mlf people 1.6 million g is on this, many people never met a oreigner at that point. [talking over each other] >> the soldiers would complain. i thought they understood english. i thought they could speak claish. so there was a great clash of cultures that was sometimes funny and traumatic especially for the british. american gi,s tended to be. the british thinking it took a long time to get here. up with rationing, axa wow you guys are, you know, being paid much more than we are. you know, you have no shortages. there was a great amount of

misunderstanding between the two. but at the same time american troops did come to know the british people and vice versa. by the end, you know, it is really interesting that when normandy occurred, when d-day occurred and american censors would go through the letters they found that of third of the letters being written by american soldiers from france were being written to british towns. to people that they had come to know and in some cases love. they certainly have become friends. and so that is one of the really interesting stories. two people had a lot in common, but really nothing in common at the same time. how they came together and had difficulties but finally did achieve their relationship. >> really cool. any questions hair? >> mine is completely off topic.

i am struck by your statement. i had no idea he was. i started thinking about that. i realized i had no idea who the ambassadors to afghanistan or. to think about that just kind of pertains to modern conflicts with foreign policy in america. he was really devalued in favor of defense. i was going to ask, doing your research and law you're writing a book and working on a were you ever given pause to think about the modern situation and what were those thoughts >> great question. the point is very well taken a lot the ambassadors to iraq and afghanistan. back then what winant did because of who he was made him much more important than the ordinary ambassador.

when he left britain the times of london called him the adhesive that kept the alliance together. he went above and beyond what most ambassadors do, and you're right defense is valued over foreign policy. franklin roosevelt was all of that kind of his ambassadors. to answer your question did i think, in no, i did in terms of this whole idea of team work, working on international cooperation, working on a true partnership, trying to understand the other countries as if their urine. and that is what wind and in particular really put an emphasis on. we can't constantly be confrontational. we have to really try to understand. and so that kept coming up over

and over and over again in my fonts. >> you end this wonderful introduction with a , acknowledged that the a congressman of such goals would be an extremely difficult task. but he added so it was d-day. if that can be done anything can be done. given the stage, and i'm going to take you off topic. i know your knowledge and death in all of this. where are we today? trying to accomplish all these goals. what should we remember today that we pretty clearly learned in the '40's? >> it is just what i have been talking about, putting an emphasis on, not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. to do the work that needs to be

done to forge these relationships and partnerships. he no, it is easy to talk about an. it takes an enormous amount of energy and work to do it. and it is a change in philosophy, i think, to some extent, in this country, really put an emphasis on that which really has not been there for quite some time. >> a abcaeight. great. the bishop of the wrap this up. my instructions are to save the sample instructions are, thank you for attending this session. we hope you enjoyed it. it being this subject, i think, you know, i am a moderator. i am not supposed to get involved. thanks a lot. >> thank you. [applauding]

>> transit is the author of numerous books including troubles young men and freedoms daughters. she is a former white house correspondent for the baltimore sun and moscow correspondent for "the associated press." to find out more visit the website. >> this weekend on c-span twos book tv from the virginia festival of the books,

>> a group of holocaust survivors read from the letters and diary entries. the u.s. holocaust memorial museum here in washington is the host of this two-hour talk. >> good afternoon and welcome to today's program, "jewish responses to persecution, volume i, 1933-1938". which is organized by the museum center for advanced holocaust studies. my name is robert and i director of university programs here at the center. to learn more about the activities including the centers, please take advantage of the mature is available in books for sale outside the theater. in 2003 the center and doctorate its jewish study initiative. this effort aims to finally change the way in which the holocaust is dented, todd and ultimately understood that by

focusing attention on the survival and study of jewish source materials, and activities during the nokia, as well as remarkable efforts to rebuild the jewish world after the war, this addition of attempts with the study of jewish life. during and immediately following the period of the assault. this afternoon we will seek the fruits of the labor. the first point of the series, "jewish responses to persecution, volume i, 1933-1938". the first volume edited by applied researcheresearch at the museum and doctor mark roseman of indiana university exams the initial years of persecution. 1933-1938. through the voices of the victims, letters, diaries, jewish community reports, communiqués and other documents. these documents illuminate history from the ground up and

