Informative. Covers the escape tunnels people used during the Holocaust.. I simply cannot imagine...

The Archeology of the Holocaust is a fascinating book and the author knows his subject. We should have learned from the Holocaust, but it has been repeated by different cultures. Well written book and not a book that is a quick read.

The Archaeology of the Holocaust is a step-by-step introduction to places that have been gravely overlooked in the information I have absorbed about the Second World War. Richard A. Freund is a professor at the University of Hartford in Hartford, Connecticut, and a proponent of a 'new' method of archaeology. He believes that in order to understand what is lost we must know what came before, culturally - research should include life as it was before it was interrupted. Archaeology has to be all about people to be of use. Research should include scientists from many fields - sure archaeology is important, but also geoscience, geology, geography, computer science, anthropology, engineering, architecture, chemistry, biology, history, religion philosophy, and communications must play a part in the final picture of this slice of life we are studying.

And finally by combining first-person testimonies and those family stories told to the children of survivors, previous archaeological finds, photos of the terrain from overhead taken during the war and in the present, and using the non-invasive evolving technologies in the geosciences and available now, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and UltraGPR, Macrophotogrammetry, and Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT), which images should be read by professionals.

The first 20% of this history is explanatory information and at times I got frustrated with that. It is ALL the information that a layperson will need to understand the next 80%. Please persevere. Freund then takes us to Greece and Lithuania and Poland, to sites we are familiar with and many sites including those small satellite towns sheltering killing fields where no concentration camps were set up. We go to the Island of Rhodes, which had been a haven for Jewish life for 2,300 years. In the mid-1930s Rhodes was known as Rhodesli Paradise, the home of a thriving Jewish community. 40% of the business' were Jewish and the town housed six synagogues. On Wednesday, July 23, 1944, the Nazi's rounded up every Jew, shipped them on boats to Athens, then by train to Auschwitz where most of them were killed during their first days in the camp. Today there are about 10 Jews living on Rhodes. We must understand the past to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. Please, read this book.

I received a free electronic copy of this history from Netgalley, Richard A. Freund, and Rowman & Littlefield. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read and reviewed this book under my own volition. This is my honest opinion of this work.

It took me a month to parse through this book, but I have greatly enjoyed it. I am not a scientist or historian by trade, but I do teach the Holocaust in my junior high classes. This book gave me great insight into what was lost in communities outside of Poland and Germany. I appreciated the author's perspective and his insistence on not victimizing the dead a second time through our seeking to understand what happened and where.
That said, some parts of this book were a dry read for a layman such as myself. They are worth pushing through. I would have preferred a narrative of Freund's experiences with less focus on the science, but that's not the purpose of this book. Overall, a very informative read. Anyone who teaches the Holocaust at any level of depth should take a look at this book in order to broaden their perspective and see just how widespread the loss beyond the communities typically studied and mentioned.

I found the subject matter this piece absolutely fascinating and feel it notable for its portrait of the impact and enhancements afforded archeologists by developing technology. I also liked how it details the use of first person accounts and respect for cultural traditions throughout one's research.

Having said that, I also found the text exceeding dry and would have difficultly recommending the book to others as the writing is so mechanical.