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In the Midst of Civilized Europe: The Pogroms of 1918–1921 and the Onset of the Holocaust Hardcover – October 26, 2021

by Jeffrey Veidlinger (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 116 ratings
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FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD * SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE

“The mass killings of Jews from 1918 to 1921 are a bridge between local pogroms and the extermination of the Holocaust. No history of that Jewish catastrophe comes close to the virtuosity of research, clarity of prose, and power of analysis of this extraordinary book. As the horror of events yields to empathetic understanding, the reader is grateful to Veidlinger for reminding us what history can do.”
―Timothy Snyder, author of Bloodlands

Between 1918 and 1921, over a hundred thousand Jews were murdered in Ukraine by peasants, townsmen, and soldiers who blamed the Jews for the turmoil of the Russian Revolution. In hundreds of separate incidents, ordinary people robbed their Jewish neighbors with impunity, burned down their houses, ripped apart their Torah scrolls, sexually assaulted them, and killed them. Largely forgotten today, these pogroms―ethnic riots―dominated headlines and international affairs in their time. Aid workers warned that six million Jews were in danger of complete extermination. Twenty years later, these dire predictions would come true.

Drawing upon long-neglected archival materials, including thousands of newly discovered witness testimonies, trial records, and official orders, acclaimed historian Jeffrey Veidlinger shows for the first time how this wave of genocidal violence created the conditions for the Holocaust. Through stories of survivors, perpetrators, aid workers, and governmental officials, he explains how so many different groups of people came to the same conclusion: that killing Jews was an acceptable response to their various problems. In riveting prose, In the Midst of Civilized Europe repositions the pogroms as a defining moment of the twentieth century.

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  1. Print length
    480 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Metropolitan Books
  4. Publication date
    October 26, 2021
  5. Dimensions
    6.75 x 1.5 x 9.75 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1250116252
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1250116253
  8. See all details
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From the Publisher

In the Midst of Civilized Europe Jeffrey Veidlinger Timothy Snyder quote

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Veidlinger’s book ranks alongside Timothy Snyder’s Bloodlands in forcing our eyes eastwards. It is deeply researched and masterfully written, with a cool restraint that only intensifies its power.”
―The Telegraph

“Exemplary . . . Gripping . . . We now know much more about the pogroms of 1918–21 because of Veidlinger’s painstaking research, based on a vast trove of archival materials and reliance on at least nine languages. He has succeeded in shining a bright scholarly light on a much less well-known attempt to exterminate European Jews two decades before the Holocaust.”
―Literary Review

“An exhaustive, clearly written, deeply researched story of events in a time and place most of us know nearly nothing about . . . An important and scholarly book.”
―The Times (UK)

“Chillingly thorough . . . A vital history that draws a direct line from Eastern European antisemitic violence to the Holocaust.”
―Kirkus (starred review)

“Revelatory . . . Veidlinger’s crisp prose and extensive research makes the scale of the tragedy immediate and devastating. This is a vital addition to understanding how the Holocaust happened.”
―Publishers Weekly

“Highly recommended as a critical history analyzing the factors that led to the Holocaust… Veidlinger honors the victims of pogroms and ensures they are not forgotten in this important work.”
―Library Journal

“The mass killings of Jews in 1918–21 are a bridge between local pogroms and the extermination of the Holocaust. No history of that Jewish catastrophe comes close to the virtuosity of research, clarity of prose, and power of analysis of this extraordinary book. As the horror of events yields to empathetic understanding, the reader is grateful to Veidlinger for reminding us what history can do.”
―Timothy Snyder, author of Bloodlands

“A work of singular importance: a meticulous, original and deeply affecting historical account, one that provides new insights into the conditions that catalyzed mass-murder on an industrial scale.”
―Philippe Sands, author of East West Street

“In this extraordinary work Veidlinger disinters a largely forgotten history of tragic and portentous dimensions. Compelling and well-written, the book will find a broad audience. This is a story that needs to be told.”
―Ronald Grigor Suny, author of Stalin: Passage to Revolution

