Jews, Germans, and Allies: Close Encounters in Occupied Germany. By Atina Grossmann. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. 2007. Pp. 393. Cloth $35.00. ISBN 978-0691-08971-3.

摘要

For several years following World War II, occupied Germany was the center ofrnJewish life in Europe. In 1947 close to a quarter million Jews resided there, thernmajority of them in the Displaced Persons (DP) camps in the American Zone.rnAnd, yet, the social history of the Jews, Germans, and Americans in this period,rnso important to future developments both in Germany and internationally, hasrnbeen neglected by historians. Atina Grossmann has done much to fill this gap inrnour historical knowledge by focusing on the “historical triangle” of Germans,rnJews, and Americans that defined the immediate postwar era. Rather thanviewing the three groups in isolation, her book examines the “interactions,rnencounters, and confrontations” among them, and effectively challenges thern“persistent division between German history and the history of Jews inrnGermany that still characterizes much of our work on modern and contempo-rnrary Germany” (p. 13). She effectively weaves personal and journalistic accountsrnwith extensive archival research to create a compelling narrative.