In Erased; Omer Bartov uncovers the rapidly disappearing vestiges of the Jews of western Ukraine; who were rounded up and murdered by the Nazis during World War II with help from the local populace. What begins as a deeply personal chronicle of the Holocaust in his mother's hometown of Buchach--in former Eastern Galicia--carries him on a journey across the region and back through history. This poignant travelogue reveals the complete erasure of the Jews and their removal from public memory; a blatant act of forgetting done in the service of a fiercely aggressive Ukrainian nationalism. Bartov; a leading Holocaust scholar; discovers that to make sense of the heartbreaking events of the war; he must first grapple with the complex interethnic relationships and conflicts that have existed there for centuries. Visiting twenty Ukrainian towns; he recreates the histories of the vibrant Jewish and Polish communities who once lived there-and describes what is left today following their brutal and complete destruction. Bartov encounters Jewish cemeteries turned into marketplaces; synagogues made into garbage dumps; and unmarked burial pits from the mass killings. He bears witness to the hastily erected monuments following Ukraine's independence in 1991; memorials that glorify leaders who collaborated with the Nazis in the murder of Jews. He finds that the newly independent Ukraine-with its ethnically cleansed and deeply anti-Semitic population--has recreated its past by suppressing all memory of its victims. Illustrated with dozens of hauntingly beautiful photographs from Bartov's travels; Erased forces us to recognize the shocking intimacy of genocide.
#790479 in Books 2014-09-28Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.76 x .76 x 5.53l; .71 #File Name: 0691160872272 pages
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Easy reading with great detail which holds one's interestBy CustomerEasy reading with great detail which holds one's interest. Suggest having the book's TIMELINE in front of you while reading.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Very GoodBy la CanadienneVery informative. Written as if sitting in Professor Lewis' class.4 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Excellent Explanation of a Complicated SubjectBy Manhattan ReaderI am still reading this complicated and powerful book. I am NOT a scholar so disentangling the World of Ancient Islam with the practices of both its religion(s) and government(s) and also evolving Jewish ways of coping; is a slow procedure for me. I am also reading; at the same time a book on Medieval Art and the first image creations in that time of what a "Jew" looked like. It too is an education for me. Both books intertwine informationally in certain places and disagree in other areas. I am fascinated by the lessons I am learning from The Jews of Islam and the Dark Mirror:The Medieval Originsof AntiJewish Iconography by Janet Lipton. Bernard Lewis was recommended to me by a scholar in the field of Central Asia and Turkey. Lewis's work is fascinating; especially since I am both Jewish and an contemporary art consultant. I recommend this book to those who have a better background in Islam than I do or to people like myself who want to understand the history of the groups and how they might relate to today's world.
