On The Eve: The Jews of Europe before the Second World War

By Bernard Wasserstein

This is the portrait of a world on the eve of its destruction. Bernard Wasserstein presents a disturbing interpretation of the collapse of European Jewish civilization even before the Nazi onslaught and World War Two.

In this revisionist account of modern European Jewry, Wasserstein shows how the harsh realities of the age devastated the lives of communities and individuals. By 1939, the Jews faced an existential crisis that was as much the result of internal decay as of external attack.

Ranging from Vilna ('Jerusalem of Lithuania') to Salonica with its Judeo-Español-speaking stevedores and singers, and beyond, the book's focus is squarely on the Jews themselves rather than their persecutors.
Wasserstein's aim is to 'breathe life into dry bones.' Based on vast research, written with compassion and empathy, and enlivened by dry wit, On the Eve paints a vivid and shocking picture of the European Jews in their final hour.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Profile Books
• Release date: May 3, 2012
• ISBN: 9781847653451

Bernard Wasserstein

Bernard Wasserstein has been a historian of modern Jewish and Middle Eastern history for over thirty years. He taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and was Professor of History at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. From 1996 to 2000 he served as President of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies; and is now Professor of History at Chicago University. Bernard Wasserstein has been a historian of the Israeli-Arab conflict for the past thirty years. He taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 1982 to 1996 he was Professor of History at Brandeis University in Massachusetts and from 1996 to 2000 he served as President of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. He was Professor of History at the University of Glasgow and is now Professor of History at Chicago. Divided Jerusalem (also published by Profile Books) aroused widespread comment and was particularly praised for its lucidity and objectivity.

Reviews for On The Eve

[sweetwood1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very instructive, a full picture of many aspects...

[hazelk_9 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I should have researched this book more carefully before purchasing as it was more academic than I had supposed. I suppose I was looking forward to reading more about the shtetls, the food, the daily life of the majority of European Jews. This of course wasn't the focus of the book: mea culpa not the esteemed author's.