A People Apart: A Political History of the Jews in Europe 1789-1939

Oxford History of Modern Europe

by David Vital

In the twentieth century, the world saw both the greatest triumph of Jewish history--the birth of the nation of Israel, and its greatest tragedy--the state-sponsored genocide of the Holocaust. A People Apart is the first study to examine the role played by the Jews themselves, across the whole of Europe, during the century and a half leading up to these momentous events. David Vital explores the Jews' troubled relationship with Europe, documenting the struggles of this 'nation without a territory' to establish a place for itself within an increasingly polarized and nationalist continent. This powerful new analysis represents a watershed in our understanding of the history of the Jews in Europe, and as a result, in the whole history of the continent.

Genres: History, Religion, European History, Jewish, Holocaust, Nonfiction, Judaica

968 pages, Paperback

First published September 9, 1999

Reviews

[Lewis Weinstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have only read a small part of Vital's book, those chapters dealing with Jewish life in the years between Versailles (1919) and the invasion of Poland (1939), but there were several important insights in those chapters that have great relevance for my novel-in-process. In particular, Vital describes a change in the way European Jews were viewed ...

... the norms of political behavior set by the (19th c) Enlightenment had dissolved

... post-Versailles antisemitism had a great deal to do with what had been decided at Versailles … two related sets of conflicts spread across Europe … (1) between those who wished to preserve the Versailles settlement versus those who wished to destroy it ... (2) between extreme nationalists who promoted the interests of their country to the status of a self-serving moral imperative and their more moderate opponents

... very little was now heard of a need to bring the Jews into accord with other citizens … of ridding the Jews of their faults of superstition, dress and customs

… what was now wanted was ... (1) removal of Jews from the societal, economic, academic and political structures into which Jews had already been admitted ... (2) removal from society ... (3) physical removal from the country altogether

... for Jewish leaders … the problem was not (as had been expected) to build on the foundations established at by the Enlightenment and enhanced at Versailles … but how to keep these foundations from being completely washed away

I don't think Vital says it exactly this way, but it seems to me that the changes he describes were very much a backlash against the progress Jews had made after gaining civil rights throughout Europe. Increased Jewish competition with the Christian population in all economic spheres was feared and resented.

This is precisely what happened in Spain after the forced conversion of Jews around 1400 unleashed Jewish competition and then a backlash that led to the Spanish Inquisition and the Expulsion. I have written about these times in Spain in my novel The Heretic.

[Dennis Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why can't Jews take `yes' for an answer?" asks Jerome Chanes about a people so well assimilated into American life but remains so anxious about its security and future. The response to the paradox of Jewish spiritual discomfort amidst social integration and material plenty is found in Jewish history. A People Apart: The Jews of Europe, an elegant, breathtaking history of European Jewry from 1789 to 1939 by Israeli scholar David Vital sheds light on the paradox.

A decade in the making, a probing and comprehensive political and historical study of 900 pages, Vital's work reads as polished literature. The epic is an artful weaving of detail and big picture, documenting the contorted and at times painful history of a people, masters neither of their situation nor their destiny. We see two and a half centuries of tenuous peace and outright conflict within the Jewish community -- over a longing for inclusion and a shunning of full integration -- and within the larger society that, on one hand, seeks Jewish integration for the resulting efficiency and economic benefits, but on the other hand, still wants Jews kept at a distance, if kept around at all.

It is hard to "take `yes' for an answer" in the face of such difficult history.

[Florence Buchholz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive picture of the condition of the Jewish people from the Age of Enlightenment until the beginning of the Holocaust. I was shocked by the suffering endured, especially in Russia, Poland, and Romania, where violent pogroms took place with the implicit consent of governmental authorities. Also, I learned that the Jewish people never had a consistent national friend. In the end, all nations, including the US, Britain, Australia, Canada, and France abandoned them in their hour of greatest need.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better books that I've read on the history of Jews in Europe before the 2nd. World War began. It's clear that persecution began long before many historians claim and with hindsight, which always makes us appear smarter than we are, it was apparent that war was coming and that Jews were in for horrible times not only in Germany but in most of Europe.
I also read a small hardcover book, titled something like "What they Knew", the story of what average Germans understood about The holocaust and the persecution of Jews by The Nazi Regime. Clearly, they knew and understood what was happening and it's ramifications. Some couldn't do anything if they had wanted, but many were completely complacent to the horrors and some were much more than innocent bystanders, they had Jewish friends, neighbors, employees, employers and respected doctors, dentists, professors and community leaders who were being held accountable for all or Europe's problems just because their names ended with a "berg, stein or sky".

[Perlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to imagine the amount of reading and research that went into writing this book. Vital makes a convincing case for why these few hundred years are so impactful for Jews even today. He explores the movements and people that shaped Jewish life across Europe, from east to west and in between -- as well as a necessary chapter on Palestine.
Well worth reading and re-reading. Not the kind of work you can really absorb in a single go.

[Ben Vos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome. In my view, a realistically negative view of assimilation and the illusions that accompanied it.