The persecution and murder of the European Jews by Nazi Germany, 1933-1945 Volume 12 Western and Northern Europe June 1942-1945 / executive editors Katja Happe, Barbara Lambauer, and Clemens Maier-Wolthausen, with Maja Peers ; English language edition pre

Executive editors: Katja Happe, Barbara Lambauer, and Clemens Maier-Wolthausen, with Maja Peers; English-language edition prepared by: Elizabeth Harvey, Johannes Gamm, Georg Felix Harsch, Dorothy Mas, and Caroline Pearce In summer 1942 the Germans escalated the systematic deportations of Jews from Western and Northern Europe to the extermination camps. In most of the countries under German control, the occupying forces initially focused on arresting foreign and stateless Jews, thereby securing the cooperation of local authorities. However, before long the entire Jewish population was targeted for deportation. This volume documents the parallels and differences in the persecution of Jews in occupied Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France in the period from summer 1942 to liberation; it records the implementation of the systematic deportation and murder of Jews from Western and Northern Europe, and it also records the rescue of more than 5,000 Danish Jews. In letters and diary entries the persecuted Jews describe their attempts to flee, life in hiding, the transit camps, and deportation transports that often took several days. In Westerbork camp in the occupied Netherlands, Bob Cahen, himself an inmate, recorded in his diary the arrival in the camp of 17,000 Jews from across the Netherlands in October 1942: 'People arrived here herded like livestock. Some were buried beneath their luggage, others without any possessions at all, not even properly dressed. Women in poor health who had been hauled out of bed in thin nightgowns, children in undergarments and barefoot, the elderly, the ill, the infirm – more and more new people came to the camp.' The sources in the volume show how the perpetrators attempted to dupe their victims regarding the destination of the transports, and how Jewish organizations attempted to alleviate the suffering of the deportees. The documents additionally illustrate how the resistance movement gained momentum during this period. Learn more about the PMJ on https://pmj-documents.org/

This landmark collection of primary sources provides unique first-hand insights into the persecution and murder of the Jews of Europe under Nazi rule. The documents, all translated from the language of the original source, range from the police orders and administrative decrees issued by the Nazi apparatus across Germany and occupied Europe to the diaries and letters of Jewish men, women, and children facing discrimination, impoverishment, violent assaults, incarceration, deportation, and death. The observations and reactions of bystanders not directly involved in the crimes – some shocked, some indifferent, some approving - also come across vividly. Substantial introductions, scholarly footnotes, and an extensive thematic index help guide the reader through the rich documentary material and add to the value of the series as a resource for teaching and learning about the Second World War and the Holocaust.

Series edited on behalf of the German Federal Archives, the Institute for Contemporary History Munich-Berlin, and the Chair for Modern History at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. In cooperation with Yad Vashem.

Explore the documents! Search in categories like "Nuremberg Laws 1938", "Eviction and Disposession" or "November Pogroms 1938" to read and download documents from the published PMJ volumes for free.

See also the corresponding German series Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Juden durch das nationalsozialistische Deutschland 1933–1945.

For more information on the edition, please visit the project website. Follow us on Twitter @PMJ_documents.

"This source edition on the persecution and murder of the European Jews by Nazi Germany presents in 16 volumes a thematically comprehensive selection of documents on the Holocaust. Volume 1 addresses the persecution of the German Jews between 1933 and 1937, revealing how the disenfranchisement and social isolation of the Jews was driven forward, and which role terror, state calculations, and the indifference of very many Germans played"-- Provided by publisher