address questions as how did jews respond? what was it like for jews accustomed to full rights as citizens to have their lives become more and more restricted. how did german jews attempt to integrate. roosevelt of the devastating choices rescinded to them and their families? without these doctrines were left with only the perpetrators to tell. through the museum's acquisition and research efforts, we now have access to the voices of those who have expressed the holocaust. from persecution to full-scale genocide. in the words of these individuals will no doubt change the way in which the narrative of the holocaust is told. today we will hear those words read by our own survival volunteers who give so much to this institution each day. we are on a two-year deal, margaret, susan, and susan linda voices to these words. their presence reminders that

each has a name, a face and the family. please refer to the handout provided by short biographies of our readers. today's program will begin providing an overview of the rationale and history of the general cities. he received his degree in history in 1992. his recent publications include approaching at auschwitz survivor. and atrocities on trial to a struggle prospectus on the politics of prosecuting which eco-attitude with patricia. professor rosen with and provide commentary and contextualization for the different document to be read. professor roseman is in the jewish study program. his publications cover topics in german, jewish and other history.

germany, holocaust survival in memory, not a policy and perpetrators, post-1945 german and european construction and jewish and other minorities. professor roza will be the invitational scholar of the center for the 2010, 2011 academic year. the doctor will close a program with a question and answer. and doctor wilson is an applied research called with the center. she received her phd from emory university in 2008 and is working on the fifth point of the series of jewish responses to persecution, which will cover the years 1944-1946. this claim was made possible by the generous support of the foundation and the foundation with additional support of the monroe foundation. were also thank the hell in a foundation to make this program possible. before and the podium to jurgen i want to ask everyone to join us again on the evening of mar

march 18. finally i ask that you please turn off your cell phones and other noisemaking electronic devices. thank you. jurgen? >> good afternoon, my name is jurgen matthaus. before we get to the reading, let me take a few minutes to explain the rationale behind the book, and the reading would having today. shortly after hitler had been appointed chancellor of germany, the most prominent representative of german, leo back, is said to have declared the thousand year history of german jewry was over. the law perspective looking back on but we know now about the persecution of jews in the 1930s and thereafter, such a statement makes perfect sense,

and confirms what we think jews at the time at least those in prominent positions, could have perceived about the future. not surprisingly then, since the 1950s, that statement has often been quoted. however, there is a problem. we have no proof that back ever and made the statement either in 1933 or later in the 1930s. in fact, it is very likely that it was described to him after the war by well-intentioned friends. we do have plenty of documentary evidence pointing to the fact that at the time, that is to say in the 1930s, trantwo's pronunciations were in keeping with the mood of most jews in germany. and that mood was anything but uniform when they came to future expectations. on the one hand, there was shock and confusion at the abrupt turn of events and the future as

collation. on the other, there still seem to be reason for hope, that things would one way or another improve. that there would be some kind of future for jews in the new germany. memoirs and other testimonies produced after the fact our unique and invaluable sources. yet the documents produced at the time, be they diaries, letters, newspaper articles or photographs, have a special power to illuminate the past. as a history teacher does, contemporary sources are invaluable for conveying a sense of history in the making. if only for a moment the sources let us grasp the reality of a time when the past was still the present. and outcomes with which we are all familiar with still unknown. but when it comes to understanding the holocaust, documents from that time period, particularly those stemming from the hands of victims, have a significant and expressiveness

that goes far beyond this general rule. they can recover the hopes, fears, decisions, and actions of people, real people, too often seem nearly as objects of not a policy. they can rescue the diversity and individuality of millions of women, men and children whom their tormentors try to treat as faceless undead created masks. and they can bring back to life the uncertainty, confusion and disbelief of those confronted by measures and processes that made sense only in retrospect, not at the time. after all, for much of the period of not to go, jews might sense but could not see where things were heading. the architects and petitioners of german anti-jewish policies knew how to conceal the intentions. more than that, the contradiction and changes in

