Language:
German
Year of publication:
2006
Titel der Quelle:
Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung
Angaben zur Quelle:
15 (2006) 335-344
Keywords:
Hilsenrath, Edgar.
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Abstract:
The historical context of Hilsenrath's autobiographical novel "Nacht" involves Romania's having entered World War II on the side of Germany against the Soviet Union in 1941, in the hopes of retrieving the regions of Bukovina and Bessarabia. After the spread of Romanian propaganda concerning Jewish collaboration with Soviet authorities, Jews were assaulted. Antonescu used the accusation to legitimize the deportation of Romanian Jews to Transnistria. After Romania was granted administration rights there in August 1941, 100 ghettos and labor camps were established, and by 1942 ca. 150,000 Jews were interned there. Ranek, the main character in Hilsenrath's novel, was deported in October 1941 from a small town in southern Bukovina to a camp with a fictional name, together with ca. 60,000 Jews of the region. The novel deals with daily life in the camp, characterized by struggle against starvation, cold, and typhus, and the fear of nightly razzias. "Nacht" has not yet been published in Romania, perhaps because its subject cannot be reconciled with the myth of Romanian national innocence.
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