“In this deeply learned but highly readable book, Veidlinger demonstrates how the all-but-forgotten pogroms in the collapsing Russian Empire in 1918–21 set precedents for the horrors that were to follow just two decades later.”
―Zvi Gitelman, author of A Century of Ambivalence

About the Author

Jeffrey Veidlinger is a professor of history and Judaic studies at the University of Michigan. His books, which include The Moscow State Yiddish Theater and In the Shadow of the Shtetl, have won a National Jewish Book Award, the Barnard Hewitt Award for Theatre Scholarship, two Canadian Jewish Book Awards, and the J. I. Segal Award. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Metropolitan Books; Illustrated edition (October 26, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250116252
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250116253
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.45 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 1.5 x 9.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 116 ratings

About the author

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Jeffrey Veidlinger

Jeffrey Veidlinger

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Jeffrey Veidlinger is Joseph Brodsky Collegiate Professor of History and Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. Professor Veidlinger is the author of the award-winning books IN THE MIDST OF CIVILIZED EUROPE: THE POGROMS OF 1918-1921 AND THE ONSET OF THE HOLOCAUST, IN THE SHADOW OF THE SHTETL: SMALL TOWN JEWISH LIFE IN SOVIET UKRAINE, JEWISH PUBLIC CULTURE IN THE LATE RUSSIAN EMPIRE and THE MOSCOW STATE YIDDISH THEATER: JEWISH CULTURE ON THE SOVIET STAGE. Veidlinger is the chair of the Academic Advisory Council of the Center for Jewish History, a member of the Executive Committee of the American Academy for Jewish Research, a member of the Academic Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and a former vice-president of the Association for Jewish Studies. His work has been supported by grants and fellowships from numerous agencies, including the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council. From 2015-2021, he served as Director of the Jean & Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, and from 1999-2013, he taught at Indiana University, where he was Alvin H. Rosenfeld Chair in Jewish Studies, Professor of History, and Director of the Borns Jewish Studies Program. More info at www.sites.lsa.umich.edu/veidlinger/

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
116 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Claudia
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2024
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Detailed, disturbing, a chronicle of the Ukrainian pogroms between the world wars. Well researched, beautifully written as much as a book about pogroms could be beautiful.
One person found this helpful
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ted
5.0 out of 5 stars Ukraine,the land that invented the pogrom
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2023
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Not much of a history for this artificially created state. Didn’t realize until I read this book that this “country” has only existed for a mere 30 of the last 1000 years. Where exactly are the borders of a place that has not been marked on any map dating back to the Middle Ages? This book is an eye opening read.
7 people found this helpful
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Sidd Vicious
4.0 out of 5 stars forerunner of the holocaust
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2021
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Quoting or paraphrasing contemporary memoires, the author describes the pogroms that swept through the killing fields of today's Ukraine following the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and Czarist Russia at the conclusion of the First World War. While the bulk of his book is devoted to what are literally horror stories, he also leads the reader through the bewildering political and military history of the region prior to its definitive incorporation into the Soviet Union and Poland.
14 people found this helpful
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paul zisserson
5.0 out of 5 stars very helpful
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2022
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There are a few ways to get a handle on how and why the Holocaust was able to succeed. This book helps. It does so by revealing the deep seated anti Semitism that existed in many areas of eastern Europe, particularly Ukraine. In effect, areas that would be the killing fields for the Nazis were killing fields for the battles over Ukraine sovereignty with Jews as victims some twenty years before. Not a pretty picture, but necessary to understand that grotesque period.
10 people found this helpful
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ARRELL
5.0 out of 5 stars Timely
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2022
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This book reveals the complex and bitter history of Ukraine -shedding light and context on today’s war.
The names have changed, the towns and the horrors are all too familiar.
A remarkable and punishing read.
3 people found this helpful
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Anonymous
5.0 out of 5 stars Arrive on time in excellent condition
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2022
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I received the book even earlier than anticipated. It was in excellent condition.
2 people found this helpful
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Efraim Tache
5.0 out of 5 stars is a good product
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2022
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a very well writing story
3 people found this helpful
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David A. Andelman
3.0 out of 5 stars And the pogroms of 1903 ?!
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2022
Hard to believe that such a distinguished historian as Professor Veidlinger could have utterly missed the pogroms of 1903-1904 that drove into exile to the United States so many Jews of Bessarabia and the region that is now Moldova and what would become a portion of Ukraine well before World War I !
My grandparents were in this wave and never forgot.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

