of blue-car owners, and, examining the cars parked there, arguing that all US cars are blue. Most absurd of all is Gross' mention of the Warsaw Uprising as evidence of the irrelevance of the death penalty in informing Polish conduct. In actuality, the Uprising was planned to eject the Germans within a few days, with minimal casualties, just prior to the arrival of the Red Army. No one could have foreseen the Soviet betrayal and ensuing 63-day agony, the deaths by combat and murder of a quarter million Poles, and subsequent destruction of Warsaw by vindictive Germans.
Gross takes a cheap shot at Polish heroism by falsely asserting that the absence of a collaborationist government in Poland was only due to Germans unwillingness. In actuality, Prince Janusz Radziwill and several other semi-prominent Poles were approached by the Germans as prospective Quislings for a (...) Polish puppet state, but they all refused (Lukas. 1986. THE FORGOTTEN HOLOCAUST, pp. 111-113). (Nor is it correct that Poles eschewed organized collaboration because of the brutality of German conduct against them. Other Slavic untermenschen were treated little better, yet some of them formed organized collaborationist units).
Ironically and unwittingly, Gross undermines two canons of conventional Holocaust thinking: The one that belittles Polish suffering (e. g. "collateral damage"), and the one that insinuates that Poles implicitly led quasi-normal lives ("spectators" of the Jewish catastrophe). According to Gross, Poles could never have survived on the meager food rations allowed by the Germans (pp. 118-119; whence the Polish "black marketeering"). Moreover, German killing of Poles was so indiscriminate and widespread that Poles obedient to German dictates were little safer than violators. Sounds like Polish and Jewish victimization, on a per capita basis, was much less different than commonly portrayed! In any case, how can Poles be blamed for not saving more Jews when Poles themselves faced a desperate shortage of food, and were otherwise necessarily preoccupied with their OWN physical survival under the German occupation?
Intriguing Exploration Of European Retribution After WW II!.......2002-10-16
It's an old and acknowledged saw that "to the victors go the spoils". What should be added to this splendidly commonplace bit of street lore is the similarly well-acknowledged fact that it is indeed the victors who get to write and thereby promulgate the official version of history, interpreting it to their advantage, giving it such spin, direction, and body language as needed to serve the perceived needs and political purposes of the present. In this sense the historical treatment of the past, especially the recent past, tells us volumes about what forces exist to warp into particular forms and modes today. This is especially true in this absorbing and well-edited series of essays by a number of noted historians and critics relating to the subject of the relative merits of the retribution process in Europe following the conclusion of the Second World War.
As is likely true for all conflicts, the punishment delivered in the aftermath of the war was by no means fair, equitable, or necessarily deserved by those it was haphazardly visited upon, and some who deserved to be punished walked away unblemished, while others who did nothing wrong were falsely accused and punished. Indeed, one of the consistent themes in these essays is the degree to which the captive people of Europe engaged in what has to be recognized as being a widespread accommodation and cooperation with the Nazi authorities and their lackeys. Yet although their were obvious many who escaped getting their just desserts, and many more who were unfairly castigated and punished, by and large the effort at social retribution after the war appears to have served a wider and more useful role in expiating the collective guilt and anxiety that literally permeated the continent in the wake of the war's end.
This is a fine collection of essays that seek to address the complex welter of needs, drives, and issues that had to be settled in the postwar period, and among the competing strands of thoughts and arguments one finds that the historical interpretation of the past was indeed manipulated and bastardized, often at the expense of specific groups and individuals, who had to suffer the continuing social indifference to the injuries they had suffered, or worse, the accusation and punishment for deeds they either did not commit, or that they had committed in such a strange and sordid set of constraining circumstances that to make an issue our of it was existentially absurd. It is in this sense that a kind of selective amnesia overtook many of the survivors, such that they repressed the ugly truth in favor of more palatable and pleasing fictions.
Of course, many of the issues discussed here are neither fully resolved nor completely played out. Just as many of the events of the war itself found their genesis in attitudes and cultural predispositions formed long before the war, so too, do many of the issues and dilemmas of the present find their antecedents in facts and circumstances located in postwar activities, and these may never be resolved. Whether talking about ethnic differences within a specific country or cultural predispositions existing between reviving cultures, many of the complex issues and concerns threading through these essays may never be resolved. This is a fascinating and quite worthwhile book, and one I am sure you would benefit from. Enjoy!
