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I am currently reading “Fighting the Great War” by Michael Neiberg and in it he makes the claim that during the war the Germans engaged in large scale resettlement of the Jews in Poland to clear the way for German settlers. I have never heard this one before and WWI is one of my specific areas of study. He makes several other outlandish clams in the book that I have never heard as well. The book was recommended by a reviewer in the Journal of Military History, which is why I ordered it, it has been in my Amazon Wish List for a couple of years, I am now sorry I ordered it. There is a decided anti-German tone to the book and the first chapter makes it clear that Neiberg subscribes to the German “War Guilt” view of the war's origination. Since I have taken to putting reviews of books I have read on my blog and have a link to what I am currently reading as well, I will probably slam this book. I just wanted to know if anybody else has heard the above claim about German mistreatment of Jews specifically during WWI>
That's a new one on me, although most of my research for World War I has been associated with the causes, the immediate aftermath, and the debate on the causes associated with “the Fischer Controversy”.That being said, Professor Neiberg teaches history at the University of Souther Mississippi and holds a PhD in History from Carnegie Mellon University - surely he provided some sources to back his claim?Depending on the sources he lists in his book, it might be interesting to reach out to him and seek additional perspective / supporting arguments. His USM facutly page (http://www.usm.edu/history/neiberg.php) lists his contact info, to include his email: neiberg102@gmail.com
I remember seeing photos of Eastern European Jews welcoming German soldiers during WWI and a rabbi blessing them. They would have seemed as liberators and preferable to the “heroic” Cossacks who enjoyed slaughtering unarmed civilians.
No, he does not source the claim. The book is aimed at the lay audience and not academics so it is woefully short of footnotes in my opinion, especially with some of the wilder claims he makes. It also relies almost entirely on secondary sources published within the last ten years. Perhaps I will reach out to him, I have started writing my review and it would be the fair thing to do since I pretty much plan on slamming the book. He does provide a pretty good bibliography covering recent scholarship, the book is not all bad. I just think there are much better general histories of the war available than this one.
