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Focusing on the choices and actions of Jews during the Holocaust, Ordinary Jews examines the different patterns of behavior of civilians targeted by mass violence. Relying on rich archival material and hundreds of survivors´ testimonies, Evgeny Finkel presents a new framework for understanding the survival strategies in which Jews engaged: cooperation and collaboration, coping and compliance, evasion, and resistance. Finkel compares Jews´ behavior in three Jewish ghettos - Minsk, Kraków, and Biaystok - and shows that Jews´ responses to Nazi genocide varied based on their experiences with prewar policies that either promoted or discouraged their integration into non-Jewish society. Exploring the critical influences shaping the decisions made by Jews in Nazi-occupied eastern Europe, Ordinary Jews sheds new light on the dynamics of collective violence and genocide.

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"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 communitys 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

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Evgeny Finkel is assistant professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University.

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