It seems at first commonplace: a photograph of peasants at harvest time, after work well done, resting contentedly with their tools, behind the fruits of their labor. But when one finally notices that what seemed innocent on first view becomes horrific: the crops scattered in front of the group are skulls and bones. Where are we? Who are the people in the photograph, and what are they doing? The starting point of Jan Gross's A Golden Harvest, this haunting photograph in fact depicts a group of peasants--"diggers" atop a mountain of ashes at Treblinka, where some 800,000 Jews were gassed and cremated. The diggers are hoping to find gold and precious stones that Nazi executioners may have overlooked. The story captured in this grainy black-and-white photograph symbolizes the vast, continent-wide plunder of Jewish wealth. The seizure of Jewish assets during World War II occasionally generates widespread attention when Swiss banks are challenged to produce lists of dormant accounts, or national museums are forced to return stolen paintings. The theft of this wealth was not limited to conquering armies, leading banks, and museums, but to local populations such as those pictured in the photograph. Based upon a simple group shot, this moving book evokes the depth and range, as well as the intimacy, of the final solution.

About the Author
Jan Gross is Professor of Politics and European Studies at New York University. He is the author of Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland , a National Book Award finalist. Irena Grudzinska Gross is Associate Research Scholar in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, at Princeton University.

Reviews
Rarely can a book of such short length have touched on such large questions about history, memory, and human behaviour in dark times. * David Cesarani, Literary Review *
While British academics anxiously ruminate on how to demonstrate their `impact' on the wider world to earn government funding, Jan Gross provides a powerful example of a scholar who has shaped a nation's collective self-understanding. * Times Literary Supplement *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199731671
Author Jan T. Gross
Format Hardback
Page Count 160
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 310g
Dimensions(mm) 211mm * 149mm * 17mm