For our first Dialogue of the new school year we had a fascinating discussion with renowned historian and author Douglas Smith, exploring the history behind his acclaimed book The City Without Jews.
To set the scene, Douglas took us through the history of one of Europe’s great Jewish centres prior to the twentieth century, the impact of the First World War and the 1920s, revealing the captivating story behind the title of the book along the way. Douglas then explained how the vibrant Jewish community was systematically dismantled under Nazi rule: through the experiences of individuals and communities, A City Without Jews traces the processes of exclusion, dispossession, deportation and murder that transformed a vibrant Jewish city into one largely emptied of its Jewish population.
At the heart of the conversation was the remarkable story of Mignon Langnas, a Jewish nurse whose diaries and letters Douglas had access to. Combining the broad history of persecution and genocide with deeply personal testimony, the discussion considered the roles of key perpetrators such as Adolf Eichmann, and more importantly the experiences of the Jewish community of Vienna through the words of Mignon Langnas.
For teachers, this Dialogue offers several particularly valuable insights. First, it complicates and enriches familiar narratives of the Holocaust by focusing on the experience of Vienna’s Jews, a community whose story is often overlooked in classroom teaching despite the city’s importance as one of Europe’s largest Jewish centres before 1938. Second, Douglas Smith’s approach demonstrates the power of combining macro-history with micro-history, connecting state-sanctioned plunder, expropriation and deportation to the lived experiences of individuals caught up in these processes. Douglas brought into sharp relief the impossible position that Jews found themselves in and the ‘choiceless choices’ that they faced – an important concept for our pupils to grapple with. Finally, the session introduces audiences to the extraordinary contemporary writings of Mignon Langnas. Unlike many sources that were recorded after the war, her diaries and letters were written as events unfolded, providing a rare and immediate window into the realities, uncertainties and daily struggles of Jewish life under Nazi rule. Together, these perspectives offer teachers fresh material, new case studies and important opportunities to deepen pupils’ understanding of the Holocaust.
Douglas Smith’s A City Without Jews is a remarkable book that every teacher should acquaint themselves with.