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The Seventh Million is the first book to show the decisive impact of the Holocaust on the identity, ideology, and politics of Israel. Drawing on diaries, interviews, and thousands of declassified documents, Tom Segev reconsiders the major struggles and personalities of Israel's past, including David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin, and Nahum Goldmann.
Through examination of critical moments such as the Exodus affair, the Eichmann trial, and the case of John Demjanjuk, Segev argues that the nation's legacy has been molded and manipulated in accordance with the ideological requirements of the state. The Seventh Million uncovers a vast and complex story and reveals how the bitter events of decades past continue to shape the experiences not just of individuals but of a nation.
"Richly documented and written with great passion." —Elie Wiesel, Los Angeles Times Book Review
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
September 4, 2024 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780809085798
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780809085798
- File size: 2472 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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March 29, 1993
The Jewish community of pre-Israel Palestine had a ``less than compassionate response'' to the destruction of European Jewry, charges Segev, an Israeli journalist, in this blockbuster. Palestine's Zionist establishment stereotyped German Jewish immigrants fleeing Nazism as yekkes --cold, blockheaded and alienated from Judaism. The Zionist community's first pained, uncomprehending encounter with the Holocaust survivors, according to Segev, gave rise to the silence that surrounded the Holocaust through the 1950s. Drawing on a trove of newly declassified Israeli documents, Segev ( 1949: The First Israelis ) illuminates secret 1951 German-Israeli negotiations over reparation payments, the ``vengeance operations'' of militant Holocaust survivors against Germany, and controversy over Israel's nuclear weapons program. With great sensitivity, he explores how the collective memory of the Holocaust has shaped Israel's response to a host of issues, from the Adolf Eichmann trial to the Persian Gulf war.
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