Beschreibung:
Written for students, specialists, and a general audience, Claudia Moscovici’s Holocaust Memories offers a series of more than sixty brief and informative reviews of Holocaust memoirs, fiction, histories and films.
Nearly eighty years have passed since the Holocaust. There have been hundreds of memoirs, histories and novels written about it, yet many fear that this important event may fall into oblivion. As Holocaust survivors pass away, their legacy of suffering, tenacity and courage could be forgotten. It is up to each generation to commemorate the victims, preserve their life stories and hopefully help prevent such catastrophes. These were my main motivations in writing this book, Holocaust Memories, which includes reviews of memoirs, histories, biographies, novels and films about the Holocaust.
It was difficult to choose among the multitude of books on the subject that deserve our attention. I made my selections based partly on the works that are considered to be the most important on the subject; partly on wishing to offer some historical background about the Holocaust in different countries and regions that were occupied by or allied themselves with Nazi Germany, and partly on my personal preferences, interests and knowledge.
The Nazis targeted European Jews as their main victims, so my book focuses primarily on them. At the same time, since the Nazis also targeted other groups they considered dangerous and inferior, I also review books about the sufferings of the Gypsies, the Poles and other groups that fell victim to the Nazi regimes.
In the last part, I review books that discuss other genocides and crimes against humanity, including the Stalinist mass purges, the Cambodian massacres by the Pol Pot regime and the Rwandan genocide. I want to emphasize that history can, indeed, repeat itself, even if in different forms and contexts. Just as the Jews of Europe were not the only targets of genocide, Fascist regimes were not its only perpetrators.
Foreword by Rabbi Joseph PolakIntroductionPreface: A Precedent for the Holocaust1. Between Fanaticism and Terror: Hitler, Stalin and The Noise of Time2. Elie Wiesel’s Night: Shedding Light Upon the Darkness3. Bergen-Belsen and Four Perfect Pebbles4. The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank by Willy Lindwer5. Hazy Hints of Memory: After the Holocaust the Bells Still Ring6. Survivors Club: A Family’s Legendary Tale7. Levi’s Reflection on Humanity in Crisis: Survival in Auschwitz8. Sarah’s Key and the Holocaust in France9. The Holocaust in Hungary: Leni Yahil’s The Holocaust10. A Holocaust Hero in Hungary: Wallenberg by Kati Marton11. Imre Kertesz’s Fatelessness12. Anti-Semitism in Hungary Today13. Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism: Why the Jews?14. The Role of the Masses in The Origins of Totalitarianism15. Beyond the Jewish Genocide: Inferno by Max Hastings16. Hitler’s Ban on Modern Art: The “Degenerate Art” Exhibit17. Saving European Art from the Nazis: The Monuments Men18. The Holocaust in Austria and The Woman in Red19. On the Anschluss: Becoming Alice20. The Gypsy Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies21. Eichmann in Jerusalem: What is the Banality of Evil?22. The Real Banality of Evil: Ordinary Men23. Eichmann’s Extraordinary Evil: Eichmann Before Jerusalem24. The Concentration Camp Commandants: Soldiers of Evil25. The Auschwitz Kommandant: Arthur Wilhelm Liebehenschel26. The Real Story of the Terezin Jewish Ghetto: I am a Star27. The Wannsee Conference: Planning the Final Solution28. America First29. Quiet Neighbors by Allan A. Ryan30. Action T 4: From “Euthanasia” to the Final Solution31. Hitler’s Niece and Historical Fiction32. An Unlikely Hero: Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally33. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: An Instructive Fable34. Unbroken: Forgiven but Never Forgotten35. The 1936 Berlin Olympics: The Boys in the Boat36. Manufacturing Death: Hell’s Cartel37. Prosecuting War Crimes: The Nuremberg Trial38. Kamikaze Warfare: Inferno39. Hateful Words: Nazi Propaganda40. A Cowardly Success: Bloodlands41. Planning a Soviet Holocaust: Stalin’s Last Crime42. Lebensraum: The Second World War43. The Siege of Leningrad and Genocide by Starvation44. The Murderous Einsatzgruppen (Task Forces)45. Poland’s Plight: Gustaw Herling’s A World Apart46. Children of the War Years: Witnesses of War47. Sophie’s Choice: Holocaust Literature as Psychological Fiction48. An Incredible Tale of Survival: Alicia, My Story49. Revealing the Ugly Truth: The Holocaust in Romania50. A Romanian Hero: The Memoirs of Wilhelm Filderman51. Ion Antonescu: Hitler’s Forgotten Ally52. Anti-Semitism in Romania: The Journal of Mihai Sebastian53. Heroism in Hell: Resistance, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising54. Privilege and Persecution: The Diary of Mary Berg55. Janusz Korczak: The King of the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto56. The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of Survival in Warsaw57. Trapped in the Lodz Ghetto: The Cage58. The Book Thief: Holocaust Literature as Best Seller59. The Forgotten Holocaust: The Rape of Nanking60. A Cataclismic War: Postwar, a History of Europe since 194561. The Cultural Revolution and The Great Leap Forward62. The Killing Fields: Genocide in Cambodia63. Genocide in Rwanda: Me Against My Brother64. North Korea’s State of Terror: Nothing to Envy65. Yad Vashem: “A Place and a Name” of Remembrance66. An Impossible Conflict in Gaza: Rock the Casbah67. Anti-Semitism Today and the Assault on Democratic Values68. Would you Forgive the Nazi Perpetrator? The Sunflower69. Could the Holocaust Happen Again? Nazi Hunter70. Ethics Above PoliticsConclusion: Judaic Studies and the Holocaust via ReviewsBibliographyAbout the Author