Research Catalog

Hitler's pawn : the boy assassin and the Holocaust

Title
Hitler's pawn : the boy assassin and the Holocaust / Stephen Koch.
Author
Koch, Stephen, 1941-
Publication
  • Berkeley, California : Counterpoint, 2019.
  • ©2019

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TextUse in library JFE 19-5361Schwarzman Building - Dorot Jewish Division Room 111

Details

Description
x, 259 pages : illustration; 24 cm
Summary
  • Presents the story of a seventeen-year-old Jew whose assassination of a German diplomat in Paris was used by the Nazis as a pretext for the state-sponsored anti-Semitic pogrom known as Kristallnacht.
  • "A remarkable story of a forgotten seventeen-year-old Jew who was blamed by the Nazis for the anti-Semitic violence and terror known as the Kristallnacht, the pogrom still seen as an initiating event of the Holocaust. After learning about Nazi persecution of his family, Herschel Grynszpan (pronounced 'Greenspan'), an impoverished seventeen-year-old Jew living in Paris, bought a small handgun and on November 7, 1938, went to the German embassy and shot the first German diplomat he saw. When the man died two days later, Hitler and Goebbels made the shooting their pretext for the great state-sponsored wave of anti-Semitic terror known as Kristallnacht, still seen by many as an initiating event of the Holocaust. Overnight, Grynszpan, a bright but naive teenager--and a perfect political nobody--was front-page news and a pawn in a global power struggle. When France fell, the Nazis captured Grynszpan after a wild chase and flew him to Berlin. The boy became a privileged prisoner of the Gestapo while Hitler and Goebbels plotted a massive show trial to blame 'the Jews' for starting World War II. A prisoner and alone, Grynszpan grasped Hitler's intentions and waged a battle of wits to sabotage the trial, knowing that even if he succeeded, he would certainly be murdered. The battle of wits was close, but Grynszpan finally won. Based on the newest research, Hitler's Pawn is the richest telling of Grynszpan's story to date."--Dust jacket.
Subject
  • Grynszpan, Herschel Feibel, 1921-approximately 1943
  • Vom Rath, Ernst, 1909-1938 > Assassination
  • Vom Rath, Ernst, 1909-1938
  • Jewish refugees > France > Biography
  • Assassins > France > Paris > Biography
  • Assassination
  • Assassins
  • Jewish refugees
  • BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Criminals & Outlaws
  • BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical
  • BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Jewish
  • HISTORY / Holocaust
  • HISTORY / Military / World War II
  • France
  • France > Paris
Genre/Form
  • Nonfiction.
  • Biography.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-233) and index.
Contents
La paix! La paix! La paix! -- The child -- Hunted -- Dispossession -- The assassin's night -- The assassin's day -- Hitler's luck -- Arrest and fame -- Two speeches -- The whole world hears -- Grief and grandiosity -- The phony war -- "I'm Herschel Grynszpan! Arrest me!!" -- Herschel the captive -- The homosexual strategy -- Victory unaware -- Oblivion -- Two brothers.
Call Number
JFE 19-5361
ISBN
  • 9781640091443
  • 1640091440
LCCN
2018018729
OCLC
1035119882
Author
Koch, Stephen, 1941- author.
Title
Hitler's pawn : the boy assassin and the Holocaust / Stephen Koch.
Publisher
Berkeley, California : Counterpoint, 2019.
Copyright Date
©2019
Edition
First hardcover edition.
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-233) and index.
Research Call Number
JFE 19-5361
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