Language:
English
Year of publication:
2000
Titel der Quelle:
Dimensions
Angaben zur Quelle:
14,2 (2000) 21-28
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature
;
German literature History and criticism
;
Jews in literature
Abstract:
Analyzes four phases in the treatment of the Holocaust by West German writers. Between 1945-ca. 1960, young writers, like Heinrich Böll, wrote on the evil of the Nazi regime and its continuation into the present, but hardly touched on the Holocaust, even when describing parallel events such as the killing of non-Jews. Between 1960 to the mid-1970s, under the impact of war crimes trials, there appeared documentary dramas and novels, but at the same time questions regarding the validity of documents. 1975-1990 saw the rise of a new generation whose members considered themselves free of guilt for the Holocaust, of which they accused their parents; they saw themselves as victims of their parents’ generation, ignoring the real victims, the Jews. In the 1990s at last, with a growing Jewish presence in Germany, although many writers continue in the old vein, a few have succeeded in portraying sympathetically the fate of individual Jews.
Note:
Appeared in German as "Die Sprache des Schweigens; die westdeutsche Literatur und der Holocaust" in "Tribüne" 160 (2001) 194-204.
URL:
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