The Jewish 100

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John Borneman and Jeffrey M. Peck

This absorbing book of interviews takes one to the heart of modern German Jewish history. Of the eleven German Jews interviewed, four are from West Berlin, and seven are from East Berlin. The interviews provide an exceptionally varied and intimate portrait of Jewish experience in twentieth-century Germany. There are first-hand accounts of the Weimar Republic, the Nazi era, the Holocaust, and the divided Germany of the Cold War era. There are also vivid descriptions of the new united Germany, with its alarming resurgence of xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Some of the men and women interviewed affirm their dual German and Jewish identities with vigor. There is the West Berliner, for instance, who proclaims, "I am a German Jew. I want to live here." Others describe the impossibility of being both German and Jewish: "I don't have anything in common with the whole German people." Many confess to profound ambivalence, such as the East Berliner who feels that he is neither a native nor a foreigner in Germany: "If someone asks me, 'Who are you?' then I can only say, 'I am a fish out of water.'"

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Hanna Davidson Pankowsky

On September 27, 1939, after the Nazi invasion, Poland ceased to exist as a nation. Ten-year-old Hanna Davidson's father, Simon, and older brother, Kazik, had been drafted to defend Warsaw. Hanna and her mother, Sophia, found themselves subjected to Hitler's efforts to dehumanize Poland's Jewish population. But when they got word that Simon and Kazik were alive in the Soviet-occupied zone of Poland, Hanna and her mother decided to risk a harrowing escape from Nazi Poland into safer Soviet territory. With only the clothes on their backs, they left their apartment. If the two-percent chance of surviving the crossing were not daunting enough, then the Davidsons' prospects in the Soviet Union should have been. Simon Davidson's capitalist and anti-communist activities in Poland would brand him an undesirable. Worse, he had been born in Russia - escaping years before by fooling Soviet authorities into presuming him dead - and his resurfacing would endanger those members of his family who remained behind. So the Davidsons were compelled to invent and memorize not only their own new identities but also an extended family history. Moreover, avoiding persecution by the Soviet regime entailed maintaining a pretense of allegiance to Stalin. As recounted by Hanna, the Davidsons' journey into the Soviet interior makes for a singular story.

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Paul Kresh

A biography of the successful composer of musical comedies, popular songs, symphonic works, and the opera "Porgy and Bess."

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Desmond Seward

When the Jews revolted against Rome in 66 CE, Josephus, a Jerusalem aristocrat, was made a general in his nation's army. Captured by the Romans, he saved his skin by finding favor with the emperor Vespasian. He then served as an adviser to the Roman legions, running a network of spies inside Jerusalem, in the belief that the Jews' only hope of survival lay in surrender to Rome. As a Jewish eyewitness who was given access to Vespasian's campaign notebooks, Josephus is our only source of information for the war of extermination that ended in the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, and the amazing times in which he lived. He is of vital importance for anyone interested in the Middle East, Jewish history, and the early history of Christianity.