MEL COMISAROW
5.0 out of 5 stars Encyclopedic coverage of violent antisemitism in Ukraine, post WWI
Reviewed in Canada on January 3, 2022
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This book describes the anti-Jewish events in Ukraine during the immediate post-WWI era. My father lived in Ukraine in this era and his life stories overlap the events in Veidlinger's book. Even though I was sort of familiar with the characteristic events, the number of incidents and their severity as listed by Veidlinger boggled my mind. An encyclopedic coverage of a horrible twentieth century period. Well written and authoritative. Highly recommended.
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Stan Marut
5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Horror Story of Brutalisation
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 8, 2022
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This book is rather timely and allows one to focus on the legacy of the Ukrainian people at a time when their lands were in birth pangs. Critically this legacy doe not portray them in a good light and the pogroms against the Jews. The author cites every atrocity commited. However, there are instances when numbers of deaths in massacres is between x and y. To my mind I have no doubt as to the veracity of the authors notes. This story does impact, I think, on how the current Russian regime views the Ukrainians and a "sordid" past of collaboration with the Nazis after Operation Barbarossa. This does not give an excuse to invade a sovereign state, but the reader should be aware of this period of history. During the time 1918-1921 there was no such thing as the Final Solution which came later with the Einsatz Kommando and the deliberations of the Wansee Conference of the Nazis. Regrettably, the Jews never come out out of these situations unscathed and the reader must try and comprehend the dilemma of Jews then and possibly now. No race deserved this kind of brutality and in my own understanding of the current realpolitik prevailing in the Ukraine this is a blot on the landscape, so to speak. Zelensky is a Jew but has probably never been Bar MItzvah and I have heard he has not supported Israel in the UN. Another topic maybe, but this book is an eye opener and the atrocities of that period concerned were committed by people who were Ukrainians. It deserves to be read and this may give some indication of the thought processes currently at play on both sides.
11 people found this helpful
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Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
Reviewed in Canada on February 14, 2022
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Very readable, highly recommended for anyone with family history in this region
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Polo121
5.0 out of 5 stars When history really does repeat itself.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 19, 2022
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How eerie, how very eerie. I began to read this book in the same week Russian troops rolled onto Ukrainian soil in March 2022, and the events described in this book held a parallel with events nearly a century ago.
Kyiv, Kharkiv, Liviv, place names that meant very little to so many people only a few weeks ago, trip off the pages of this book, depicting atrocities that shaped the architecture of a region.
Fake news may be considered a contemporary phenomenon, but rest assured this was a significant factor at the turn of the previous century. Blood Libel was a lasting catalyst in stoking up antisemite feeling, that constantly looked for other excuses and reason, to escalate violence against Jews. If social media would have been around during this period, who knows how this would have impacted on the situation, both good or bad for the persecuted.
In the Midst of Civilised Europe, the reader is left in uncertain terms, the geopolitical landscape changed week by week, day by day, and even hour by hour, the real time dynamics are so hard to comprehend in peace time.
Genocide and crimes against humanity were exactly what was happening to the Jewish community in this crucible of hatred between 1918 and 1921, even before the terms where invented. Ironically it was two law students studying in Lviv who would bring these terms into the international legal arena at the end of World War Two.
At some point, future historians will record the events of the 2022 invasion of Russia on Ukraine, outlining the key issues of the time, deaths, destruction, and the changing architecture of a country, that has suffered so much. Before they undertake this work, I think they will already have their title, “In The Midst of Civilised Europe”
How history really does repeat itself.
15 people found this helpful
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andy rb
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2023
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Really well written the prequel to the Holocaust so much detail. It makes you think, angry and upset at the same time.
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