The Last Million

The Last Million PDF Author: David Nasaw
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1594206732
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 672

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Book Description
From bestselling author David Nasaw, a sweeping new history of the one million refugees left behind in Germany after WWII In May 1945, German forces surrendered to the Allied powers, putting an end to World War II in Europe. But the aftershocks of global military conflict did not cease with the German capitulation. Millions of lost and homeless concentration camp survivors, POWs, slave laborers, political prisoners, and Nazi collaborators in flight from the Red Army overwhelmed Germany, a nation in ruins. British and American soldiers gathered the malnourished and desperate refugees and attempted to repatriate them. But after exhaustive efforts, there remained more than a million displaced persons left behind in Germany: Jews, Poles, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, and other Eastern Europeans who refused to go home or had no homes to return to. The Last Million would spend the next three to five years in displaced persons camps, temporary homelands in exile divided by nationality, with their own police forces, churches and synagogues, schools, newspapers, theaters, and infirmaries. The international community could not agree on the fate of the Last Million, and after a year of debate and inaction, the International Refugee Organization was created to resettle them in lands suffering from postwar labor shortages. But no nations were willing to accept the 200,000 to 250,000 Jewish men, women, and children who remained trapped in Germany. In 1948, the United States, among the last countries to accept refugees for resettlement, finally passed a displaced persons bill. With Cold War fears supplanting memories of World War II atrocities, the bill granted the vast majority of visas to those who were reliably anti-Communist, including thousands of former Nazi collaborators and war criminals, while severely limiting the entry of Jews, who were suspected of being Communist sympathizers or agents because they had been recent residents of Soviet-dominated Poland. Only after the controversial partition of Palestine and Israel's declaration of independence were the remaining Jewish survivors able to leave their displaced persons camps in Germany. A masterwork from acclaimed historian David Nasaw, The Last Million tells the gripping yet until now largely hidden story of postwar displacement and statelessness. By 1952, the Last Million were scattered around the world. As they crossed from their broken past into an unknowable future, they carried with them their wounds, their fears, their hope, and their secrets. Here for the first time, Nasaw illuminates their incredible history and, with profound contemporary resonance, shows us that it is our history as well.

Vengeance of the Swallows

Vengeance of the Swallows PDF Author: Tadeusz Piotrowski
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Forced to endure occupation by both the Soviets and the Nazis, the authors family also faced the terror of Ukrainian "ethnic cleansing" by nationalist forces. The horror of the Nazi forced-labor camps wherein millions of Europeans were enslaved by the Third Reich is vividly recounted, as is the familys time in displaced persons (DP) camps. The authors family along with hundreds of thousands of refugees, unable or unwilling to return to their countries of origin, waited for their opportunity to emigrate in these camps under the American Occupation Forces. Piotrowski also details their subsequent immigration to America. The author based his research on family memories and recorded accounts; U.S. interviews and European published oral histories; informal discussions; published English, Polish, Ukrainian, German, and Russian sources; U.N. documents and Nuremberg testimonies; and recent information from Wars

The Last Million

The Last Million PDF Author: David Nasaw
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1594206732
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 672

Get Book Here

Book Description
From bestselling author David Nasaw, a sweeping new history of the one million refugees left behind in Germany after WWII In May 1945, German forces surrendered to the Allied powers, putting an end to World War II in Europe. But the aftershocks of global military conflict did not cease with the German capitulation. Millions of lost and homeless concentration camp survivors, POWs, slave laborers, political prisoners, and Nazi collaborators in flight from the Red Army overwhelmed Germany, a nation in ruins. British and American soldiers gathered the malnourished and desperate refugees and attempted to repatriate them. But after exhaustive efforts, there remained more than a million displaced persons left behind in Germany: Jews, Poles, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, and other Eastern Europeans who refused to go home or had no homes to return to. The Last Million would spend the next three to five years in displaced persons camps, temporary homelands in exile divided by nationality, with their own police forces, churches and synagogues, schools, newspapers, theaters, and infirmaries. The international community could not agree on the fate of the Last Million, and after a year of debate and inaction, the International Refugee Organization was created to resettle them in lands suffering from postwar labor shortages. But no nations were willing to accept the 200,000 to 250,000 Jewish men, women, and children who remained trapped in Germany. In 1948, the United States, among the last countries to accept refugees for resettlement, finally passed a displaced persons bill. With Cold War fears supplanting memories of World War II atrocities, the bill granted the vast majority of visas to those who were reliably anti-Communist, including thousands of former Nazi collaborators and war criminals, while severely limiting the entry of Jews, who were suspected of being Communist sympathizers or agents because they had been recent residents of Soviet-dominated Poland. Only after the controversial partition of Palestine and Israel's declaration of independence were the remaining Jewish survivors able to leave their displaced persons camps in Germany. A masterwork from acclaimed historian David Nasaw, The Last Million tells the gripping yet until now largely hidden story of postwar displacement and statelessness. By 1952, the Last Million were scattered around the world. As they crossed from their broken past into an unknowable future, they carried with them their wounds, their fears, their hope, and their secrets. Here for the first time, Nasaw illuminates their incredible history and, with profound contemporary resonance, shows us that it is our history as well.