Average customer rating:
- More conversations---Chemical Heritage magazine
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Candid Science II: Conversations with Famous Biomedical Scientists
Istvan Hargittai
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
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ASIN: 1860942881 |
Book Description
This invaluable book contains 36 interviews, including 26 with Nobel laureates. It presents a cross-section of biomedical science, a field that has been dominant in science for the past half century. The in-depth conversations cover important research areas and discoveries, as well as the roads to these discoveries, including aspects of the scientists' work that never saw publication. They also bring out the humanness of the famous scientists - the reader learns about their backgrounds, aspirations, failings, and triumphs. The book is illustrated with snapshots of the conversations and photos provided by the interviewees. It is a follow-up to the critically acclaimed Candid Science: Conversations with Famous Chemists, by the same author.
Customer Reviews:
More conversations---Chemical Heritage magazine.......2003-03-13
During his six-year tenure as Editor-in-Chief of The Chemical Intelligencer, István Hargittai, sometimes with his wife Magdi, interviewed more than 120 eminent scientists, more than half of whom were Nobel laureates....
Hargittai seeks to elicit the stories behind the most important achievements in twentieth-century biomedicine directly from some of their most eminent participants. They tell us about their backgrounds, families and lives, both personal and professional, childhoods (Like me or others of my generation, some had chemistry sets or were inspired by Paul de Kruif¡¦s Microbe Hunters or Sinclair Lewis¡¦ Arrowsmith), influences and career choices, motivations, aspirations, heroes (scientific or otherwise), mentors, hardships and triumphs, philosophies, hobbies and nonscientific interests (several are accomplished musicians), and their seminal discoveries.
Nobel laureates describe how the prize affected their lives, research, and careers. Most are modest and admit the role of luck in their good fortune (Kary B. Mullis is the sole exception). In reply to Hargittai¡¦s serious questions a number of the conversations are laced with humor.
Each interview is prefaced with a biographical sketch and includes one or more portraits of the interviewee, many photographed by Hargittai or his wife. The volume contains 176 illustrations of apparatus, formal and informal group portraits, notebooks, letters, models, commemorative postage stamps, plaques, and drawings. Three of the interviewees are now deceased, underscoring the importance of such oral histories. Several scientists discuss their differences with other scientists and competitors.
On the whole, however, most of the scientists are well acquainted with each other and are mutually supportive, and their names crop up frequently in each other¡¦s interviews. Some offer suggestions as to Nobel-caliber scientists whose candidacy was overlooked.ýnAn unusually high proportion of the interviewees (at least 22) are Jewish, so the issues of Judaism, the Holocaust, and anti-Semitism are discussed by many of them.
In his preface Hargittai states, ¡§The science of the second half of the 20th century was dominated by the biomedical fields and this is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. The present selection of interviews gives a cross section covering a broad range of topics, personalities, and circumstances of recording.¡¨ I agree with Hargittai¡¦s assessment and heartily recommend his book, suitable for both complete reading or browsing, to biomedical scientists, biochemists, chemists, historians of chemistry and or science, and general readers interested in the ¡§inside story¡¨ of the workings of 20th century science.
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Development Strategy and Management of the Market Economy: Volume II (Development Strategy & Management of the Market Economy)
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 0198292503 |
Book Description
These companion volumes examine the highly topical issue of the adequacy of markets as an instrument of economic and social development. In this era of transition and experimentation in economic management by governments, a group of prominent international economists was brought together to distill their thinking on the changing role of government in the development process. The first volume discusses the broad questions; the second volume breaks down the analysis into more detailed topics.
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Istvan II (1116-1131)
John Tuzson
Manufacturer: East European Monographs
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ASIN: 0880335009 |
Book Description
Hungarian historical writing has long been distorted by the culture of the historians: the 300-year long Habsburg German-Austrian rule, the nationlistic concepts of the nineteenth century, and more recently, the Communist doctrines. This work corrects these biases by reassessing the bad reputation of the orphan Hungarian king, Istvan II.
