Note from the Editor

Even though it discomforts many scholars and lay people, an important aspect of contemporary Jewish identity revolves around Jewish victimhood during the Holocaust. This special issue of the Journal of Jewish Identities takes up the topic of Holocaust victims in its various manifestations. The essays explore gender and victimhood as well as individual experiences of victimization challenges the concept that Holocaust victims are Jewish by presenting some non-Jewish victims.

The editorial board of the Journal of Jewish Identities intends for each summer volume to explore a special topic. Next summer the topic will be gender. Future special issues include: the post-1970 Russian Diaspora (2010); Jews of the Borderlands (2011); and Latin America (2012). The winter edition will remain an open forum for discussions of all aspects of Jewish identities. In this special issue we have also included our first primary document— the first English translation in print of a song by a well known Lodz Ghetto singer.

This issue also includes one of the last articles by Professor Stephen Feinstein. Dr. Feinstein passed away shortly before this volume was set to go to press and so was unable to review his final proofs. The editorial board of the journal took it upon itself to do the final review of his proofs and apologizes for any errors that slipped through. Dr. Feinstein was a warm, wonderful person who had served as an early mentor to me. He will be sorely missed. His memoriam, written by Dr. Eric Weitz, is on page 49. We also included a memoriam to a founder of the field of Holocaust Studies—Professor Raul Hilberg. We felt that given his recent passing and the nature of the special issue, it was an appropriate addition. It is with great sadness that two memoriams were deemed necessary in this volume. Both are great losses for the field.