Finding Oneâ•Žs Place As a French Jew in the Post

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Finding Oneâ•Žs Place As a French Jew in the Post Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II Volume 16 Article 12 2011 Reclaiming Identity: Finding One’s Place as a French Jew in the Post World War II Period Kathleen O’Rourke Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/historical-perspectives Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation O’Rourke, Kathleen (2011) "Reclaiming Identity: Finding One’s Place as a French Jew in the Post World War II Period," Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II: Vol. 16 , Article 12. Available at: http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/historical-perspectives/vol16/iss1/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. O’Rourke: Reclaiming Identity 102 Historical Perspectives May 2011 Reclaiming Identity 103 Reclaiming Identity: Finding One’s Place In the immediate post war period, the French people- both non-Jews and Jews who had either as a French Jew in the Post World War remained in France or returned after the war- were left II Period to deal with the consequences of Vichy. French Jews were placed in a complicated situation; the seemingly Kathleen O’Rourke competing ideas of nationality and religion left postwar Jews trying to re-discover their place in the nation. As Fifty years after the end of WWII, French President for the rest of the French people, rather than confront- Jacques Chirac said, “There are moments in the life of ing the actions of the recent past, they denied and a nation that hurt the memory and the idea one has of revised history. The French identity as a country of his country.”1 President Chirac made this statement freedom and liberty directly conflicted with the actions at the 1995 commemoration of the July 1942 of Vichy France during the Holocaust; as a result the Velodrome d’Hiver roundup of Jews in Paris, one of the French chose to ignore the past, leaving the French many instances of the violent mistreatment of Jews Jews to grapple with the relationship of their religion under France’s Vichy Regime during the Holocaust. and nationality in the wake of WWII. On June 22, 1940, when France surrendered to Nazi The complexities surrounding the French relation- Germany, the Third Republic was dissolved and the ship with the Jews were not unique to the post-World collaborationist Vichy Regime was set up by Marshal War II period. Historically, the French have been Henri Petain. From the outset, Vichy pursued anti- engaged in a battle to maintain “purity” in their Semitic policies, such as the October 1940 “Statute on identity. Purity, meaning, that one had to give up all Jews” which forced racial segregation, making Jews a other identities (religious, political, ethnic, social, etc.) lower class. There was a noted difference in Vichy’s in order to completely embrace the French identity. attitude toward French Jews and Jewish refugees in That is why the difference between French Jews and France. During the 1930’s thousands of Jews from refugee Jews was so important. The French were Eastern Europe fled to France, seeing it as a safe willing to accept outsiders as their own if they com- harbor due to its professed republican ideals. When pletely assimilated. It is this secular, singular under- Vichy instigated policies against the Jews, they tar- standing of citizenship that unifies all French people. geted refugee Jews before French Jews. This collective French identity has been a continuous theme throughout French history, and can be seen clearly during, and after, World War II. Their need for preservation of identity was what allowed the French to ignore their wartime faults, and allow the creation of a postwar myth that portrayed the French nation as Published by Scholar Commons, 2011 1 Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II, Vol. 16 [2011], Art. 12 102 Historical Perspectives May 2011 Reclaiming Identity 103 Reclaiming Identity: Finding One’s Place In the immediate post war period, the French people- both non-Jews and Jews who had either as a French Jew in the Post World War remained in France or returned after the war- were left II Period to deal with the consequences of Vichy. French Jews were placed in a complicated situation; the seemingly Kathleen O’Rourke competing ideas of nationality and religion left postwar Jews trying to re-discover their place in the nation. As Fifty years after the end of WWII, French President for the rest of the French people, rather than confront- Jacques Chirac said, “There are moments in the life of ing the actions of the recent past, they denied and a nation that hurt the memory and the idea one has of revised history. The French identity as a country of his country.”1 President Chirac made this statement freedom and liberty directly conflicted with the actions at the 1995 commemoration of the July 1942 of Vichy France during the Holocaust; as a result the Velodrome d’Hiver roundup of Jews in Paris, one of the French chose to ignore the past, leaving the French many instances of the violent mistreatment of Jews Jews to grapple with the relationship of their religion under France’s Vichy Regime during the Holocaust. and nationality in the wake of WWII. On June 22, 1940, when France surrendered to Nazi The complexities surrounding the French relation- Germany, the Third Republic was dissolved and the ship with the Jews were not unique to the post-World collaborationist Vichy Regime was set up by Marshal War II period. Historically, the