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The Holocaust, the French, and the Jews by Susan Zuccotti (143,000 words, 16 illustrations)
Drawing on the extensive memoir literature of Jews who survived the Nazi period in France, Zuccotti paints a collective portrait of the victims, of those who tried to help them, of those who persecuted them and of the vast majority of French people who looked the other way. Zuccotti concludes that “benign neglect, vague goodwill, and, occasionally, active support” helped three-quarters of French Jews survive, while almost half of foreign-born Jews living under Nazi occupation or in the Vichy government “free” zone were sent to extermination camps with the active help of the French authorities.
“Valuable and lucid. [...] Susan Zucccotti's book is admirable in many important ways.” — Patrice Higonnet, New York Times Book Review
“Ms. Zuccotti combines vivid narrative with the most scrupulous historical accuracy. It is good to be able to enter the helpful gestures of many French individuals into the scales against the unspeakable actions of many Vichy officials and zealots.” — Robert O. Paxton, Mellon Professor of the Social Sciences, Columbia University, author of Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944
“Dr. Zuccotti’s book, admirably balanced and free of bias, is a rich and compassionate study of the plight of Jews in France during World War II.” — Léon Poliakov, Honorary Director of Research, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)
“In a vividly narrated reexamination of the historical record, Zuccotti tells the horrifying story of the fate of French Jews at the hands of the Nazis and their Vichy collaborators. [...] A balanced yet heartrending contribution to Holocaust literature.” — Kirkus Review
“Zuccotti forces us to rethink the French response to the Holocaust in this challenging book” — Publishers Weekly
“By use of precise examples, Zuccotti is able to illustrate the human side and contribute to a new understanding of [the fate of France’s Jewish population during World War II]” — American Historical Review
“Ms. Zuccotti finds France to be a nation which, in time of crisis, showed itself to be made up of a handful of villains, a few magnificent heroes and a vast assortment of the cowardly, the apathetic and the self-serving.” — Forward
“Zuccotti presents the most comprehensive account of the Holocaust in France available to the English reader.” — Paula Hyman, Yale University, Journal of Interdisciplinary History
“An excellent narrative.” — Choice, American Library Association
“Zuccotti has made a valuable contribution to our understanding of the Holocaust in France. Above all, she has illuminated in fascinating detail the extraordinary range of organizational and individual responses.” — Journal of Modern History
“Zuccotti’s account investigates the popular responses of the French to the measures offered and implemented by [Vichy] officials... an essential tool for gaining a more complete understanding of Vichy France and the Holocaust” — Anne Higgins, University of Vermont History Review
“This is an important work of 20th-century history. It is admirably researched, but remains lucid. It is, of necessity, sometimes harrowing, but illuminates moments of selfless heroism. Above all, it details a period of French history which has for too long been known to foreigners in only the broadest outlines... This is a valuable book deserving a wide readership.” — Morning Star
“[Zuccotti’s] book is replete with personal histories and memories, culled from a very wide reading in the growing library of autobiographies, memoirs, and monographs dealing with this period.” — Tony Judt, New York Review of Books