The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust

New York University Press announces with pride the publication of a remarkable project, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life before and during the Holocaust. Edited by Dr. Shmuel Spector and the late Dr. Geoffrey Wigoder and published in conjunction with Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Remembrance Authority of Israel, the Encyclopedia represents the fruit of more than three decades of labor and stands as one of the most important and ambitious projects the Press has published. Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel contributed the foreword. Today throughout much of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, only fragmentary remnants of once thriving Jewish communities can be found as evidence of more than two thousand years of vibrant Jewish presence among the nations of the world. These communities, many of them ancient, were systematically destroyed by Hitler's forces during the Holocaust. Yet each of their stories-from small village enclaves to large urban centers-is unique in its details and represents one of the countless intertwined threads that comprise the rich tapestry of Jewish history. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life before and during the Holocaust captures these lost images.In three volumes, it chronicles the people, habits and customs of more than 6,500 Jewish communities that thrived during the early part of the twentieth century only to be changed irrevocably by the war. It clarifies precise locations of settlements based on documents and maps found in recently opened archives; it traces their development through history; it shares small details of everyday life-the culture, the politics, and the faith that inspired the people; and its photographs put faces on the immeasurable loss.Based on decades of research at Yad Vashem, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life before and during the Holocaust tells the story of thousands of Jewish communities in concise prose, illustrated with maps and poignant images of a world that can no longer be visited. The Encyclopedia is a rich source of information for students, teachers, genealogists and anyone interested in the pageant of Jewish life through the ages.From the Foreword "But the enemy did not only annihilate individuals; his aim was also to destroy our social structures, our economic foundations, religious and secular, our schools, our institutions, our libraries, our workshops, our synagogues, our cultural centers-in a word: our communities...In the Jewish world one knew a town by its Jewish life. Belz and Munkacs, Bialystok and Amsterdam, Kiev and Lille and Zablotow-offering families and individuals a sense of security and countless opportunities for fulfillment, each community had its own particular characteristics and problems, its roots, its challenges, and its ambitions...To understand the extent of the unprecedented crimes committed against the Jewish people in Europe is not enough; one must also seek to understand the life of this people before the catastrophe." --Elie Wiesel Features -Three volumes -1,824 pages -81/2 x 11 -More than 6,500 communities profiled -600 b&w photographs and illustrations -17 pages of maps -21-page glossary -Complete bibliography -Index of communities including alternate spellings and pronunciations -Index of personalities

Winner of National Jewish Book Award (Reference) 2001

“"There's been so much written about the Holocaust itself, but this will show the great sweep of Jewish culture that existed before." -Francine Klagsbrun,author of Jewish Days”

"Monumental ... The book provides a wealth of information" --Jewish Virtual Library "The Encylopedia of Jewish Life will be a standard ... for a long time." --Religious Studies Review "This important and well-illustrated summary of the 22-volume Hebrew-language Pinkasei Kehillot provides information often hard to find about some 6,500 European (and some North African) Jewish communities that were destroyed or greatly affected by the Holocaust ... Highly recommended" --Choice "Rich and rewarding, of inestimable value" --Elie Wiesel "Majestic... thousands of entries explore centuries of Jewish life... Each entry provides vital information on the town's Jewish inhabitants on the eve of German occupation, gives the dates of Jewish roundups and mass executions and estimates how many Jews from that community survived the war... But the encyclopedia offers more than statistics: the numbers come to life through more than 600 black-and-white photographs, most of which are from the archives of Israel's Yad Vashem museum... This three-volume set is a required acquisition for libraries and anyone interested in Jewish studies." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "Most of the research and writing on the Holocaust documents the process of destruction and not what was destroyed. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust fills that gap, and does so in a comprehensive and exacting fashion. It is a welcome addition." --Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies Director, Institute for Jewish Studies Emory University "Based on extensive archival and bibliographic research, the Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust is a major contribution to modern Jewish history. The entries are precise, clear and reliable. The photos are priceless and often rare. This work will be indispensable to scholars and the general public." --Jehuda Reinharz, Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History and President, Brandeis University "Eagerly awaited" --Library Journal, April 15, 2002 "Beautiful...an outstanding tribute to the vanished communities as well as a valuable document. It shows users how old and respecte communities such as that of Tunis, dating from the tenth century B.C.E., and Vilna, from the fifteenth century A.D., were systematically destroyed. By preserving their memory, the editors have created a valuable resource for students, scholars, genealogists, and anyone interested in modern history. They have given the dead a monument and a name." --Booklist "The most comprehensive work of its kind in English." -- Hadassah Magazine

Dr. Shmuel Spector is an editor, teacher and writer. Formerly the secretary general of Yad Vashem, he is currently the director of the Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities project. Geoffrey Wigoder was Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia Judaica. Fred Skolnik is senior editor for the Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (NYU Press, 2001).

New York University Press announces with pride the publication of a remarkable project, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life before and during the Holocaust. Edited by Dr. Shmuel Spector and the late Dr. Geoffrey Wigoder and published in conjunction with Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Remembrance Authority of Israel, the Encyclopedia represents the fruit of more than three decades of labor and stands as one of the most important and ambitious projects the Press has published. Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel contributed the foreword. Today throughout much of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, only fragmentary remnants of once thriving Jewish communities can be found as evidence of more than two thousand years of vibrant Jewish presence among the nations of the world. These communities, many of them ancient, were systematically destroyed by Hitler's forces during the Holocaust. Yet each of their stories-from small village enclaves to large urban centers-is unique in its details and represents one of the countless intertwined threads that comprise the rich tapestry of Jewish history. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life before and during the Holocaust captures these lost images. In three volumes, it chronicles the people, habits and customs of more than 6,500 Jewish communities that thrived during the early part of the twentieth century only to be changed irrevocably by the war. It clarifies precise locations of settlements based on documents and maps found in recently opened archives; it traces their development through history; it shares small details of everyday life-the culture, the politics, and the faith that inspired the people; and its photographs put faces on the immeasurable loss.Based on decades of research at Yad Vashem, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life before and during the Holocaust tells the story of thousands of Jewish communities in concise prose, illustrated with maps and poignant images of a world that can no longer be visited. The Encyclopedia is a rich source of information for students, teachers, genealogists and anyone interested in the pageant of Jewish life through the ages. From the Foreword "But the enemy did not only annihilate individuals; his aim was also to destroy our social structures, our economic foundations, religious and secular, our schools, our institutions, our libraries, our workshops, our synagogues, our cultural centers-in a word: our communities...In the Jewish world one knew a town by its Jewish life. Belz and Munkacs, Bialystok and Amsterdam, Kiev and Lille and Zablotow-offering families and individuals a sense of security and countless opportunities for fulfillment, each community had its own particular characteristics and problems, its roots, its challenges, and its ambitions...To understand the extent of the unprecedented crimes committed against the Jewish people in Europe is not enough; one must also seek to understand the life of this people before the catastrophe." --Elie Wiesel Features -Three volumes -1,824 pages -81/2 x 11 -More than 6,500 communities profiled -600 b&w photographs and illustrations -17 pages of maps -21-page glossary -Complete bibliography -Index of communities including alternate spellings and pronunciations -Index of personalities

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