French have been Henri Petain. From the outset, Vichy pursued anti- engaged in a battle to maintain “purity” in their Semitic policies, such as the October 1940 “Statute on identity. Purity, meaning, that one had to give up all Jews” which forced racial segregation, making Jews a other identities (religious, political, ethnic, social, etc.) lower class. There was a noted difference in Vichy’s in order to completely embrace the French identity. attitude toward French Jews and Jewish refugees in That is why the difference between French Jews and France. During the 1930’s thousands of Jews from refugee Jews was so important. The French were Eastern Europe fled to France, seeing it as a safe willing to accept outsiders as their own if they com- harbor due to its professed republican ideals. When pletely assimilated. It is this secular, singular under- Vichy instigated policies against the Jews, they tar- standing of citizenship that unifies all French people. geted refugee Jews before French Jews. This collective French identity has been a continuous theme throughout French history, and can be seen clearly during, and after, World War II. Their need for preservation of identity was what allowed the French to ignore their wartime faults, and allow the creation of a postwar myth that portrayed the French nation as http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/historical-perspectives/vol16/iss1/12 2 O’Rourke: Reclaiming Identity 104 Historical Perspectives May 2011 Reclaiming Identity 105 victims, much to the expense of the Jews throughout Germans until they, the Germans, decided to imple- the nation. ment their Final Solution in France in 1942. There are many aspects of the problem of French While Paxton and Marrus focus on the events that national memory and the memory of French Jews occurred under Vichy rule, other scholars have sought following World War II. The relationship between to understand the complexities that the regime left for Vichy France and the Jews during the war may be the psyche of the French nation, complexities that viewed as grounded in the long held anti-Semitic views continued to plague the nation long after the war of French citizens who assisted the Vichy regime with ended. In his book, The Vichy Syndrome, leading their anti-Semitic policies. Robert Paxton and Michael scholar Henry Rousso explains that the events under Marrus, in Vichy and the Jews, analyze the openly Vichy continued to live on until the French were able anti-Semitic views of the French who were a part of the to come to terms with their past.4 Rousso asserts that Vichy regime, and the support of many ordinary after the war, acknowledging the actions of the Vichy French citizens.2 Paxton and Marrus note that while government was more difficult for the French people France was the first European nation to grant the than coming to terms with the Occupation itself. This Jews full civil rights at the end of the Eighteenth problem creates a conflict between the areas of mem- century, French people were also the most ardent ory and history. Rousso confronts this challenge by supporters of secular anti-Semitism at the end of the looking at the stages of the postwar myth as they Nineteenth century. These complexities are part of unfolded chronologically, and how each was addressed the reason that Vichy policy towards the Jews was by the nation. He called the first stage from 1945- successful; the mindset of anti-Semitism did not arrive 1953 the Unfinished Mourning. During this time, the with the Germans, rather, it was already common in French people sought revenge in the case of collabora- France. The actions of the Vichy regime could not have tors, while ignoring Vichy’s anti-Semitism. There was been carried through without some level of consent also a distinct tension between glorifying the Resis- from the people.
Recommended publications
  • No Haven for the Oppressed
    No Haven for the Oppressed NO HAVEN for the Oppressed United States Policy Toward Jewish Refugees, 1938-1945 by Saul S. Friedman YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY Wayne State University Press Detroit 1973 Copyright © 1973 by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 48202. All material in this work, except as identified below, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/. Excerpts from Arthur Miller’s Incident at Vichy formerly copyrighted © 1964 to Penguin Publishing Group now copyrighted to Penguin Random House. All material not licensed under a Creative Commons license is all rights reserved. Permission must be obtained from the copyright owner to use this material. Published simultaneously in Canada by the Copp Clark Publishing Company 517 Wellington Street, West Toronto 2B, Canada. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Friedman, Saul S 1937– No haven for the oppressed. Originally presented as the author’s thesis, Ohio State University. Includes bibliographical references. 1. Refugees, Jewish. 2. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945) 3. United States— Emigration and immigration. 4. Jews in the United States—Political and social conditions. I. Title. D810.J4F75 1973 940.53’159 72-2271 ISBN 978-0-8143-4373-9 (paperback); 978-0-8143-4374-6 (ebook) Publication of this book was assisted by the American Council of Learned Societies under a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The publication of this volume in a freely accessible digital format has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Mellon Foundation through their Humanities Open Book Program.
