Fighters Across Frontiers: Transnational Resistance in Europe, 1936-48

Description

This landmark book, the product of years of research by a team of two dozen historians, reveals that resistance to occupation by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy during the Second World War was not narrowly delineated by country but startlingly international. Tens of thousands of fighters across Europe resisted 'transnationally', travelling to join networks far from their homes. These 'foreigners' were often communists and Jews who were already being persecuted and on the move. Others were expatriate business people, escaped POWs, forced labourers or deserters. Their experiences would prove personally transformative and greatly affected the course of the conflict. From the International Brigades in Spain to the onset of the Cold War and the foundation of the state of Israel, they played a significant part in a period of upheaval and change during the long Second World War.

Robert Gildea is Professor of Modern History at Worcester College at the University of Oxford Ismee Tames is Arq Professor History of Resistance in Times of War and Persecution at Utrecht University, and Programme Leader for War and Society at the NIOD Insitute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam -- .

'This book shows the value of transnational histories and collaborative scholarship. With shattering clarity, it reveals trends, themes and experiences that had previously been obscured. Powerfully argued and meticulously researched, it changes the way we think about resistances in the past, while also providing new ways to think about the present.' Joanna Bourke, Professor of History, Birkbeck, University of London 'This remarkable book blazes a trail in our understanding of resistance in and around the Second World War. By altering our perspective and revealing previously unseen connections, it transforms a familiar object into something striking and novel. No one will be able to look at the history of resistance in the same way after reading this.' Matthew Cobb, author of The Resistance: The French Fight Against the Nazis 'Transcends traditional approaches to anti-fascist resistance in mid-twentieth-century Europe by highlighting its international aspects: exploring instances of resisters crossing borders and of foreigners participating in "national" resistance movements.' Bob Moore, Professor Emeritus of Twentieth-Century European History, University of Sheffield 'With this collection of work, the publisher and the authors have presented an extremely important study for the transnational resistance.' ZfG (Berlin) 'Editors Gildea (Oxford Univ., UK) and Tames (Utrecht Univ., the Netherlands) brought together 23 historians in this comprehensive study of transnational resistance and escape. Using approaches that deconstruct national perspectives, they examine resistance movements in a Europe "divided by war and occupation but connected by lines of escape and resistance" (p. 2). The analysis centers on WW II but begins with the Spanish Civil War and continues into the era of Jewish reconstruction and the first years of the Cold War. Part of what makes Fighters across Frontiers so innovative is that each of the 10 chapters, which are organized chronologically and thematically, features a lead author working with multiple scholars to build a holistic transnational analysis of that chapter's focus. Organizing concepts for the early chapters include the International Brigades and anti-fascist fighters in Spain, later moving into such topics as French resistance and the French Foreign Legion, Jewish resistance networks, escape routes, urban uprisings, and guerilla fighters in the Balkans. The result is an in-depth examination that tests the boundaries of readers' understanding of transnationalism, incorporating considerations for identity, exile, and memory.' --M. L. Scott, United States Air Force Academy Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students and faculty. '[...] this volume is a landmark for the field. It is the outcome of an impressive research endeavour that, in the spirit of its object of study, is truly transnational, involving colleagues from a number of countries who have amassed a remarkable amount of empirical evidence. [...] Undoubtedly, Fighters across Frontiers will become a pathfinder for exciting new research.' European History Quarterly, Arturo Zoffmann Rodriguez -- .