nazi policy show that in the 1930s, at least in nazis had no clear idea about the destination. the holocaust as we know it was not a foregone conclusion. only the contemporary records are free from the blinding clarity of hindsight. but why should such documents becoming into like only now? why is there indeed no english-language collection available for university teaching or the wider public documenting the breath and riches of jewish responses to nazi prosecution. for one being, there has been helping of eastern european archives since the early '90s. secretive and a moscow archive with the entire papers of the important jewish self-defense organization, a central association of german citizens of the jewish faith. material now available at the united states holocaust memorial archive, and an important source

mark and i could draw on for this volume. moreover, it has been the perpetrators and not the victims who received most attention. we have seen, for example, important new studies exploring the cost of events that caused the holocaust and provide the answers to the questions how, when and why the nazis and collaborators did what they did. what has found surprisingly little, little scholarly interest, however, our reactions and actions of jews and the sources generated but not after the holocaust but while it was still raging. the aim of our series on jewish responses to persecution was it just published the first line to fill that gap. and if these volume achieve nothing else, they will hopefully convey the sheer richness and depth of witness records reserved in archives and libraries across the globe.

even when we do focus on records produced at the time, one might as whether we can really understand that time and special circumstances of the nazis are. in germany, in the 1930s, jewish individuals and agencies operated in a strange space with narrowing walls of surveillance, but also within what one can call a jewish sheer devoid of the institutional pressures that non-jewish groups had to conform with. to understand a report or article written by a jewish man or woman under such circumstances, we need to be able to read between the lines. while staying within the limits set by the gestapo. we need, nor did to listen closer beyond the mere information contact to understand the undertones, the

whispers and the reverberations. last introducing the various text featured in the book, we have tried to convey a sense of circumstances of the production and communication. a great many documents in this volume revealed the victims as thinking, feeling, reflective individuals capable of gaining striking insights into the situation. but how jewish were such responses? some of the statements and actions for which we have documentation undoubtedly reveal common behavior patterns that would be displayed by any group or individual confronted with such monstrous threat. others, however, reflect jewish life in the first half of the 20th century with its specific political religious, cultural aspects. the narrative presented in the book consists of many party

dissident and conflicting voices, a broad spectrum that we can only reflect to a small degree here today. this event and the volumes in the series have achieved one of the key aims if they convey a better understanding of the openness of the process in the minds of those who lived through it, like the survivors with us on this program, and the sources you will hear today. if it makes us more aware of the unpredictability, of events as well as the great diversity and reactions within the jewish minority persecuted and not to germany. in these lines would help to deepen the understanding of jewish agency and circumstances that increasingly reduced real options to choices between the impossible and the and thinkable. allow me to briefly introduce our volunteer readers. they were all born in germany or

austria, and all have a very rich biography that i can't do it justice here by introducing them. she spent her childhood in czechoslovakia and in 1941 came to the states via france, spain and portugal. peter came to the nice days in 1937 from berlin. jill lived in the rhine area near cologne and immigrant with her family first to kenya and after the war to the united states. her husband left germany in 1936 for palestine before he moved on to america in 1938. next came to france in 1938 and joined her parents in the united states in september 1941. susan, biography reflects expenses that go far beyond what we featured in this book, i addressed in future volumes of essays. born in a town she was deported

from berlin a lot to in january 1942 with her grandmother, mother and sister. her grandmother was killed in the forest in 1943. susan, her mother and sister were taken to a concentration camp where they were deported to another concentration camp in august 1944. her sister died and her mother later. after the duration and march 1945 she moved to poland where she met her future husband, helmand, who is also a survivor volunteer at the museum. this would not have been possible without our volunteer readers. it is also a first in that it features holocaust documents, many written by jews who did not survive, publicly presented here at the u.s. holocaust memorial museum by holocaust survivors. their voices and expenses and memories will provide, we hope,