    [Show full text]
  • Racial Ideology Between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany: Julius Evola and the Aryan Myth, 1933–43
    Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette History Faculty Research and Publications History, Department of 7-1-2020 Racial Ideology between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany: Julius Evola and the Aryan Myth, 1933–43 Peter Staudenmaier Follow this and additional works at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/hist_fac Part of the History Commons Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette History Faculty Research and Publications/College of Arts and Sciences This paper is NOT THE PUBLISHED VERSION. Access the published version via the link in the citation below. Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 55, No. 3 (July 1, 2020): 473-491. DOI. This article is © SAGE Publications and permission has been granted for this version to appear in e-Publications@Marquette. SAGE Publications does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without express permission from SAGE Publications. Racial Ideology between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany: Julius Evola and the Aryan Myth, 1933–43 Peter Staudenmaier Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI Abstract One of the troublesome factors in the Rome–Berlin Axis before and during the Second World War centered on disagreements over racial ideology and corresponding antisemitic policies. A common image sees Fascist Italy as a reluctant partner on racial matters, largely dominated by its more powerful Nazi ally. This article offers a contrasting assessment, tracing the efforts by Italian theorist Julius Evola to cultivate a closer rapport between Italian and German variants of racism as part of a campaign by committed antisemites to strengthen the bonds uniting the fascist and Nazi cause. Evola's spiritual form of racism, based on a distinctive interpretation of the Aryan myth, generated considerable controversy among fascist and Nazi officials alike.
    [Show full text]
  • CATÁLOGO BIBLIOTECA DE LA DEPORTACIÓN Biblioteca Centro De Documentación Ministerio De Defensa
    CATÁLOGO BIBLIOTECA DE LA DEPORTACIÓN Biblioteca Centro de Documentación Ministerio de Defensa INTRODUCCIÓN A principios del año 2017 la Asociación Biblioteca de la Deportación, una organización sevillana dedica al fomento de la memoria del pasado, donaba a la Biblioteca Centro de Documentación de Defensa su impresionante fondo bibliográfico, películas, documentales y láminas. Un total de 47 cajas con más de 1.500 obras, que con tanto esfuerzo habían conseguido transformar en un fondo único para el interesado en los estudios sobre totalitarismos, persecuciones políticas o de cualquier otro tipo, antisemitismo, Holocausto, deportación, exilio, víctimas y verdugos. Nuestro agradecimiento a la Asociación por pensar en nosotros como depositarios de este fondo, al mismo tiempo satisfacción al saber que las obras no se perderán ni desperdigarán, será un fondo siempre vivo y con entidad propia. Creemos que es nuestra responsabilidad recoger, conservar y difundir esta Biblioteca, que tiene un interés indudable desde muchos puntos de vista: político, sociológico, antropológico, filosófico, también literario. Nuestro cometido es conservar y poner al servicio de nuestro usuario y del interesado estas obras para su consulta. ¿Qué podemos encontrar en este fondo? En primer lugar la mitad del mismo son libros en castellano, otra mitad se reparte en libros en otros idiomas, sobre todo francés, pero también inglés, alemán, italiano, catalán o gallego. Hay también películas y documentales, centrados en el Holocausto y exilio republicano español. Encontramos pinturas originales, como un acrílico collage de Michel Gired, números sueltos de revistas especializadas, folletos de lugares de la memoria, por ejemplo del Museo Memorial de Auschwitz, catálogos y carteles de exposiciones nacionales e internacionales.
    [Show full text]
  • Archives Du Comité D'histoire De La Deuxième Guerre Mondiale Juin 1973-Juillet 1973
    Archives du Comité d’histoire de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale — Résistance intérieure : mouvements, réseaux, partis politiques et syndicats Répertoire numérique détaillé (72AJ/35-72AJ/89) Par Patricia Gillet, avec la collaboration d'Alexandra Hauchecorne et le concours de la mission du projet de Pierrefitte-sur-Seine Deuxième édition électronique Archives nationales (France) Pierrefitte-sur-Seine 2015 1 https://www.siv.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/siv/IR/FRAN_IR_053870 Cet instrument de recherche a été originellement rédigé en XML/EAD. Ce document est écrit en français. Conforme à la norme ISAD(G) et aux règles d'application de la DTD EAD (version 2002) aux Archives nationales. 2 Archives nationales (France) Préface Informations à l'intention des personnes consultant le fonds mis en ligne 1/ L’exploitation des documents consultés n'est autorisée que dans le cadre d’un usage privé (usage strictement personnel dans le cercle de la famille) ou dans le cadre d’analyses et courtes citations justifiées par le caractère critique, polémique, pédagogique, scientifique ou d'information de l’œuvre à laquelle elles sont incorporées, sous réserve que soient indiqués clairement le nom de l'auteur et la source (cf article L122-5 du code de la propriété intellectuelle). 2/ Toute autre réutilisation (publication, exposition...) au sens du chapitre II de la loi n° 78-753 du 17 juillet 1978, de quelque manière que ce soit, dans le cadre d'activités commerciales ou non, est expressément réservée. Elle devra faire l'objet d'une demande d'autorisation préalable auprès des Archives nationales. 3/ Compte tenu de la difficulté pour les Archives nationales à identifier les ayants-droit de certains documents composant des fonds d'archives mis en ligne, ces documents peuvent apparaître avec la mention "tous droits réservés".
