Introduction

Summary

THE OUTBREAK of the Second World War initiated a new and tragic period in the history of the Jews of north-eastern Europe. The Polish defeat by Germany in the unequal campaign that began in September 1939 led to a new partition of the country by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Within a year Lithuania, which had annexed Vilna in the aftermath of the Polish defeat, saw itself absorbed into the Soviet Union. A year later, in June 1941, the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union and embarked on a genocide of the Jews. Chapter 10 examines the impact of Nazi and Soviet rule on the Jews of the area. Chapter 11 discusses the consequences of the adoption and implementation by the Nazis of a policy of genocide. Chapter 12 analyses the Jewish responses to this genocide; while Chapter 13 describes Jewish literary responses at the time, both by those who experienced the genocide at first hand and by those who observed it from a distance. Chapter 14 investigates the actions of the Soviet government during this period.