Between 1935 and 1940, the Nazis incorporated large portions of Europe into the German Reich. The contributors to this volume analyze the evolving anti-Jewish policies in the annexed territories and their impact on the Jewish population, as well as the attitudes and actions of non-Jews, Germans, and indigenous populations. They demonstrate that diverse anti-Jewish policies developed in the different territories, which in turn affected practices in other regions and even influenced Berlin’s decisions. Having these systematic studies together in one volume enables a comparison - based on the most recent research - between anti-Jewish policies in the areas annexed by the Nazi state. The results of this prizewinning book call into question the common assumption that one central plan for persecution extended across Nazi-occupied Europe, shifting the focus onto differing regional German initiatives and illuminating the cooperation of indigenous institutions.

Wolf Gruner is the Shapell-Guerin Chair in Jewish Studies, Professor of History and Founding Director of the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research at the University of Southern California. He is the author of eleven books, ten of them on the Holocaust, including Jewish Forced Labor under the Nazis (2006) and the prize-winning The Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia (English edition 2019, German original 2016).

Jörg Osterloh is a research fellow at the Fritz Bauer Institute and teaches contemporary history at Goethe-University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His numerous publications include Nationalsozialistische Judenverfolgung im Reichsgau Sudetenland 1938-1945 (2006) and the co-authored study Flick: Der Konzern, die Familie, die Macht (2009)

“This translation of a prizewinning monograph by a major Holocaust scholar breaks new historical ground in several ways. Based on an exceptional number of archival and secondary sources—including materials seen for the first time—this volume by Gruner (Univ. of Southern California) adds important new details to knowledge of the decimation of Czech Jewry during WW II… Extensive footnotes, a full bibliography, and six statistical tables add to the book’s value, and its clear organization and lucid text are further supplemented by photographs, charts, and maps…Highly Recommended.” • Choice

“This anthology offers a most welcome compendium on the persecution of Jews in the annexed territories of the German Empire…A great advantage of the volume is the future lines of inquiry it opens. A very helpful conclusion of the volume outlines many of these…[like, for instance] how the persecution of Jews play out in respect to ethnic and national identities. People looking for these and many otheranswers are advised to make use of this wonderful volume.” • Modern Jewish Studies

“[This volume] is somewhat more than the usual edited collection of essays. The authors were requested to structure their contributions to a strict pattern, with each chapter organized into three sections: preannexation history; the initial German occupation; and the integration of the territories into the Reich. Each has a useful map…This systematic approach ensures clarity and allows useful comparisons.” · Journal of Modern History

“Much remains to be learned about the Holocaust in the occupied regions, but this collection helps fill the gap.” · Holocaust and Genocide Studies

“This elegant volume explains how the unique demographic, economic, and social situation in each area annexed to the Third Reich played out in anti-Semitic policies. In some cases, such as Memel, Eupen-Malmedy, and Alsace, it offers the first overview of the persecution of Jews in a particular area. In other cases, such as Austria and East Upper Silesia, it presents a stellar overview of areas in which the Final Solution is already well-documented.  But as the editors’ introduction underscores, the real strength of the volume is that it examines the cases together.”  ·  Catherine Epstein, Amherst College