Between Two Worlds

October 15, 2023
Finding love and rebuilding lives after the Holocaust. Drawing on rich archival sources, historian Judd makes her book debut with a sensitive, well-researched history of marriages between survivors of the Holocaust and American, British, and Canadian military personnel. After World War II, some 200,000 women immigrated to the U.S. as soldiers' wives, where they faced challenges of acculturation in a new country. Some marriages were reunions of foreign-born, naturalized soldiers with women they had known before the war; other couples met at Jewish venues, such as synagogues or cultural gatherings; still others met when soldiers arrived at camps for displaced persons. In reporting their unexpected meetings, Judd writes, "the couples expressed incredulity that they had crossed paths." Some couples shared a language, but many resorted to hastily learned Yiddish, college-level German, or the help of a translator. Lacking a shared language was common among couples "in North Africa and southern Europe." Courtship was often brief, with many couples deciding to marry quickly, sometimes because the soldier was due to be transferred or demobilized. Marrying, though, confronted them with the "arduous and legislated process" of obtaining permission from the military. The American, British, and Canadian governments forbade marriages to civilians from Germany, Austria, and other occupied countries. In addition, some Jewish and Christian chaplains refused to sanction interfaith marriages, and couples needed to take into account "disparate European marriage laws." As far as leaving Europe, couples not yet married faced the "bewildering, slow character of immigration," and even married couples encountered daunting paperwork. Newly arrived immigrants recalled their initial feelings of strangeness, as well as the stress of meeting their new families and living with in-laws until they found homes of their own. Overall, Judd's stories of "loss, recovery, power, and unbelonging" stand as testimony to the triumph of survival. A fresh perspective on the aftermath of trauma.

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November 1, 2023

Inspired by her own grandmother's story, Judd's (history, Ohio State Univ.) debut uncovers the hidden history of Jewish war brides, who were often unwilling to share their stories in their lifetimes due to the trauma they lived through. The chaos of post-World War II Europe meant that displaced persons, only a few of whom were able to return to their past lives, had little recourse to move or emigrate. Marriage represented a way out, though it was never an easy prospect. Many Jewish U.S. servicemen were eager to aid in relief efforts for European Jews. Despite restrictions on fraternization, they ended up meeting and falling in love with Jewish Europeans. But religious and military restrictions limited which couples were allowed to marry, and women were unable to travel without waiting for war-bride transports in yet more camps in France or England and often with small children. While Judd makes the case for why these stories are important, the narrative is more academic than literary. VERDICT A new piece of the Holocaust story will be of interest to readers of Jewish studies, women's history, and Holocaust studies.--Margaret Heller

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