Whose Holocaust?

 

For much of Europe, today is the UN-designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has dedicated his address this year to children murdered by the Nazis, with the message that "the best tribute to the memory of these children is an ongoing effort to teach the universal lessons of the Holocaust, so that no such horror is visited upon future generations."

SAVE "Whose Holocaust?"

2011: A Year in Books

 

The holidays are over, the coffee-table books have all been unwrapped and set aside, and winter isn't going anywhere for a while. In short, it's time to settle in for some good reading. The literary critic D. G. Myers here presents the 38 best Jewish books of 2011, all of which merit your attention.

2010: A Year in Books  D.G. Myers,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  From the popular to the scholarly, a reader's and buyer's guide to 34 of the best books of 2010.  SAVE

Retrieving American Jewish Fiction  D.G. Myers,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  A historical symposium of some neglected classics, and an introduction to the avot and imahot of American Jewish writing.  SAVE

SAVE "2011: A Year in Books"

The Trouble with Hitchens

 

When Christopher Hitchens passed away yesterday at the age of 62, the encomia started pouring in almost immediately. Most of this praise is deserved, as the acumen of Hitchens's muscular criticism and the wit of his ripostes will be with us for a long time to come.

SAVE "The Trouble with Hitchens"

Terror Out of Zion

 

There is no love lost between the British Foreign Office and Israel. In a report to parliament last month, Foreign Minister William Hague condemned Israel for building in Jerusalem, being in the West Bank, and treating the present Gaza regime like the enemy it is.

Israel Eldad Remembered  Israel National Television.  Historian Zev Golan and Aryeh Eldad, Israel Eldad's son and a member of the Israeli Knesset, discuss the ideas of one of Lehi's triumvirate of leaders. (Video)  SAVE

Hunting Season  Etzel Museum.  The 1944 assassination by FFI operatives of Britain's top man in the Middle East ignited a fierce reaction by the Zionist establishment.  SAVE

Stern's Son Denies Plot to Kill Churchill  Joshua Hamerman,  Jerusalem Post.  In 1945, British officials in London feared that FFI's assassination targets might include the prime minister himself.  SAVE

SAVE "Terror Out of Zion"

View More in Holocaust

Insight & Analysis

History without Witnesses  Deborah E. Lipstadt.  Jewish Week.  As the Holocaust disappears from living memory, what matters is not who is speaking but who is listening.  SAVE

Bringing Darkness to Light  Eva Fogelman.  Forward.  Agnieszka Holland's Oscar-nominated In Darkness is a vivid and nuanced portrayal of Jews escaping wartime Poland and an important testament to the righteousness of their rescuer.  SAVE

Revisiting the Reich  Ron Rosenbaum.  Smithsonian.  William L. Shirer's 1960 history of the Third Reich remains the seminal account of the philosophical roots of Nazism and a stark warning of the dangers of mass political movements.  SAVE

Arendt in Jerusalem  Sol Stern.  City Journal.  With their monumental errors of political and moral judgment, Hannah Arendt's writings on Zionism, Israel, and the Holocaust have metastasized into a destructive legacy.  SAVE

Why the Nazis Hated Jazz  J.J. Gould.  Atlantic.  For one thing, there are the "Jewishly gloomy lyrics," set against the "hysterical rhythmic reverses characteristic of the barbarian races." Dig?.  SAVE

An Eye for Genius  Arthur Lubow.  Smithsonian.  When Leo Stein first saw Matisse's Woman with a Hat, he thought it "the nastiest smear of paint" he had ever encountered. But for five weeks, he and his sister Gertrude went repeatedly to look at it.  SAVE

Pound Foolish  John Stoehr.  Forward.  While Pound hailed Hitler, and Gertrude Stein cheered Franco, William Carlos Williams eschewed doctrine and orthodoxy. Herbert Leibowitz's compelling new biography of the modernist poet shows why.  SAVE

Powered by eResources