Language:
German
Year of publication:
2006
Titel der Quelle:
Chilufim; Zeitschrift für jüdische Kulturgeschichte
Angaben zur Quelle:
1 (2006) 86-102
Keywords:
Semprún, Jorge
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature
Abstract:
Examines Jorge Semprún's literary reflections on his experiences in the concentration camp of Buchenwald in "Le grand voyage" (1963), "Quel beau dimanche!" (1980), and "L'écriture ou la vie" (1994), with the aim of showing the developments in his retrospective treatment of the past. Semprún is not Jewish, and his experience of the concentration camp is that of a communist resistance fighter. The study deals with Semprún's growing awareness of what Buchenwald means to him. The process is accompanied by Semprún's shift to literature as a universe implying sense and creating identity. This becomes vitally important after his dissociation from communism and enables him to speak extensively about his own experiences with death and the experiences of Jewish prisoners. In "Histoire des enfants juifs", Semprún describes the arrival of a convoy of Polish Jewish children in Buchenwald, who were murdered upon arrival; he depicts it without any personal comment. His conception of "witnessship" can be described as diametrically opposed to factual documentation. Only the intensive use of intertextuality allows Semprún to comprehend Buchenwald finally as the center of his life and as the origin of his own identity, as well as to communicate his "truth" to the reader.
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