The Jews of Bohemia and Moravia : facing the Holocaust / Livia Rothkirchen.

Originally published: 2005.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 391-420) and index.

Prologue : Prague and Jerusalem : spiritual ties between Czechs and Jews -- The historical setting -- Years of challenge and growth : the Jewish minority in Czechoslovakia (1918-38) -- The aftermath of Munich : the crisis of the intellectuals -- Under German occupation (1939-45) -- The protectorate governments and the "Final Solution" -- The Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London : attitudes and reactions to the Jewish plight -- Jews in the Czech home resistance -- The "righteous" and the brave : compassion and solidarity with the persecuted -- Gateway to death : the unique character of Ghetto Terezín (Theresienstadt) -- The spiritual legacy of the Terezín inmates -- Epilogue : between 1945 and the Velvet Revolution of 1989.

Livia Rothkirchen provides a detailed and comprehensive history of how Nazi rule in the Czech lands was shaped as much by local culture and circumstances as by military policy. The extraordinary nature of the Czech Jews' experience emerges clearly in chapters on the role of the Jewish minority in Czech life, the crises of the Munich agreement and the German occupation, the reaction of the local population to the persecution of the Jews, the policies of the London-based government-in-exile, the question of Jewish resistance, and the special case of the Terezin (Theresienstadt) ghetto. The Jews of Bohemia and Moravia is based on a wealth of primary documents, many uncovered only after the 1989 November Revolution.