Ordinary Jews – Choice and Survival during the Holocaust

"Why do only some people targeted in genocide fight back? In this sensitive and original investigation, Evgeny Finkel shows that resistance to violence is a function of the skills and habits at a community's disposal. Finkel reveals the pattern of constrained choices that drove communal behavior during the Holocaust and, in the process, returns the idea of agency to discussions of victimhood and survivorship."--Charles King, author of Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams

"Superb and pathbreaking, Ordinary Jews places victim agency at the center of its analysis. For too long genocide scholars have been concerned with uncovering the sources of perpetrator behavior while ignoring victim reactions as the genocide unfolded. The individual victim stories told here are heartrending yet fascinating in their complexity. The narrative was so compelling, I was reluctant to put the book down."--Manus Midlarsky, Rutgers University

"This is a very important and fascinating contribution to our understanding of genocide and the choices made not only by the perpetrators and bystanders but also by the victims. In explaining the different types of strategies the targets of genocide might use to ensure their survival, ranging from compliance to resistance to evasion, this compelling analysis returns agency to the victims."--Anna Grzyma?a-Busse, Stanford University