Writing the Comprehensive History of the Holocaust in Poland the Panel

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Writing The Comprehensive History of the Holocaust in Poland The panel includes scholars who are planning and writing a one-volume history of the Holocaust in Poland as part of Yad Vashem’s series The Comprehensive History of the Holocaust. This volume is one of the most complex and difficult to write, since Poland was divided into so many parts and was the scene for the persecution and murder of so many people. The scholars currently writing the book are Havi Dreifuss, David Engel, Barbara Engelking, Jan Grabowski, Samuel Kassow, and David Silberklang. The panel will present the book’s concept, approach, and basic research questions and themes, as well as several sections. The Comprehensive History of the Holocaust in Poland seeks to describe and analyze an overall picture of the period and to facilitate a better understanding of the events. This synthetic account will consider different perspectives and underscore the diversity of Jewish experience shaped by regional, social, and political differences. Among the questions and issues addressed: - To what extent was the Holocaust in Poland similar to or different from events unfolding elsewhere in Europe, the terror facing the Poles, and Jewish experience elsewhere? - What dilemmas did the various actors face and what choices did they make? Issues such as civil courage, choiceless choices, fear, greed, impunity, enablement, exploitation, social pressure, friendship, the place of Jews in the universe of social and moral responsibility, and more, will be addressed. - What was the impact of the fateful interplay of Nazi ideology and total war regarding the murder of Polish Jewry? - Jewish individual and communal agency in the face of unprecedented and intensifying persecution. - Bystanders or carrying the burden of being a witness? - Why was the Holocaust in Poland so complete? .

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