Description

Arguing against the prevailing view that Holocaust survivors (encouraged by a new and flourishing culture of "witnessing") have come forward only recently to tell their stories, Writing the Holocaust examines the full history of Holocaust testimony, from the first chroniclers confined to Nazi-enforced ghettos to today's survivors writing as part of collective memory.

Zoë Waxman shows how the conditions and motivations for bearing witness changed immeasurably. She reveals the multiplicity of Holocaust experiences, the historically contingent nature of victims' responses, and the extent to which their identities--secular or religious, male or female, East or West European--affected not only what they observed but also how they have written about their experiences. In particular, she demonstrates that what survivors remember is substantially determined by the context in which they are remembering.

Features

• Full history of Holocaust testimony
• Draws on accounts by victims and survivors
• Highlights the diversity of victims' experiences both during and after the Holocaust
• Includes a chapter focusing on the experiences of women writers

Reviews

"A valuable contribution, particularly in its call to complicate the hegemonic narrative of survival that has excluded the experiences of so many.--Monika J. Flaschka, Journal of Jewish Identities

"Waxman's book includes many fascinating and significant aspects that remind us of the need to look again at what the survivors, and indeed those who did not survive, are saying in their testimonies."--Joanne Sayner, H-Net

Product Details

240 pages; none; ISBN13: 978-0-19-954154-6ISBN10: 0-19-954154-X

About the Author(s)