"Originally published in 1960 in Germany as Der gelbe Stern, this landmark book was the first comprehensive photographic account of the Holocaust." This book, the first edition in English in more than a generation, is an entirely new presentation, revised, enlarged, and recomposed with many additional photographs and documents, an updated bibliography, and an essay by the author for American readers. The individual chapters document the terror in pre-war Germany, the misery of the sealed ghettos in Poland, the mass executions in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union, the deportations from all over Europe and the industrial killing in the extermination camps, the uprising of the Warsaw ghetto, and the liberation of the camps in 1945. Each chapter includes a narrative introduction, selected documents of the perpetrators, victims, and bystanders, and a photo section telling the story through pictures. In photograph after photograph, page after page, the Shoah unfolds as inexorable horror, captured with a resonance that remains unequalled.
De gele ster is zowat het eerste boek over de holocaust. De stijl is wat oubollig, maar dat is irrelevant. De talloze foto's bezorgen je een stomp in de maag en kruipen onder je vel... Ook de opstand in het getto van Warschau komt uitgebreid aan bod. "In een andere hoek lag een kind van één jaar, het huilde en kreunde niet, waarschijnlijk was het uitgeput. De armpjes en beentjes waren verbrand. Nooit zal ik dat gezichtje vergeten, waarop onmenselijke pijn lag...Gezicht en armen van de moeder waren volkomen verbrand, ze kon het kind niet in haar armen nemen."
I was there when Joe Mitchenfelder and Alexandra Fullerton and Mike got this published by Fordham U Press. It is one of the first books on the Holocaust; the first I think by a non-Jew. Very important for any library. The more I know about the Holocaust the more incomprehensible it all seems--- BUT it happened! A blight on humanity.
In "The Yellow Star," one encounters evil through black and white photos and haunting words. If you want a glimpse into the horror and the tragedy that was the Holocaust, I would highly recommend this book. Although we will never know what it was actually like to live in ghettos and concentration camps, to be entrapped in a cattle car for days on end, to be marched to our deaths, or know the true meaning of hunger and fear, "The Yellow Star" offers readers a glance into the reality and the terror that was the Holocaust. The various chapters cover different stages of the Holocaust including the ghettos, concentration camps, death marches, resistance and liberation. Each chapter begins with an introduction on the subject of that chapter and the rest of the chapter includes documentation and photos. The documents used include speeches, diaries, and reports from the perpetrators of the Holocaust and even the victims themselves. Their contempt for the Jewish people is seen plainly in very shocking language. The photos themselves are very heartbreaking, shocking and horrifying. They are very graphic and impossible to forget. The photos moved me to tears. If you want to delve into the reality of the Holocaust, this is the book to use.
This was one of the first books about the holocaust that I read in my youth and I still own it to this day. It is a haunting reminder of the darkest time in Germany. To see the gruesome photos, knowing that it was part of my grandparents youth, made it a very sad and shocking read. Yet it is so very important to know about the cruelties of the past to never repeat them again.