Language:
German
Year of publication:
1987
Titel der Quelle:
Babylon; Beiträge zur jüdischen Gegenwart
Angaben zur Quelle:
2 (1987) 10-22
Keywords:
National characteristics, Israeli
;
State, The Philosophy
;
Holocaust (Jewish theology)
;
Israel History
;
Philosophy
Abstract:
Analyzes the making of the Israeli collective memory of the Holocaust from individual initiatives, their institutionalization, and the creation of symbolic structures convergent with traditional Jewish patterns. The commemoration of the Holocaust became part of a series of remembrance of historical catastrophes of the Jewish people, such as the 10th of Teveth and the 9th of Av, and was placed on the mythical plane of catastrophe and redemption. Gradually, the stress shifted from martyrdom to heroism and resurrection. The Holocaust, as it is evoked at the Yad Vashem memorial, came to be perceived as the fundamental component of the legitimacy of the State of Israel. Notes, in the political context, a mythical interpretation of the Holocaust by the nationalist Right in Israel, stressing the loneliness of the Jews facing the Arab danger and extermination, as opposed to a coherent interpretation by the liberal Left warning against genocide in general and against Israeli malpractices against Palestinians.
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