Awards

• Runner-up for American Association for Ukrainian Studies Book Prize (AAUS) 2019 (United States)
• Winner of Bronislaw Malinowski Award in the Social Sciences 2019 (United States)
• Winner of Bronisław Malinowski Award in the Social Sciences 2019 (United States)

Overview

Why do pogroms occur in some localities and not in others? Jeffrey S. Kopstein and Jason Wittenberg examine a particularly brutal wave of violence that occurred across hundreds of predominantly Polish and Ukrainian communities in the aftermath of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. The authors note that while some communities erupted in anti-Jewish violence, most others remained quiescent. In fact, fewer than 10 percent of communities saw pogroms in 1941, and most ordinary gentiles never attacked Jews. Intimate Violence is a novel social-scientific explanation of ethnic violence and the Holocaust. It locates the roots of violence in efforts to maintain Polish and Ukrainian dominance rather than in anti-Semitic hatred or revenge for communism. In doing so, it cuts through painful debates about relative victimhood that are driven more by metaphysical beliefs in Jewish culpability than empirical evidence of perpetrators and victims. Pogroms, they conclude, were difficult to start, and local conditions in most places prevented their outbreak despite a general anti-Semitism and the collapse of the central state. Kopstein and Wittenberg shed new light on the sources of mass ethnic violence and the ways in which such gruesome acts might be avoided.

Full Product Details

9781501715259

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Reviews

Offering an interesting political-scientific take on the pogroms in this region, Intimate Violence is sure to spark debate. * Choice * Kopstein and Wittenberg took an initiative with this critical, interdisciplinary step toward a subtler understanding of the origins of communal violence.... The chief merit of the book lies in the refutation of certain persistent arguments that historians have advanced regarding the pogroms.... Kopstein and Wittenberg have offered an excellent outline for more research. It is an innovative and elegant book. * Reviews in History * An original and well-crafted study of interethnic competition on the eve of the Holocaust. The book advances our understanding of the microfoundations of ethnic conflict and challenges existing explanations of violence against Jews in twentieth-century Eastern Europe. Kopstein and Wittenberg also assemble a fine-grained historical data set that could help address further questions about interethnic relations. As such, the book has much to offer scholars of intercommunal violence, nationalism, and Eastern European politics. * Perspectives on Politics * Kopstein and Wittenberg, in Intimate Violence, leave us with a better understanding of these terrible events. * The Times of Israel *

These are thought-provoking arguments and provide researchers with methods for a macro-level examination of variation in local violence. They also draw needed attention to explaining the non-occurrence of violence in contexts in which it seems likely to take place. * CANADIAN SLAVONIC PAPERS * Offering an interesting political-scientific take on the pogroms in this region, Intimate Violence is sure to spark debate. * Choice * Kopstein and Wittenberg took an initiative with this critical, interdisciplinary step toward a subtler understanding of the origins of communal violence.... The chief merit of the book lies in the refutation of certain persistent arguments that historians have advanced regarding the pogroms.... Kopstein and Wittenberg have offered an excellent outline for more research. It is an innovative and elegant book. * Reviews in History * An original and well-crafted study of interethnic competition on the eve of the Holocaust. The book advances our understanding of the microfoundations of ethnic conflict and challenges existing explanations of violence against Jews in twentieth-century Eastern Europe. Kopstein and Wittenberg also assemble a fine-grained historical data set that could help address further questions about interethnic relations. As such, the book has much to offer scholars of intercommunal violence, nationalism, and Eastern European politics. * Perspectives on Politics * Kopstein and Wittenberg, in Intimate Violence, leave us with a better understanding of these terrible events. * The Times of Israel * [T]hey clearly demonstrate that divisive and polarizing nationalist politics is a principal cause of intercommunal violence in the modern democratic era, which in circumstances unrestrained by state and local authorities may take a genocidal turn. * Journal of Modern History *

This well-documented and pathbreaking study examines the wave of anti-Jewish violence that occurred in the summer of 1941 after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. It seeks both to explain why pogroms occurred in some localities and not in others and examines the reasons for their outbreak. This book is essential reading for all those interested in the Holocaust in Eastern Europe and, indeed, in Europe in the twentieth century. --Antony Polonsky, Professor Emeritus of Holocaust Studies, Brandeis University Jeffrey S. Kopstein and Jason Wittenberg's Intimate Violence is an enjoyable read, rare in its analysis of the pogroms, and offering a relatively new interpretation of their causes. The authors do a very impressive job of gathering and analyzing data and offer a nice statistical analysis showing evidence in favor of the threat-power model in this well-written and easy-to-follow book. --Matthew Lange, Professor of Sociology, McGill University Intimate Violence is a piece of scholarship of supreme quality and is a significant contribution to Holocaust history and studies of interethnic violence. Jeffrey S. Kopstein and Jason Wittenberg skillfully apply statistical methods and they offer insights that reach well beyond the specific time and region of the events. --Dariusz Stola, Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences The history of pogroms arouses passions, and its study requires sober creativity. Jeffrey S. Kopstein and Jason Wittenberg, outstanding political scientists representing different approaches, have collaborated on this subject for a decade, mining archives, refining data, and considering interpretations. The result is a work that opens a new era in this field of study. Scholars of the Holocaust not only should but will read it. --Timothy Snyder, Richard C. Levin Professor of History, Yale University Intimate Violence is a piece of scholarship of supreme quality, and is a significant contribution to Holocaust history and studies of interethnic violence. Jeffrey S. Kopstein and Jason Wittenberg skillfully apply statistical methods, and they offer insights that reach well beyond the specific time and region of the events. --Dariusz Stola, Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences

Intimate Violence is a piece of scholarship of supreme quality, and is a significant contribution to Holocaust history and studies of interethnic violence. Jeffrey S. Kopstein and Jason Wittenberg skillfully apply statistical methods, and they offer insights that reach well beyond the specific time and region of the events. --Dariusz Stola, Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences This well-documented and pathbreaking study examines the wave of anti-Jewish violence that occurred in the summer of 1941 after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. It seeks both to explain why pogroms occurred in some localities and not in others and examines the reasons for their outbreak. This book is essential reading for all those interested in the Holocaust in Eastern Europe and, indeed, of Europe in the twentieth century. --Antony Polonsky, Professor Emeritus of Holocaust Studies, Brandeis University The history of pogroms arouses passions, and its study requires sober creativity. Jeffrey S. Kopstein and Jason Wittenberg, outstanding political scientists representing different approaches, have collaborated on this subject for a decade, mining archives, refining data, and considering interpretations. The result is a work that opens a new era in this field of study. Scholars of the Holocaust not only should but will read it. --Timothy Snyder, Richard C. Levin Professor of History, Yale University Jeffrey S. Kopstein and Jason Wittenberg's Intimate Violence is an enjoyable read, rare in its analysis of the pogroms, and offering a relatively new interpretation of their causes. The authors do a very impressive job of gathering and analyzing data and offer a nice statistical analysis showing evidence in favor of the threat-power model in this well written and easy-to-follow book. --Matthew Lange, Professor of Sociology, McGill University Intimate Violence is a piece of scholarship of supreme quality, and is a significant contribution to Holocaust history and studies of interethnic violence. Jeffrey S. Kopstein and Jason Wittenberg skillfully apply statistical methods, and they offer insights that reach well beyond the specific time and region of the events. --Dariusz Stola, Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences

Author Information

Jeffrey S. Kopstein is Dean's Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. His books include Politics, Violence, Memory and The Assault on the State. Jason Wittenberg is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Crucibles of Political Loyalt.

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