The persecution and murder of the European Jews by Nazi Germany, 1933-1945 Volume 5 Western and Northern Europe 1940-June 1942 / Executive Editors Katja Happe, Michael Mayer, and Maja Peers, with Jean-Marc Dreyfus, Coordinator of the English-language edit

Executive editors: Katja Happe, Michael Mayer, and Maja Peers, with Jean-Marc Dreyfus; English-language edition prepared by: Caroline Pearce, Johannes Gamm, Georg Felix Harsch, and Dorothy Mas In April-May 1940 the German Wehrmacht invaded Northern and Western Europe. The subsequent occupation of Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France brought the Jewish population of these countries – both established residents and refugees – under German control. From autumn 1941 in Luxembourg and from spring/summer 1942 in Belgium, the Netherlands and occupied France, Jews were required to wear the 'Jewish star' and many were subjected to forced labour. By mid-1942, deportations from Luxembourg and France to the ghettos and extermination camps in occupied Eastern Europe had already begun, while in the other occupied countries they were imminent. In April 1942 Alfred Oppenheimer, the Jewish elder in Luxembourg, wrote: 'A dreadful fate hangs over our community again. The worst that can happen has now happened and the Poland transport is a certainty.' This volume covers Norway and Western Europe during the period from the German invasion to mid 1942 (developments in Denmark for this period are documented in vol. 12) and records how Jews in these parts of Europe were excluded from society and stripped of their rights, livelihoods, and property. Letters and diary entries by the persecuted Jews detail life under German occupation and the attempts by many Jews to emigrate. The sources show how Jewish organizations sought to alleviate the impact of persecution, and how the German occupiers and local collaborators targeted Jews with increasingly stringent measures and clamped down on any form of resistance. 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.

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"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 Contents Foreword to the English Edition Editorial Preface Introduction List of Documents Norway Netherlands Belgium Luxembourg France Documents Norway Netherlands Belgium Luxembourg France Glossary Approximate Rank and Hierarchy Equivalents Chronology Abbreviations List of Archives, Sources, and Literature Cited Index Map - Europe, December 1941