Offering a windowinto the contemporaneous responses of Jews to the horrors that were unfolding around them, this invaluable book illuminates a crucial aspect of the Holocaust. This collection will prove to be an essential resource in the classroom and beyond.

Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies, Emory University

This expertly crafted book puts to rest the fallacy that there was a single Jewish response to Nazi persecution, showing instead how different communities, and even different individuals, drew from their own unique experiences and belief systems in reacting to the growing threat. It is an important lesson for students of the Holocaust to learn, and this thoughtful, nuanced text is a vital classroom tool.

Jeffrey Veidlinger, Joseph Brodsky Collegiate Professor of History and Judaic Studies, University of Michigan

In this remarkable collection, Jewish women, men, and children speak to us from the midst of destruction. Diaries, letters, reports, and songs—all written at the time—testify to the diversity of the people now known as ‘victims.’ Translated from a dozen languages and expertly introduced, these sources open a window onto the desperation, hope, uncertainty, and day-to-day struggles of people trying to make sense of a shattered world.

Doris L. Bergen, author of War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust, University of Toronto

This book is an ideal introduction to understanding how Jews experienced the Holocaust. The uncertainty and discord, the dread and despair, the efforts to preserve dignity and/or faith amidst degradation, the refuges and the traps, the ‘choiceless choices’ and grasps at hope, the deportation and destruction, the liberation and the struggles that followed—all these elements and more take moving and memorable form in this astute selection of contemporaneous writings by Jews.

Peter Hayes, Professor Emeritus of History and Holocaust Studies, Northwestern University