Mark L. Smith, The Yiddish Historians and the Struggle for A Jewish History of the Holocaust, Wayne State University Press, Detroit 2019, 462 pages.
A Review Article in: Quest. Issues in Contemporary Jewish History 18 (December 2020)
This review by Dr. Daniela Ozacky-Stern examines Mark L. Smith’s book, The Yiddish Historians and the Struggle for A Jewish History of the Holocaust, which highlights the pioneering work of five historians who were Holocaust survivors—Philip Friedman, Isaiah Trunk, Nachman Blumental, Joseph Kermish, and Mark Dworzecki. Right after World War II, these scholars dedicated themselves to documenting the catastrophe in Yiddish, the mother tongue of most of the victims.
The review notes the historical backdrop of post-war Israel, where the dominant Zionist ethos favoring Hebrew often marginalized Yiddish and, by extension, these early Yiddish-language studies. Smith seeks to correct this oversight by analyzing the unique methodologies of these historians. Unlike traditional macro-histories focused primarily on perpetrators and death, these survivor-historians prioritized the victims, examining Jewish life, social dynamics, and internal ghetto administration (such as the Judenrätes) from a bottom-up perspective. They viewed the Holocaust not as an isolated rupture, but as a continuous chapter in Jewish history.
Furthermore, the review emphasizes their revolutionary broadening of the concept of “resistance.” During a period when survivors were often unfairly stigmatized for going “like sheep to the slaughter,” these Yiddish historians were the first to document unarmed resistance, defining daily spiritual steadfastness, cultural preservation, and the sheer struggle to sustain human life as heroic acts. They also amassed thousands of invaluable survivor testimonies that laid the foundation for modern Holocaust historiography.
While acknowledging that these historians eventually integrated into major academic institutions like Yad Vashem, YIVO, and Bar-Ilan University—publishing later in Hebrew and English—Ozacky-Stern praises Smith’s exhaustive bibliography and meticulous research. Ultimately, the review endorses Smith’s tribute, affirming that the visionary frameworks established by these Yiddish historians remain foundational and deeply valid in Holocaust studies today.
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