ANTISEMITISM and TERRORISM March 27, 2004

Related Reading

Below are books written on the Holocaust by this year's speakers and presenters. A small number of these books will be available at the conference for purchase.

A Century of Ambivalence: The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union, 1881 to the Present
Zvi Gitelman

A century ago the Russian Empire contained the largest Jewish community in the world, numbering about five million people. Today, the Jewish population of the former Soviet Union has dwindled to half a million, but remains probably the world's third largest Jewish community. In the intervening century the Jews of that area have been at the center of some of the most dramatic events of modern history-two world wars, revolutions, pogroms, political liberation, repression, and the collapse of the USSR. They have gone through tumultuous upward and downward economic and social mobility and experienced great enthusiasms and profound disappointments. In startling photographs from the archives of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and with a lively and lucid narrative, A Century of Ambivalence traces the historical experience of Jews in Russia from a period of creativity and repression in the second half of the 19th century through the paradoxes posed by the post-Soviet era. This redesigned edition, which includes more than 200 photographs and two substantial new chapters on the fate of Jews and Judaism in the former Soviet Union, is ideal for general readers and classroom use. Source: The Publisher

ISBN: 0-253-33811-5 (hardcover), 0-253-21418-1 (softcover)

Jewish Life after the USSR
Zvi Gitelman, Musya Glants and Marshall I. Goldman

A study by leading experts of the cultural, political, demographic and social evolution of Jewish religious and communal life after the fall of the Soviet Union in regions that still encompass one of the largest Jewish diaspora populations.

Since the late 1980s, one of the world's largest Jewish populations has faced a unique delemma: at the very time it has gained unprecedented freedoms, Soviet and post-Soviet Jewry has encountered political uncertainty, economic instability, and resurgent antisemitism. A population teetering simultaneously on the edge of decline and revival, Jews in the former Soviet Union have to decide whether to take advantage of the new opportunity to revive Jewish life and rebuild Jewish communities, live in the newly established states but disappear as Jews, or abandon their former homes and emigrate to Israel or elsewhere.

Jewish Life after the USSR is the first book to study post-Soviet Jewry in depth. Its careful analyses of demographic, cultural, political, and ethnic processes affecting an important post-Soviet population also give insights into larger developments in the post-Soviet states. A fine-grained snapshot of one of the world's great Jewish centers, the volume is essential reading for those seaking to understand the past, present, and future of post-Soviet Jewry.

ISBN: 0-253-34162-0 (hardcover), 0-253-21556-0 (softcover)

Echoes from Auschwitz: Dr. Mengele's Twins: The Story of Eva & Miriam Mozes
Eva Kor, Mary Wright

ISBN: 0-964-38075-7 (hardcover), 0-964-38076-5 (softcover)

Little Eva & Miriam
Eva Kor

Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz
Lucette Matalon Lagnado, Sheila C. Dekel

Mengele was in charge of the ``selection process'' at the death camp Auschwitz, but he was also a genetic scientist with a special interest in twins. During the war he subjected some 3000 twins, mostly young, to experiments of unspeakable horror. Only 160 of them were alive when the Russians liberated Auschwitz in 1945. The authors have interviewed several of the surviving twins and here present their stories, including details of their postwar lives. One especially disturbing aspect of the book is the fact that some of the victims remember Mengele as a charming father-substitute in whom they yearned to place their trust. There are glimpses of Mengele joking with the children, taking them on outings, hugging them. One survivor insists he was gentle; another flatly states that he ``loved little children.'' Woven skillfully into the narrative is a formal and engrossing biography of Mengele himself, his family background, his wartime career, his escape to South America, his years in hiding. None of the surviving twins believes that the remains found in Brazil in 1985 are those of the death-camp doctor; according to the authors, they are certain that Mengele has succeeded in ``tricking the world yet another time.'' An important addition to the literature of the Holocaust. Lagnado is a freelance writer, Dekel is the widow of an Auschwitz twin. Source: Publisher's Weekly

ISBN: 0-140-16931-8 (softcover)

I Shall Not Die!
Hart N. Hasten

As a child in Europe during World War II, Hart N. Hasten endured unimaginable sufferings. Fleeing from Nazi-occupied Poland to Khazakhstan, the Hasten family eked out an existence of day-to-day survival. In spite of the starvation, deprivation and persecution, Hart and his family survived, only to learn of the decimation of virtually the entire Jewish population of their hometown Bohorodczany, including the extended Hasten family.

With steadfast commitment to the words 'I Shall Not Die!' Hart immigrated to the United States, and diligently worked his way towards professional and personal success. From his astonishing talents in business management, to his equally impressive gift for communal fundraising; from building a loving, Jewish home to forging relationships with Israeli politicians and international statesmen, Hart Hasten's life is one of purpose and achievement, courage and direction, that has led him to the Knesset, to the White House, and to friendships with people who have shaped the course of modern history. Most notable was his intimate friendship with former Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin.

Through all this, Hart Hasten has never compromised his principles, his heritage, nor his religion, and has shown that not only would he 'not die', but he would 'live', in the fullest and most glorious sense of the word.

ISBN: 9-652-29302-4