The Creation of the German-Jewish Diaspora

This book is first of its kind to deal with the interwar Jewish emigration from Germany in a comparative framework and follows the entire migration process from the point of view of the emigrants. It combines the usage of social and economic measures with the individual stories of the immigrants, thereby revealing the complex connection between the socio-economic profile varieties and the decisions regarding emigration - if, when and where to. The encounter between the various immigrant-refugee groups and the different host societies in different times produced diverse stories of presence, function, absorption and self-awareness in the three major overseas destinations - Palestine, the USA, and Great Britain -- despite the ostensibly common German-Jewish heritage. Thus German-Jewish immigrants created a new and nuanced fabric of the German-Jewish Diaspora in its main three centers, and shaped distinct identifications and legacies in Israel, Britain, and the United States.

Hagit Lavsky, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Haifa, Israel.