The Hunted : The Holocaust through the Experiences of Twenty European Jews

A ground-level history of the Holocaust, told through the voices of twenty European Jews. Drawing from diaries and memoirs, it reveals a multiplicity of experiences across countries, classes, and religious backgrounds. Each chapter traces a single year in the protagonists’ lives, placing personal decisions within the context shifting Nazi policies.

Told through the voices of twenty European Jews who survived the Holocaust, The Hunted presents a micro historical account of persecution and survival under Nazi rule. Drawing on diaries and memoirs, it reconstructs a multiplicity of experiences across national, social, and religious contexts, examining how individual decisions were shaped by family networks, local conditions, and shifting policies. Each chapter traces a single year in the lives of the protagonists, situating their choices within the evolving administrative and legal framework of Nazi persecution. Author-drawn maps place individuals in their evolving landscapes—showing the escape routes they attempted, the barriers they met, and the ghettos, camps, and killing sites they endured. By weaving together meticulously researched historical context and personal testimony, The Hunted offers a vivid human portrait of survival amid one of history’s darkest chapters.