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Strength from Weakness: Structural Consequences of Weak Interactions in Molecules, Supermolecules, and Crystals (NATO Science Series II: Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry)
Manufacturer: Springer
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ASIN: 1402007108 |
Book Description
The accurate determination of the structure of molecular systems provides information about the consequences of weak interactions both within and between molecules. These consequences impact the properties of the materials and the behaviour in interactions with other substances. The book presents modern experimental and computational techniques for the determination of molecular structure. It also highlights applications ranging from the simplest molecules to DNA and industrially significant materials.
Readership: Graduate students and researchers in structural chemistry, computational chemistry, molecular spectroscopy, crystallography, supramolecular chemistry, solid state chemistry and physics, and materials science.
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With the Hungarian Independence Movement, 1943-1947: An Eyewitness Account
Istvan Szent-Miklosy
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0275925749 |
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The Magyar Fuggetlensegi Mozgalom (Hungarian Independence Movement or MFM) played an important role in the history of Hungary in the latter part of World War II and the years immediately after. The bulk of this volume is based on Szent-Miklosy's personal experiences as a participant in the activities of the MFM. The author, the last survivor in the West of the MFM, describes the unsuccessful attempts of the group first to assist efforts to obtain an armistice with the Allies and to save the Jewish population of Budapest, and then to introduce a Western-style democratic political system into Hungary. He also identifies the causes of the movement's failures, causes that lay not just in the actions of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, but also in the ambivalent foreign policies of France, Great Britain, and the United States, as well as in the shortcomings of Hungarian leadership. The author concludes that despite the eventual failure of the MFM its various efforts had to be made in order to demonstrate Hungary's commitment to Western European culture, independence, Hungarians living outside its borders, the defense of the Jewish population, and a Western-style of democracy.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Australian Journal of Politics and History, published by University of Queensland Press on September 1, 2001. The length of the article is 532 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Politics of Retribution in Europe: World War II and its Aftermath.(Review)
Author: R.j.b. Bobsworth
Publication:
The Australian Journal of Politics and History (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2001
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Volume: 47
Issue: 3
Page: 443
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Customer Reviews:
A NICE BOOK.......2007-05-28
THIS IS ABOUT MARK MESSIER FORMER NHL GREAT. THE BOOK COVERS THE CAREER OF MESSIER AND A BIT OF HIS PRIVATE LIFE. MOST OF THE BOOK IS ABOUT HIS CAREER WITH THE NEW YORK RANGERS AND HIS LEADERSHIP THAT HELP THEM FINALLY WIN A STANLEY CUP. THE BOOK IS NOT WRITTEN GREAT DETAIL BUT STILL IS INTERESTING AND MOVES ALONG. I FOUND SOME OF HIGHLIGHTS WERE HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH GRETZKY, HIS BURNING DESIRE TO WIN AND THE BIG EGO AND THE HIGH MAINTENANCE HE REQUIRES TO KEEP HIM HAPPY AND TO PLAY HARD. IT IS A NICE EASY READ AND IS ENTERTAINING. RECOMMENDED.
Generic Fluff.......2002-10-13
Mark Messier is and always will be my favorite hockey player but this book provides no original insight into his character whatsoever. The book offers the same repetitve praise over and over about what great leader he is without ever touching upon the other sides of his personality, particularly the darker and more personal aspects that we don't get to read about in the paper. This book could have been written in a week.
The Mess is all cleaned up.......2000-09-01
A great read....filled with insights and facts on how messier became the great player he is today. Great perspectives on mess from players to coaches to writers. A must read for hockey fans of all ages.
Refreshing!.......2000-08-17
Well written! Keeps you interested and waiting to find out what happens next. Mr. Carpiniello has given the reader a lovely glimpse into the career of a wonderful athlete. As a hockey mom whose son greatly admires this superstar, I am grateful for a biography that celebrates the leader, the nice guy. In answer to "Horrible", who cares whom the athletes go out with and who doesn't assume that they do? Fill in the blanks or read Jackie Collins. On target to what the sport is about. The hard work, the dedication and the will to win! Well done!
Refreshing!.......2000-08-17
Well written! Keeps you interested and waiting to find out what happens next. Mr. Carpiniello has given the reader a lovely glimpse into the career of a wonderful athlete. As a hockey mom whose son greatly admires this superstar, I am grateful for a biography that celebrates the leader, the nice guy. In answer to "Horrible", who cares whom the athletes go out with and who doesn't assume that they do? Fill in the blanks or read Jackie Collins. On target to what the sport is about. The hard work, the dedication and the will to win! Well done!
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