a special kind of resonance for the document that will be read to you today. there is more in the book, which has the same goal as this event, namely, to raise interest in a future study of the holocaust. you find information on the documents that are read in a handout that you hopefully have received at the door. there has been a last minute change, and so far as the number 10 on your list, document 64 has been dropped. let me now turn it over to my dear friend and colleague, mark rosen, who will guide us through the documents and provide some context as well as background information for the reading. thank you. [applause] >> one way to think about the text and the voices that you are about to hear is that they are the mournful confrontation, the

moving personalization of what we already know. like the passes to visitors they offer real stories, real voices, real names amidst the millions. it's not that the past tell us something new, but they make it in so far as they can, real. but another way to think about what you're about to hear, as sharp a light on a dark plan. each shines a light and each light comes in at a different angle rebuilding something new about the dark planet of not see rule. so when we read them, when we hear them, we can ask how does this change? but it is not always easy for that light to reach us. sometimes people wrote with people in view that we can't see. sometimes they could not write or speak freely. so as we listen, we should ask

what is off the page, what is between the lines that we need to bear in mind? and if we have problems, say, knowing quite what to make of a jewish newspaper article written under not the censorship, we should think, too, about what that meant for readers at the time. here's an example of what i mean. this first extract is taken from the german orthodox jewish weekly, published just three days before his upon as chance of that and is read by peter. >> hitler's cabinet way to have it on the minds of all german jewry, and, in fact, all those in view of the overheated rhetoric of today's exaggerated nationalistic race and additives him as an obstacle to human civilization and historical progress. we do not subscribe to the view

that hair hitler and his friends now find the imposition of power they have desired for so long, will enact a proposal of circlet in the enclave of the other newspapers. they will not suddenly possessed german and a constitutional right. lock them away and get his or subject them to the avaricious and murderous impulse of mom. they not only cannot do this because so many other crucial, ranging from the president is on the polka party affiliateaffiliate with them. but they also clearly do not want to go this route. for when one acts in the european world power, the whole atmosphere is more conducive to ethical reflection upon one's better self than revisiting one's earlier oppositional role. operate as a european world power means that one seeks an enduring place in the harmonious exchange of peoples of culture.

not to recognize the gravity, however, would be inexcusably optimistic. unless the new men in power proved able to perform legislative miracles, from the german people that struggle with hunger and hardship, the more they'll find to be unfit in order to be. the unfed, program into political practice. in a national socialist civil service, to what extent will the old prussian civil servant since prevail over longer just anti-semitic instinct, and be able to prevent chicanery towards jews in the invasion of the legal right? to what extent will a police force with a national socialist it involves? the reliable and impartial in every case involving jews. only the future will review whether these questions and concerns are justified.

>> we could reduce in several ways. we could say that contemporaries and u.s. press did know better, horribly underestimated what they were capable of an overestimate the degree to which the constraints of government and coalition government, indeed, limited what the nazis could do. and we can be sure that no one knew what was coming. but before january the 30th, the german jewish press had not held back in its warning about hitler and the nazis. the wheldon jewish banker max had given a powerful and much-publicized denunciation of the nazis at the gravesite of his friend, the platypus james seaman. readers of the jewish papers knew this. so they will have been wondering, did the editorial is here really mean what he said? wasn't for his readers?

was the papers in a coded signal to the new government? but not wishing to sound too critical. did the jewish press now feel a little constrained that the new government michael after it? in short, what we learn from this is that one of the first casualties after the nazis came to power was the jewish organizations and could no longer communicate quite so openly with their members. even before purposeful constrained their ability to speak. for jewish newspaper readers in germany, the world has suddenly become harder to read. even so, many people soon gained a strong sense of the jewish community was threatened with ruin. the nazis past rhetoric, combined with the first assault in the localities from the troopers, and then in the second half of march, there was the looming threat that the government would support a