World War I and the Jews: Conflict and Transformation in Europe, the Middle East, and America

Description

World War I utterly transformed the lives of Jews around the world: it allowed them to display their patriotism, to dispel antisemitic myths about Jewish cowardice, and to fight for Jewish rights. Yet Jews also suffered as refugees and deportees, at times catastrophically. And in the aftermath of the war, the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy and the Russian and Ottoman Empires with a system of nation-states confronted Jews with a new set of challenges. This book provides a fascinating survey of the ways in which Jewish communities participated in and were changed by the Great War, focusing on the dramatic circumstances they faced in Europe, North America, and the Middle East during and after the conflict. Contents Figures Tables Maps Acknowledgments Introduction: On the Significance of World War I and the Jews Part I — Overviews Chapter 1 — World War I and Its Impact on the Problem of Security in Jewish History Chapter 2 — The European Jewish World 1914–1919: What Changed? Chapter 3 — Jewish Diplomacy and the Politics of War and Peace Part II — Local Studies Chapter 4 — Bravery in the Borderlands, Martyrs on the Margins: Jewish War Heroes and World War I Narratives in France, 1914–1940 Chapter 5 — The Budapest Jewish Community's Galician October Chapter 6 — Confronting the Bacterial Enemy: Public Health, Philanthropy, and Jewish Responses to Typhus in Poland, 1914–1921 Chapter 7 — The Union of Jewish Soldiers under Soviet Rule Chapter 8 — Global Conflict, Local Politics: The Jews of Salonica and World War I Chapter 9 — Recounting the Past, Shaping the Future: Ladino Literary Representations of World War I Chapter 10 — Women and the War: The Social and Economic Impact of World War I on Jewish Women in the Traditional Holy Cities of Palestine Chapter 11 — Baghdadi Jews in the Ottoman Military during World War I Chapter 12 — Unintentional Pluralists: Military Policy, Jewish Servicemen, and the Development of Tri-Faith America during World War I Chapter 13 — American Yiddish Socialists at the Wartime Crossroads: Patriotism and Nationalism versus Proletarian Internationalism Chapter 14 — Louis Marshall during World War I: Change and Continuity in Jewish Culture and Politics Index