    [Show full text]
  • View/Print Page As PDF
    MENU Policy Analysis / Articles & Op-Eds Operation Torch and the Birth of American Middle East Policy, 75 Years On by Robert Satloff Oct 9, 2017 Also available in Arabic ABOUT THE AUTHORS Robert Satloff Robert Satloff is executive director of The Washington Institute, a post he assumed in January 1993. Articles & Testimony In a radical rethinking of the origins of U.S. Middle East policy, Robert Satloff suggests that two key ideas guiding Washington's actions in the region for the past three-quarters of a century were born in the bargain U.S. leaders made with Vichy French officers after Allied troops landed in North Africa during World War II. "THE JEWS WILL HAVE TO WAIT" n November 8, 1942, a full year-and-a-half before the Allies invaded Normandy, about 110,000 American O and British troops invaded North Africa. They had set out in more than 850 ships from U.S. and British ports, sailed for up to 4,500 miles through treacherous Atlantic waters teeming with Nazi U-boats, and, once at their destination, put ashore in three landing zones spread across more than 900 miles of coastline, from south of Casablanca to east of Algiers. This was Operation Torch, America's first offensive operation in the European theater of war and, until Operation Overlord's Normandy landings, the greatest amphibious attack in history. Today, it is all but forgotten. And yet, aside from rivaling Overlord in terms of its enormity, complexity, and peril, Torch was also vastly consequential, for it helped to determine the future course and ultimately successful conclusion of the war.
    [Show full text]
  • Anales De Teología De La Universidad Católica De La Santísima Concepción
    ISSN 0717-4152 ANALES DE TEOLOGÍA DE LA UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DE LA SANTÍSIMA CONCEPCIÓN Volumen 16.1 Primer semestre 2014 ANALES DE TEOLOGÍA DE LA UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DE LA SANTÍSIMA CONCEPCIÓN (An.teol.) ISSN 0717-4152 Publicación semestral del Departamento de Teología del Instituto de Teología de la Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Chile Indexada en: · Latindex · Dialnet · a360 grados · BIBP (The Bibliographic Information Base in Patristics) This periodical is indexed in the ATLA Catholic Periodical and Literature Index ® (CPLI ®), a product of the American Theological Library Association, 300 S. Wacker Dr., Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60606, USA. Email: [email protected] , www: http://www.atla.com DIRECTOR Mg. Claudio Soto Helfmann (Instituto de Teología, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Concepción. Chile) CONSEJO EDITORIAL Dr. José Luis Barriocanal (Facultad de Teología del Norte de España, Burgos. España) Dr. Eberhard Bons (Facultad de Teología Católica, Universidad Marc Bloch de Estrasburgo, Estrasburgo. Francia) Dr. Arturo Bravo Retamal (Instituto de Teología, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Concepción. Chile) Dr. Hernán Cardona (Facultad de Teología, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín. Colombia) Dr. Antonio Castellano (Facultad de Teología, Universidad Pontificia Salesiana de Roma, Roma. Italia) Dr. Samuel Fernández Eyzaguirre (Facultad de Teología. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago. Chile) Dr. Ricardo Ferrara (Facultad de Teología, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina, Buenos Aires. Argentina) Dr. José-Román Flecha Andrés (Facultad de Teología, Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, Salamanca. España) Dr. Mario de França Miranda (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Río de Janeiro, Río de Janeiro. Brasil) Dr. Kamel Harire Seda (Facultad Eclesiástica de Teología. Pontifica Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso.
