The Last Transport
The Holocaust in the Eastern Aegean
Published on 14. November 2024
Book
Hardback
544 pages
978-1-4742-2798-8 (ISBN)
Description
The deportation of 1,755 Jews from the islands of Rhodes and Cos in July 1944, shortly after the last deportation from Hungary, was the last transport to leave Greece for Auschwitz and brought to a close the last significant phase of the genocide of Europe's Jews (notwithstanding the death marches). Within six weeks of their deportation, the Germans were retreating from Greece and the Balkans as Hitler's empire shrank. This last deportation is frequently acknowledged in Holocaust literature but its significance for our understanding of the Nazi genocide of the Jews remains largely overlooked. The timing of the transport, when it was clear to the German military elite that Nazi Germany had lost the war, raises important questions in relation to long-term ideological Nazi goals and the immediate contingency thrown up by war.
Anthony McElligott, in this account of the last Greek transport of Jews to Auschwitz, tells a compelling story of this previously underexplored event and sheds light on an important aspect of the Holocaust through an in-depth study of one Eastern Mediterranean community.
Anthony McElligott, in this account of the last Greek transport of Jews to Auschwitz, tells a compelling story of this previously underexplored event and sheds light on an important aspect of the Holocaust through an in-depth study of one Eastern Mediterranean community.
Reviews / Votes
The Last Transport is a masterpiece of scholarship. This meticulously researched and evocative book presents the full story of the Jews of Rhodes before, during, and after World War II. A vital and ground-breaking contribution to our understanding of the Holocaust and the end of Sephardi life in the Eastern Aegean. * Aron Rodrigue, Professor of Jewish Culture and History, Stanford University, USA * The Last Transport tells the harrowing story of the Nazi extermination of the Jewish population of the Greek island of Rhodes. With his customary fine-grained detail, Anthony McElligott describes Jewish life on the island, its brutal destruction in July 1944, and the fate of its victims and survivors. Moving, humane and brilliantly researched, this is a masterpiece. * Sir Richard Evans, Emeritus Fellow, University of Cambridge, UK. * A moving and rigorous study of the community that tragically constituted the final transport to Auschwitz. It introduces us to some of the individuals who were swept up in it while vividly painting the East Mediterranean world of which they were so central a part -- now irrevocably lost. * K. E. Fleming, Alexander S. Onassis Professor of Hellenic Culture and Civilization, NYU, USA * With its balance of rigorous research and poignant storytelling, The Last Transport is an essential read for anyone interested in Jewish history, Holocaust studies, or the legacy of Sephardic communities. It not only educates but also reminds readers of the fragility of cultural continuity in times of darkness. * La Djente *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
940 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4742-2798-8 (9781474227988)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Anthony McElligott is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Limerick, Ireland. His most recent books are Rethinking the Weimar Republic: Authority and Authoritarianism, 1916-1936 (Bloomsbury, 2014) and (editor with Jeffrey Herf) Antisemitism Before and Since the Holocaust: Altered Contexts and Recent Perspectives (2017). He was elected a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1999 and to the Royal Irish Academy in 2015.
Content
Illustrations
Maps
Tables
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Preface
1: The Holocaust in its Aegean Context
2: Inside the Juderia
3: Italians and Jews
4: The Germans on Rhodes
5: Deportation
6: Auschwitz and Other Camps
7: The Spoils of Deportation
8: Return to Life
9: A 'lost world' remembered and remade
Epilogue
Sources
Maps
Tables
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Preface
1: The Holocaust in its Aegean Context
2: Inside the Juderia
3: Italians and Jews
4: The Germans on Rhodes
5: Deportation
6: Auschwitz and Other Camps
7: The Spoils of Deportation
8: Return to Life
9: A 'lost world' remembered and remade
Epilogue
Sources