Dr. David Silberklang

Dirty Science: Lingering Questions Regarding Medical Ethics and the Holocaust

At a German physicians conference held in Bad Krynica in occupied Poland in October 1941, amidst a raging spotted fever epidemic in the Warsaw ghetto that was spreading beyond the ghetto walls, the head of the German Public Health Division of the General Government, Dr. Jost Walbaum, suggested to his colleagues: One must … be clear about it. There are only two ways. We sentence the Jews in the ghetto to death by hunger or we shoot them…. We have one and only one responsibility, that the... Continue reading

Yad Vashem historians respond to the joint statement of the Governments of Poland and Israel concerning the revision of the January 26, 2018, amendment to Poland’s Act on the Institute of National Remembrance

The June 27, 2018, announcement regarding the Government of Poland’s intention to revise the amendment to the controversial Act on the Institute of National Remembrance stirred hope that a positive development and a step in the right direction were at hand. However, an examination of the joint statement by the Governments of Poland and Israel raises many questions both about the legal statute as approved and about assertions pertaining to historical aspects of the topic in the joint statement... Continue reading

Roots of Nazi Ideology

Nazi ideology was total, in that it was a world view that claimed to explain everything about the world and how it functions. At its core, the Nazi world view was racist and biological, positing that the so-called “Aryan” race – primarily the North Europeans – was the superior race of human beings. Their superiority granted the Aryans the right and obligation to rule over other races and peoples, for the benefit of humankind. The Jews, in complete contrast, were seen as a kind of... Continue reading

Revolt or Rescue? Jewish Dilemmas from the Holocaust

"From Warsaw, desperate letters arrived from those still alive. They advised us not to follow their lead; to save ourselves so that at least a small remnant of the movement would survive. Zivia and Antek said that it was a pity for all the blood that had been shed. A telegram arrived from Tabenkin: 'Pursue all paths to rescue.' However, we did not agree. We did not wish to live at the price of the death of our comrades in Warsaw; we did not wish to cower in the shadow of their glory." From... Continue reading

No Anonymous Desk-Murderers

Bogdan Musial, Deutsche Zivilverwaltung und Judenverfolgung im Generalgouvernement. Eine Fallstudie zum Distrikt Lublin 1939-1944  (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1999), xi + 433 pp. Who set the stage for the murder of the Jews during the Holocaust? Who participated in the murder? To what extent were the participants in the murder willful perpetrators? To what extent were they anonymous bureaucrats doing their small part, or low-ranking field officials following orders? These are among the questions... Continue reading

Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. 41:2 (2013) - Introduction

Volume 41:2 of Yad Vashem Studies is dedicated to the memory of Professor Yisrael Gutman, one of the towering figures of Holocaust research, who passed away as we were completing the editing of this issue. Yisrael was one of my first teachers when I began my graduate studies, and from the first moment he was always an inspiration as well as one of my mentors. His meticulous research, deep insight, unusually vast knowledge, and eminent humanity were a model for all his students and for all... Continue reading

Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. 41:1 (2013) - Introduction

As we were completing the editing of Yad Vashem Studies, volume 41, number 1, the journal’s former editor, Livia Rothkirchen passed away. This issue is dedicated to her memory. Livia Rothkirchen was an important and pioneering historian of the Holocaust, whose expertise regarding Czechoslovakia and its component parts, as well as many other aspects of the Holocaust was renowned. Livia edited Yad Vashem Studies for fifteen years, and she played a major role in firmly establishing its place on... Continue reading

Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. 42:1 (2014) - Introduction

Human relations during the Shoah — between Jews and their non-Jewish countrymen as well as among Jews — are one of the central themes that emerge from the articles and reviews in this issue of Yad Vashem Studies, 42:1. The subject matter is varied and the geography far-flung, but questions of relations arise in every article. The articles address wartime Jewish eyewitness accounts, rabbinic responsa, camps, the destruction of a Jewish community and its ancient cemetery through the policies... Continue reading

Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. 42:2 (2014) - Introduction

This issue of Yad Vashem Studies (42:2) addresses diverse aspects of people’s attitudes and behavior toward Jews and the Shoah during and after the event. Most of those analyzed in the articles herein were not the major leaders of their societies, and many of them were “ordinary” people, across a broad geographic and social spectrum. The research articles address Jewish calendars produced in Auschwitz-Birkenau; local Slovaks and their attitudes toward Jews; a German medieval scholar and... Continue reading

Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. 43:1 (2015) - Introduction

Yad Vashem Studies, volume 43, no. 1, is dedicated to the memory of three important scholars who contributed much to the research and academic instruction of the Holocaust. Martin Gilbert, Ze’ev Mankowitz, and Feliks Tych were three very different personalities, from diverse backgrounds, whose personal trajectories intersected in the study of the Jews in the Holocaust. Sir Martin Gilbert was an excellent speaker and a prolific author who was able to reach very broad audiences regarding all... Continue reading

Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. 43:2 (2015) - Introduction

Yad Vashem Studies volume 43:2 features five research articles that highlight personal perspectives on the Holocaust and four review articles with an emphasis on East-Central Europe (Poland, Ukraine, the USSR, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia). These articles also present a variety of both fresh and familiar sources, as well as new methodologies for understanding the Holocaust and how it is remembered. As we neared the end of preparations for this issue of Yad Vashem Studies, three important... Continue reading

Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. 44:1 (2016) - Introduction

Yad Vashem Studies volume 44:1 is dedicated to the memory of three important  scholars who passed away several months ago — David Cesarani, Hans Mommsen, and Alfred Gottwaldt. In the previous issue I discussed these scholars’ very significant contributions to Holocaust studies, and this issue opens with articles on the oeuvre of each of them. Robert Rozett highlights the breadth and depth of David Cesarani’s research, publications, and public work in the field. Cesarani read voraciously... Continue reading

Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. 37:2 (2009) - Introduction

Volume 37, no. 2 of Yad Vashem Studies is dedicated to the memory of Professor Franklin H. Littell, a major figure in the study of the Holocaust, who played a seminal role in introducing the subject into North American academia. Littell grappled with the role of Christians and the Christian churches during the Holocaust and with their contributions to laying the foundations for its occurrence. He was instrumental in bringing about change in the way the Christian world viewed the Jews and... Continue reading

Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. 38:1 (2010) - Introduction

We dedicate this issue of Yad Vashem Studies to the memories of Professor David Bankier, a leading historian in the field and a personal friend, and to Avraham Sutzkever, arguably the most important Yiddish poet of our time, whose experiences as a partisan in Vilna, in the aftermath of the Shoah, and in the rebuilding of Jewish life influenced much of his work. David Bankier passed away before his time on February 25, and Sutzkever, on January 20. David Bankier was a scholar with a phenomenally... Continue reading

Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. 38:2 (2010) - Introduction

Yad Vashem Studies, volume 38, number 2, features five research articles and three review articles by an international array of scholars. Four of the research articles (Eliezer Schwartz, Stefan Lehnstaedt, Albert Kaganovitch, Jan Láníček) look at the interactions between the periphery and the center in addressing policy toward Jews during the Holocaust, whether among the Germans, or among authorities in the Allied countries. Issues of the respective roles of, and mutual influences between,... Continue reading

Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. 39:1 (2011) - Introduction

As we go to press with Yad Vashem Studies, volume 39, number 1, we are also marking the fiftieth anniversary of the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Israel. This was the first trial of a non-Jewish defendant under Israel’s Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, passed on August 1, 1950. Until the Eichmann Trial and afterward, the law was applied mainly in trials against Jews in Israel who were accused of helping the Nazis in their persecution and murder of other Jews. The Eichmann Trial... Continue reading

Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. 39:2 (2011) - Introduction

The research and review articles in the present issue of Yad Vashem Studies address questions of motivations and reactions of the various types of actors in the Shoah. How can we understand the behaviors of the individuals and groups discussed in these articles? Scholars from eight countries grapple with these questions and provide a wide variety of answers and insights to the questions of motivation, participation, reactions, and remembrance. From small forced-labor camps and local Germans, to... Continue reading

Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. 40:1 (2012) - Introduction

Between the publication of the English and Hebrew editions of our previous issue, Dr. Leon Volovici passed away before his time. Leon was an important scholar of Romanian Jewry and a valuable member of our Editorial Board who made a significant contribution to scholarship and to the work of Yad Vashem Studies. He had very broad knowledge, was expert in many areas of study, read many languages, and had a keen and discerning eye for academic work as well as for issues of public discourse. He... Continue reading

Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. 40:2 (2012) - Introduction

Yad Vashem Studies, volume 40, number 2, features six research articles on a variety of subjects relating to Romania, Germany, Britain, Latvia, DP camps, and Israeli society, and four review articles of recent important books covering Germany and survivor testimony. Some of the themes running through the articles are prewar and wartime attitudes and policies toward Jews (Ion Popa, Stephen Tyas, and Christine Schoenmakers); postwar confrontations with the Holocaust (Ella Florsheim, Richards... Continue reading

Until The Last Jew... Until The Last Name

“If you live—I will live within you…The city’s Jews have disappeared from the streets. There is nowhere to flee.” Last letter by Pinchas Eisner, Hungary, October 1944) Sixty years ago, on 19 July 1944, the Germans began rounding up the 2,000 Jews of Rhodes and Kos. After being detained for several days, they were loaded onto barges headed for Athens. During the eight-day journey, the ships stopped at Leros and collected the island’s sole Jewish resident. Once in Athens, they were... Continue reading