Language:
English
Year of publication:
2014
Titel der Quelle:
Dapim; Studies on the Shoah
Angaben zur Quelle:
28,1 (2014) 1-16
Keywords:
Ka-tzetnik 135633,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature
;
Sex crimes
;
Jewish women in the Holocaust
Abstract:
From the 1990s on, Ka-Tzetnik's writings have received much critical attention. The critics cast doubts on the truthfulness of his representation of the Holocaust and blame the writer for an abundance of violent, sexual, and even pornographic descriptions in his novels that only lead us away from understanding the reality of what happened. Agrees that Ka-Tzetnik's works not only contain much that he did not witness, but also things that did not happen in the camps and ghettos. E.g. there was no brothels in the camps in which Jewish women were enslaved for the use of German SS-men and soldiers, as is depicted in "House of Dolls". However, the nightmares and author's fantasies that we see in Ka-Tzetnik's novels are his way of "individualizing" his narrative. The power of Ka-Tzetnik's writing derives greatly from his portrayal of the fear and horror of mundane life in the ghettos and camps. The writer breaks the taboo of Holocaust literature, giving a voice to those in close proximity with death or sex, but regarded traditionally as contaminated with collaboration, thus belonging to Primo Levy's "gray zone".
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