Language:
English
Year of publication:
2007
Titel der Quelle:
Yad Vashem Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
35,2 (2007) 143-185
Keywords:
Ultra-Orthodox Jews Social conditions
;
Holocaust survivors
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
Abstract:
Discusses connections between collective and individual memory of the Holocaust in ultra-Orthodox (in Hebrew, Haredi) communities in Israel, noting that collective memory praises the spiritual resistance of Haredi victims, and thereby strengthens religious faith and the Haredi way of life. In a study of 23 testimonies given by survivors at the Ginzakh Kiddush Hashem in Bnei Brak, finds that they tend to idealize their life before the Holocaust, emphasize their efforts to maintain religious practices during the Holocaust, and feel that they owe their survival to their religious upbringing and lifestyle. The accounts are both realistic and heroic, and the emphasis on religious practice allows them to build a meaningful narrative that creates a bridge between their old and new lives. Contends that, due to the collective memory, Haredi survivors do not mention the fact that it was impossible to maintain all the aspects of religious practice, that their religious leaders sometimes failed them, and that most Haredi victims went "like sheep to the slaughter".
Note:
English and Hebrew.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
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