The Clandestine History of the Kovno Jewish Ghetto Police (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780253012838)

As a force that had to serve two masters, both the Jewish population of the Kovno ghetto in Lithuania and its German occupiers, the Kovno Jewish ghetto police walked a fine line between helping Jews survive and meeting Nazi orders. In 1942 and 1943 some of its members secretly composed this history and buried it in tin boxes. The book offers a rare glimpse into the complex situation faced by the ghetto leadership and the Jewish policemen, caught between carrying out the demands of the Germans and mollifying the anger and frustration of their own people. It details the creation and organization of the ghetto, the violent German attacks on the population in the summer of 1941, the periodic selections of Jews to be deported and killed, the labor required of the surviving Jewish population, and the efforts of the police to provide a semblance of stability. The secret history tells a dramatic and complicated story, defending the actions of the police force on one page and berating its leadership on the next. A substantial introduction by distinguished historian Samuel D. Kassow places this powerful work within the context of the history of the Kovno Jewish community and its experience and fate at the hands of the Nazis.

Author: Anonymous Members of the Kovno Jewish Gh
ISBN-10: 025301283X
ISBN-13: 9780253012838
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Language: English
Published: 04/14/2014
Pages: 416
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.51lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.38w x 1.18d
Award: Independent Publisher Book Awards - Silver Medal Winner
Award: IndieFab awards - Bronze Medal Winner

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 03/15/2014
Library Journal 06/01/2014 pg. 116
Choice 10/01/2014 pg. 323