Robbery and Restitution

The Conflict over Jewish Property in Europe
1. Auflage 2008
ISBN: 978-1-84545-593-4
Verlag: Berghahn Books

Buch, Englisch, Band 9, 308 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 449 g

Reihe: War and Genocide

The robbery and restitution of Jewish property are two inextricably linked social processes. It is not possible to understand the lawsuits and international agreements on the restoration of Jewish property of the late 1990s without examining what was robbed and by whom. In this volume distinguished historians first outline the mechanisms and scope of the European-wide program of plunder and then assess the effectiveness and historical implications of post-war restitution efforts. Everywhere the solution of legal and material problems was intertwined with changing national myths about the war and conflicting interpretations of justice. Even those countries that pursued extensive restitution programs using rigorous legal means were unable to compensate or fully comprehend the scale of Jewish loss. Especially in Eastern Europe, it was not until the collapse of communism that the concept of restoring some Jewish property rights even became a viable option. Integrating the abundance of new research on the material effects of the Holocaust and its aftermath, this comparative perspective examines the developments in Germany, Poland, Italy, France, Belgium, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dean, Martin

Goschler, Constantin

Ther, Philipp

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Deutsche Geschichte Deutsche Geschichte: Holocaust

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Abbreviations

Preface

Part I: Introduction

Introduction: A History without Boundaries: The Robbery and Restitution of Jewish Property in Europe

Constantin Goschler and Philipp Ther

Part II: The Robbery of Jewish Property in Comparative Perspective

Chapter 1. The Seizure of Jewish Property in Europe: Comparative Aspects of Nazi Methods and Local Responses

Martin Dean

Chapter 2. Aryanization and Restitution in Germany

Frank Bajohr

Chapter 3. The Looting of Jewish Property in Occupied Western Europe: A Comparative Study of Belgium, France, and the Netherlands

Jean-Marc Dreyfus

Chapter 4. The Robbery of Jewish Property in Eastern Europe under German Occupation, 1939–1942

Dieter Pohl

Chapter 5. The Robbery of Jewish Property in Eastern European States Allied with Nazi Germany

Tatjana Tönsmeyer

Part III: The Restitution of Jewish Property in Comparative Perspective

Chapter 6. West Germany and the Restitution of Jewish Property in Europe

Ju¨rgen Lillteicher

Chapter 7. Jewish Property and the Politics of Restitution in Germany after 1945

Constantin Goschler

Chapter 8. Two Approaches to Compensation in France: Restitution and Reparation

Claire Andrieu

Chapter 9. The Expropriation of Jewish Property and Restitution in Belgium

Rudi van Doorslaer

Chapter 10. Indifference and Forgetting: Italy and its Jewish Community, 1938–1970

Ilaria Pavan

Chapter 11. “Why Switzerland?” – Remarks on a Neutral’s Role in the Nazi Program of Robbery and Allied Postwar Restitution Policy

Regula Ludi

Chapter 12. The Hungarian Gold Train: Fantasies of Wealth and the Madness of Genocide

Ronald W. Zweig

Chapter 13. Reluctant Restitution: The Restitution of Jewish Property in the Bohemian Lands after the Second World War

Eduard Kubu and Jan Kuklík Jr.

Chapter 14. The Polish Debate on the Holocaust and the Restitution of Property

Dariusz Stola

Part IV: Concluding Remarks

Conclusion: Reflections on the Restitution and Compensation of Holocaust Theft: Past, Present, and Future

Gerald D. Feldman

Notes on Contributors

Select Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Dean, Martin
Martin Dean is a Research Scholar at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). He is the author of Collaboration in the Holocaust, published in association with the USHMM in 2000, and of several articles on the confiscation of Jewish property. From 1992 to 1997 he worked as Senior Historian for the Metropolitan Police War Crimes Unit.

Ther, Philipp
Philipp Ther teaches modern Central and Eastern European History at the European University Frankfurt/Oder, Germany. His fields of interest are comparative nationalism studies, migrations and "ethnic cleansing", postwar social history of Central Europe and most recently the history of opera theatres in the long 19th century.

Goschler, Constantin
Constantin Goschler teaches modern history at the Humboldt-University, Berlin. He also taught at the universities of Prague, Jena and Bochum. His main fields of interest are transitional justice in the 20th century, history of science and the history of political ideas in the 19th century. He published several articles and books on restitution and indemnification for Nazi victims.

Martin Dean is a Research Scholar at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). He is the author of Collaboration in the Holocaust, published in association with the USHMM in 2000, and of several articles on the confiscation of Jewish property. From 1992 to 1997 he worked as Senior Historian for the Metropolitan Police War Crimes Unit.