The Abyss

The Abyss PDF Author: Niall Ferguson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101616202
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 882

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Book Description
Excerpted from Niall Ferguson’s sprawling bestseller The War of the World, The Abyss now stands on its own as one of the most thrilling short histories of World War I ever written. This is not a conventional military history about battles and generals. Rather, The Abyss examines how World War I saw the birth of total war—fought between societies as much as armies—and must therefore be understood in terms of the financial crises it unleashed, the multinational empires it destroyed, and the hateful ideas it propagated. The most remarkable thing about the war, Ferguson shows us, is how shockingly unexpected it was. At a time when economic integration and technology seemed to be rendering war between great powers impossible, World War I was the moment when that process went into reverse and the lethal forces of ethnic disintegration took over. Now, on the cusp of the 100th anniversary of its outbreak, we can see World War I as much more than just four years of industrialized slaughter. Weaving together the economics of empire and the ideology of race—and featuring an original preface by the author as well a teaser from his new paperback Civilization—The Abyss is world history at its finest.

The War of the World

The War of the World PDF Author: Niall Ferguson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101615877
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 882

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Book Description
From the bestselling author of The Ascent of Money and The Square and the Tower "Even those who have read widely in 20th-century history will find fresh, surprising details." —The Boston Globe "A fascinating read, thanks to Ferguson's gifts as a writer of clear, energetic narrative history." —The Washington Post Astonishing in its scope and erudition, this is the magnum opus that Niall Ferguson's numerous acclaimed works have been leading up to. In it, he grapples with perhaps the most challenging questions of modern history: Why was the twentieth century history's bloodiest by far? Why did unprecedented material progress go hand in hand with total war and genocide? His quest for new answers takes him from the walls of Nanjing to the bloody beaches of Normandy, from the economics of ethnic cleansing to the politics of imperial decline and fall. The result, as brilliantly written as it is vital, is a great historian's masterwork.

Genocide and Rescue in Wołyń

Genocide and Rescue in Wołyń PDF Author: Tadeusz Piotrowski
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 9780786407736
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
After the 1939 Soviet and 1941 Nazi invasions, the people of Southeast Poland underwent a third and even more terrible ordeal when they were subjected to mass genocide by the Ukrainian Nationalists. Tens of thousands of Poles were tortured and murdered, not by foreign invaders, but by their fellow citizens, who sometimes turned out to be their neighbors, relatives, and former friends. Other Ukrainians took terrible risks to protect Poles from the slaughter, and often paid for their compassion with their lives. The children who survived them vividly remember these atrocities and now, many decades later, tell their tragic tales. These accounts, never before published in English, describe the brutal murders these children witnessed, their own miraculous survival, and the heroic rescues that saved them. Demographic and other statistical information on the area is provided. Also included are appendices listing the Ukrainian victims and providing additional stories from other provinces, as well as ample Ukrainian, Polish, Soviet, German, and Jewish documentation and a comprehensive chronology. An index and bibliography are also included.

The Record

The Record PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Missions
Languages : en
Pages : 582

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Book Description


Vengeance of the Swallows

Vengeance of the Swallows PDF Author: Tadeusz Piotrowski
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476610339
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
Forced to endure occupation by both the Soviets and the Nazis, the author’s family also faced the terror of Ukrainian “ethnic cleansing” by nationalist forces. The horror of the Nazi forced-labor camps wherein millions of Europeans were enslaved is vividly recounted, as is the family’s time in displaced persons camps. Hundreds of thousands of refugees, unable or unwilling to return to their own countries, waited for the chance to enter these camps under the American Occupation Forces. The author’s family subsequently immigrated to America. The book is based on family memories and recorded accounts; U.S. interviews and European published oral histories; published English, Polish, Ukrainian, German and Russian sources; U.N. documents and Nuremberg testimonies; and recent information from Warsaw.

Robert Merry's Museum

Robert Merry's Museum PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 788

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Book Description


Harper's New Monthly Magazine

Harper's New Monthly Magazine PDF Author: Henry Mills Alden
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : American literature
Languages : en
Pages : 880

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Book Description
Harper's informs a diverse body of readers of cultural, business, political, literary and scientific affairs.

Genocide and Rescue in Wolyn

Genocide and Rescue in Wolyn PDF Author: Tadeusz Piotrowski
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476610320
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
After the 1939 Soviet and 1941 Nazi invasions, the people of Southeast Poland underwent a third and even more terrible ordeal when they were subjected to mass genocide by the Ukrainian Nationalists. Tens of thousands of Poles were tortured and murdered, not by foreign invaders, but by their fellow citizens--sometimes neighbors, relatives, and former friends. The children who survived them vividly remember these atrocities and now, many decades later, tell their tragic tales. These accounts, never before published in English, describe the brutal murders these children witnessed, their own miraculous survival, and the heroic rescues that saved them.