Salo Wittmayer Baron, 1895-1989

Born in Poland, Baron emerged as one of the greatest Jewish historians of the 20th century. He opposed the “lachrymose conception of Jewish history,” which focused on Jewish suffering. Baron’s “Social and Religious History of the Jews,” published in 1937, challenged the idea of Jews as the most persecuted group in history. He put the Holocaust in historical context at the Eichmann trial.

Photo: Israeli Government Press Office