Language:
English
Year of publication:
2022
Titel der Quelle:
American Jewish Year Book
Angaben zur Quelle:
121 (2022) 79-126
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Commemoration
Abstract:
At this moment as the youngest of the survivors are now in their eighties and nineties, when the Holocaust is making the transition between living memory and historical memory, this chapter examines decade by decade the paradox that the further the Holocaust recedes into history the larger the event looms.It grapples with the public understanding of the Holocaust in literature, television, and film, in trials and scholarship, in Museums and public events as well as political life. It also considers what it is about the events we now call the Holocaust that gives it a distinct place in contemporary consciousness among Jews and the non-Jewish world.It also explores the prominent role that remembrancer of the Holocaust has played in the identity of American Jews with a distinct emphasis in the post 1967 war period and the constancy of such a role in Jewish identity as distinct from the fluctuating role that Israel has played in Jewish identity. Furthermore, it examines Holocaust denial, falsification, minimalization, trivialization, and politicization. Issues such as restitution and reparations are considered. It also examines Holocaust envy as the Holocaust has become a negative absolute in American society, an anchor for the understanding of this paradigmatic twentieth century evil. It concludes that the issue is no longer whether the Holocaust will be remembered but how it will be recalled and transmitted to future generations.
DOI:
10.1007/978-3-030-99750-2_3
URL:
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