    [Show full text]
  • Western Europe
    Western Europe Great Britain National Affairs T\wo PIVOTAL DATES IN 1992 were April 9, the date of the general election, which resulted in a close Conservative victory; and September 16 ("Black Wednesday"), when the pound sterling was forced out of the fixed-rate European Monetary System. In April the Tories, led by Prime Minister John Major, returned to power, defying the predictions of the pollsters but with a much reduced overall majority of 21. Neil Kinnock resigned as Labor leader, to be replaced by John Smith. The campaign was marked by successful and sustained Conservative attacks on Labor's alleged tax-and-spend policy. Much was also made of signs of the onset of economic recovery, but this did not materialize, and the continuing high level of interest rates (barely reduced from 10.5 percent to 10 percent in May) squeezed the life out of the faint revival in consumer spending. In fact, unemployment increased by 35,000 in the first 11 months of 1992, and manufacturing output at year-end was almost no higher than in 1979, when the Tories first came to power. The summer was spent trying to reconcile the need of the domestic economy for a looser monetary policy with the constraint imposed by membership in the Euro- pean system. This precarious balance was upset by several events: the Danish rejection of the Maastricht treaty in a referendum on June 2, a further increase in German interest rates in July, and the unilateral devaluation of the Italian lira by 7 percent early in September. The pound sterling meanwhile sank to the bottom of its permitted level against the deutsche mark.
    [Show full text]
  • The Shoah on Screen – Representing Crimes Against Humanity Big Screen, Film-Makers Generally Have to Address the Key Question of Realism
    Mémoi In attempting to portray the Holocaust and crimes against humanity on the The Shoah on screen – representing crimes against humanity big screen, film-makers generally have to address the key question of realism. This is both an ethical and an artistic issue. The full range of approaches has emember been adopted, covering documentaries and fiction, historical reconstructions such as Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, depicting reality in all its details, and more symbolic films such as Roberto Benigni’s Life is beautiful. Some films have been very controversial, and it is important to understand why. Is cinema the best way of informing the younger generations about what moire took place, or should this perhaps be left, for example, to CD-Roms, videos Memoi or archive collections? What is the difference between these and the cinema as an art form? Is it possible to inform and appeal to the emotions without being explicit? Is emotion itself, though often very intense, not ambivalent? These are the questions addressed by this book which sets out to show that the cinema, a major art form today, cannot merely depict the horrors of concentration camps but must also nurture greater sensitivity among increas- Mémoire ingly younger audiences, inured by the many images of violence conveyed in the media. ireRemem moireRem The Shoah on screen – www.coe.int Representing crimes The Council of Europe has 47 member states, covering virtually the entire continent of Europe. It seeks to develop common democratic and legal princi- against humanity ples based on the European Convention on Human Rights and other reference texts on the protection of individuals.
    [Show full text]
  • Western Europe
    Western Europe Great Britain National Affairs A. HE DOMINANT POLITICAL EVENT of 1987 was the Conservative vic- tory in the general election in June. Margaret Thatcher entered an unprecedented third term as prime minister with a total of 375 seats, giving her a slightly reduced majority over the previous term. Labor won 229 seats, a small increase; and the Liberal-Social Democratic Alliance, 22, a slight drop. While the results clearly confirmed the success of the "Thatcher revolution" among the enlarged middle class, they also revealed the ongoing divisions in British society, geographic and economic. The Conservatives scored heavily in London, southern England, and the Midlands, while Labor was strong in economically depressed areas in Wales, Scot- land, and the north. In the election aftermath, the two parties constituting the Alliance, i.e., the Liberals and the Social Democrats, decided to go their separate ways, amid mutual recriminations, although an attempt was made by part of the Social Democrats to merge with the Liberals. On the Labor side, its third successive defeat gave impetus to a major reconsideration of traditional party policies. The Tory victory reflected satisfaction with a generally improved economy. In March the chancellor of the exchequer was able to reduce income taxes without imposing any further taxes on gasoline, tobacco, or liquor. Unemployment, which had reached 3.25 million in February, declined by the end of the year to 2.8 million, less than 10 percent of the working population. During the whole year there were fewer than 1,000 separate strikes—for only the second time since 1940.
