In the Midst of Civilized Europe

A study of how the genocide of Jewish people in Ukraine laid the foundation for the Holocaust twenty years later.

Finalist, National Jewish Book Award

Shortlisted for the Lionel Gelber Prize

“No history of that Jewish catastrophe comes close to the virtuosity of research, clarity of prose, and power of analysis of this extraordinary book. As the horror of events yields to empathetic understanding, the reader is grateful to Veidlinger for reminding us what history can do.” —Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny

Between 1918 and 1921, more than a hundred thousand Jews were murdered in Ukraine by peasants, townsmen, and soldiers who blamed the Jews for the turmoil of the Russian Revolution. In hundreds of separate incidents, ordinary people robbed their Jewish neighbors with impunity, burned down their houses, ripped apart their Torah scrolls, sexually assaulted them, and killed them. Largely forgotten today, these pogroms—ethnic riots—dominated headlines and international affairs in their time. Aid workers warned that six million Jews were in danger of complete extermination. Twenty years later, these dire predictions would come true.

Drawing upon long-neglected archival materials, acclaimed historian Jeffrey Veidlinger shows for the first time how this wave of genocidal violence created the conditions for the Holocaust. Through stories of survivors, perpetrators, aid workers, and governmental officials, he explains how so many different groups of people came to the same conclusion: that killing Jews was an acceptable response to their various problems.

“An exhaustive, clearly written, deeply researched story of events in a time and place most of us know nearly nothing about. . . . An important and scholarly book.” —The Times (UK)

“A work of singular importance: a meticulous, original, and deeply affecting historical account, one that provides new insights into the conditions that catalyzed mass murder on an industrial scale.” —Philippe Sands, author of East West Street