Journey into Terror: Story of the Riga Ghetto

by Gertrude Schneider

Overview

Gertrude Schneider, a noted Holocaust scholar and survivor, tells the story of German Jews sent east for extermination in 1941-1943, who were instead given a reprieve in order to fill essential jobs in Riga—the capital of Latvia. Amid constant waves of arrivals and killings, these Jews transformed their part of the Riga Ghetto into a structured community. This is the story of the creation and ultimate destruction of that Ghetto community based on extensive research, personal recollections, interviews, and documents from Russian, German, Israeli, and American archives.

The strange paradox of normal behavior within abnormal context is exemplified by such events as concerts and mass burials, sports and tortures, as well as friendships and love affairs between SS officers and Jews. In addition to this charged surrealistic atmosphere, a unique feature of Professor Schneider's book is her examination of the psychology of the prisoners, including a belief of the Latvian Jews that their people had been killed to make room for German Jews, and a conviction of the German Jews that they were privileged and, therefore, exempt from extermination. This book is a must read for scholars, students, and the general public interested in the Holocaust and World War II in Eastern Europe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275970505
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/28/2001
Edition description:	REVISED & EXPANDED
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

GERTRUDE SCHNEIDER is the President of the PhD Alumni Association at the City University of New York's Graduate School. Professor Schneider has lectured and written extensively on the Holocaust. Among her earlier books are Mordechai Gebirtig: His Poetic and Musical Legacy (Praeger, 2000), Exile and Destruction: The Fate of Austrian Jews, 1938-1945 (Praeger, 1995) and The Unfinished Road: Jewish Survivors of Latvia Look Back (Praeger, 1991), and Muted Voices: Jewish Survivors of Latvia Remember (1987).

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
The Jews of Riga
Jews from the Reich
Life in the Ghetto
Winter: 1941-1942
Spring: A Time for Hope
Education in the Ghetto
Zionist and Cultural Activities
Romance in the Ghetto
Resistance
The Second Winter
Summer: 1943
Concentration Camp Kaiserwald
The End of the Riga Ghetto
Epilogue
Appendix
Index

Editorial Reviews

In November and December of 1941, massacres by the resulted in the extermination of the majority of the Latvian Jewish population in the Riga Ghetto. German army personnel were furious at the resultant loss of badly needed labor power. An exchange of letters between the German army in Latvia and the SS in Berlin resulted in the tenuous survival of German Jews who had been "resettled" in the Riga Ghetto shortly after the massacres. Ultimately, only a few hundred survived. Schneider, a survivor of the Riga Ghetto and historian of the Holocaust, draws upon her own experiences, interviews with survivors, and the documentary record in order to paint a picture of the day-to-day life of the inhabitants of the Ghetto. Of particular interest to her is the psychology of the prisoners, including the belief of the Latvian Jews that their people had been killed solely for the purpose of making room for the German Jews. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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