    [Show full text]
  • Chanukah 2016 75 Years
    J EEWISW I S H A F FA I R S Chanukah 2016 75 Years Price R50,00 incl. VAT Registered at the GPO as a Newspaper ISSN 0021 • 6313 COVER - Jewish Affais - Chanukah 2016.indd 1 2016/11/28 03:42:47 PM Audit / Tax / Advisory/ Forensics / Wealth Management COVER - Jewish Affais - Chanukah 2016.indd 2 2016/11/28 03:42:48 PM TM COVER - Jewish Affais - Chanukah 2016.indd 3 2016/11/28 03:42:49 PM MISSION EDITORIAL BOARD In publishing JEWISH AFFAIRS, the SA EXECUTIVE EDITOR Jewish Board of Deputies aims to produce a cultural forum which caters for a wide David Saks SA Jewish Board of Deputies variety of interests in the community. The journal will be a vehicle for the publication of ACADEMIC ADVISORY BOARD articles of significant thought and opinion on Suzanne Belling Author and Journalist contemporary Jewish issues, and will aim to Dr Louise Bethlehem Hebrew University of Jerusalem encourage constructive debate, in the form of Marlene Bethlehem SA Jewish Board of Deputies reasoned and researched essays, on all matters Cedric Ginsberg University of South Africa of Jewish and general interest. Dr Elaine Katz University of the Witwatersrand JEWISH AFFAIRS aims also to publish essays Professor Marcia Leveson of scholarly research on all subjects of Jewish Naomi Musiker Archivist and Bibliographer interest, with special emphasis on aspects Isaac Reznik of South African Jewish life and thought. Gwynne Schrire SA Jewish Board of Deputies Scholarly research papers that make an original Dr Gabriel A Sivan World Jewish Bible Centre contribution to their chosen field of enquiry Professor Gideon Shimoni Hebrew University of Jerusalem will be submitted to the normal processes of academic refereeing before being accepted Professor Milton Shain University of Cape Town for publication.
    [Show full text]
  • Representing Nazism: Advocacy and Identity at the Trial of Klaus Barbie
    University at Buffalo School of Law Digital Commons @ University at Buffalo School of Law Journal Articles Faculty Scholarship 1989 Representing Nazism: Advocacy and Identity at the Trial of Klaus Barbie Guyora Binder University at Buffalo School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/journal_articles Part of the Criminal Law Commons, and the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Guyora Binder, Representing Nazism: Advocacy and Identity at the Trial of Klaus Barbie, 98 Yale L.J. 1321 (1989). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/journal_articles/294 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Digital Commons @ University at Buffalo School of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ University at Buffalo School of Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Comments Representing Nazism: Advocacy and Identity at the Trial of Klaus Barbie Guyora Bindert Among the ashes of the dead at Auschwitz, graverobbers found a jar. In this jar was a diary, with directions for finding other diaries. The diaries were written by the Sonderkommando, inmates charged with disposing of the dead, which they did. But as they worked, they recorded their deeds, so that the dead they incinerated would leave behind a residue of writing: "At 10:00 in the morning, I have just burned my parents," reports one diary.' At 10:10: "I have just burned my wife." And finally, at 10:20: "I have just burned my children."'2 Perhaps some inmates accepted this grisly assignment in hopes of saving themselves, but most must have known they would last two months more at most, under conditions in which only death offered mercy.
    [Show full text]
  • On Becoming a Non-Jewish Holocaust Writer: Yann Martel's
    humanities Article On Becoming a Non-Jewish Holocaust Writer: Yann Martel’s Beatrice and Virgil Rachel F. Brenner Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1354 Van Hise Hall, Madison, WI 53706, USA; [email protected] Abstract: To appraise Martel’s non-Jewish perspective of Holocaust thematic, it is important to assess it in the context of the Jewish relations with the Holocaust. Even though the Jewish claim to the uniqueness of the Holocaust has been disputed since the end of the war especially in Eastern Europe, the Jewish response determined to a large extent the reception of the disaster on the global scene. On a family level, the children of survivors have identified themselves as the legitimate heirs of the unknowable experience of their parents. On a collective level, the decree of Jewish annihilation constructed a Jewish identity that imposed an obligation to keep the Holocaust memory in the consciousness of the world. Martel proposes to supersede the history of the Holocaust with a story which would downplay the Jewish filiation with the Holocaust, elicit an affiliative response to the event of the non-Jewish writer and consequently integrate it into the memory of humanity at large. However, the Holocaust theme of Beatrice and Virgil refuses to assimilate within the general memory of humanity; rather, the consciousness of the event, which pervades the post-Holocaust world, insists on its constant presence. The omnipresence of the Holocaust blurs the distinctions between the filiative (Jewish) and affiliative (non-Jewish) attitudes toward the Jewish tragedy, gripping the writer in its transcendent horror.
    [Show full text]