DOCSLIB.ORG

Histoirevivante 16-01-15

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Histoirevivante 16-01-15 8HISTOIRE VIVANTE LA LIBERTÉ VENDREDI 16 JANVIER 2015 Le juif qui racheta 1685 vies à Eichmann HOLOCAUSTE • En 1944 en Hongrie, le juif Rudolf Kasztner a réussi à négocier avec le haut dignitaire nazi Adolf Eichmann l’organisation d’un «train de la liberté» vers la Suisse. Il sera accusé d’avoir vendu son âme au diable. REPÈRES Accueil suisse et refoulements > La Suisse a accueilli près de 300000 réfu- giés durant la guerre, dont 104000 militaires internés, 67 000fronta- liers et 60000 enfants venus pour se refaire une santé pendant des séjours limités. Elle a abrité 60000 réfugiés civils, dont environ 30000juifs. Ces chif- fres émanent du rap- port de la Commission indépendante d’experts présidée par l’historien Jean-François Bergier. > La Commission Ber- gier n’a pu établir le nombre de refoule- ments de juifs aux frontières suisses. Par recoupements, elle a estimé à un peu plus de 20 000 le nombre total de refoulements, toutes origines et reli- gions confondues. Jusqu’au printemps 1944, une grande par- tie des refoulés étaient juifs. En 2013, le chas- seur de nazis Serge Klarsfeld a estimé que la Suisse avait refoulé environ 3000 juifs pendant la guerre. Un chiffre «minimaliste» contesté par d’autres Enfants juifs à bord du «train Kasztner» en 1944, en route pour la Suisse. Les passagers de ce convoi exceptionnel ont été accueillis au Caux Palace, au-dessus de Montreux (en haut à dr.), avant historiens. PFY de pouvoir rejoindre Israël. Leur bienfaiteur, Rudolf Kasztner (avec sa fille), a été assassiné en 1957, après avoir été accusé de collaboration avec les nazis. WEINBERG/KASZTNER/NOBLESSE OBLIGE/DR PASCAL FLEURY Face à l’immense pression des nazis, ment et «avec des nerfs d’acier», selon Le voyage du «train Kasztner» vers la Constance au bord du Léman pour re- C’est l’un des épisodes les la communauté juive est désemparée. Ladislaus Löb, qui a longuement enquêté liberté s’avérera pénible. D’abord huit joindre Caux, les militaires qui portaient plus étonnants de l’his- Mais un avocat et journaliste dyna- sur ce juif «au culot inouï» qui lui a sauvé jours jusqu’au camp de concentration des casques comme les Allemands et toire de la Shoah. A la mi- mique, militant sioniste dans sa jeu- la vie alors qu’il n’avait que 11 ans. Fina- de Bergen-Belsen, en Basse-Saxe dans le parlaient allemand, le faisaient sans 1944, alors que la dépor- nesse, décide de s’engager pour sauver lement, Kasztner obtient que soit affrété nord de l’Allemagne. Puis une longue crier et étaient courtois et polis. Une tation des juifs de un maximum de ses coreligionnaires. un train entier de passagers juifs, le période d’attente en transit. Les 318 pre- tasse de chocolat chaud a de suite été Hongrie vers les camps de Rudolf Kasztner, qui est originaire de 30 juin 1944, vers un pays neutre (il est miers juifs –surtout des enfants –débar- distribuée, ainsi que des tablettes de la mort se déroule à un rythme d’enfer – Transsylvanie, a déjà participé à la fon- d’abord question de l’Espagne). Coût du quent en Suisse à la fin août. Des pour- chocolat aux enfants», raconte Cornelio à raison de quatre trains de 3000 per- dation, en janvier 1943 à Budapest, d’un marchandage: 1000 dollars par personne. parlers ont ensuite lieu à plusieurs Sommaruga. L’ancien président du CICR sonnes par jour –, un convoi ferroviaire, Comité de sauvetage et de secours pour reprises avec le représentant suisse et du mouvement Initiatives et Change- avec 1685 juifs à bord, prend le chemin assister les juifs réfugiés de Pologne et Eichmann était prêt de l’organisation caritative juive ment international a eu l’occasion de inverse… vers la Suisse et la liberté! de Slovaquie. (JDC) Saly Mayer, l’officier SS Kurt rencontrer plusieurs survivants du Dès l’occupation de la Hongrie par à «vendre» un million Becher et Rudolf Kasztner, sur le «train Kasztner», venus en pèlerinage l’Allemagne, en mars 1944, Adolf Eich- Odieux marchandage pont de St. Margrethen, à la fron- dans les hauts de Montreux, où les réfu- mann, l’architecte de la «Solution fi- Au nom de ce comité, il mène coura- de juifs contre 10000 tière Suisse - Autriche. Ce n’est que giés avaient été logés dans l’ancien Caux nale», s’était rendu à Budapest pour acti- geusement des négociations avec Adolf le 7décembre que le reste des resca- Palace, renommé Hôtel Esplanade. ver les déportations, qui étaient en Eichmann, qui lui propose alors un camions militaires pés peuvent débarquer en Suisse. «Plusieurs édifices, à Caux, avaient retard dans ce pays par rapport au reste odieux marché, «des marchandises Parmi les passagers, le médecin- été réquisitionnés par la Confédération, du Reich. La Hongrie comptait alors contre du sang», comme le relate le res- La plupart des passagers étant désar- psychiatre Léopold Szondi et sa famille, ce qui permettait – malgré la présence plus de 800000 juifs de diverses nationa- capé Ladislaus Löb dans l’ouvrage «L’af- gentés, Kasztner met aux enchères 150 le grand rabbin hassidique hongrois Joël de beaucoup d’autres internés – l’héber- lités. Une partie d’entre eux a pu bénéfi- faire Kasztner» (Ed. André Versaille), pu- places pour des juifs fortunés. Le pro- Teitelbaum, fondateur de la dynastie de gement en discrétion de ces juifs hon- cier de lettres de protection et de sauf- blié en 2013. Concrètement, le haut duit de la vente permet d’embarquer des Satmar, le futur homme d’affaires cana- grois», explique Cornelio Sommaruga. conduits, délivrés en particulier par le dignitaire SS est prêt à «vendre» un mil- juifs modestes et des orphelins. L’officier dien Peter Munk, des militants sionistes, Depuis la fin des années 1990, un diplomate suédois Raoul Wallenberg, le lion de juifs contre 10000 camions mili- SS Kurt Becher, chargé des transactions, des réfugiés slovaques et polonais, ainsi chêne et une plaque commémorative vice-consul suisse Carl Lutz ou le délé- taires destinés au front de l’Est, qui se- y ajoute d’autres conditions, doublant le que la femme et les proches de l’organi- évoquent, dans le parc de l’établisse- gué pour le Comité international de la raient fournis par les Alliés. Autrement prix des billets et imposant une liste de sateur du voyage, Kasztner. ment, la mémoire de ces réfugiés juifs Croix-Rouge Friedrich Born. Mais la ma- dit, «un camion pour cent juifs». passagers juifs avec lesquels il était déjà hébergés à Caux pendant la guerre, mais jorité, soit plus de 437000 juifs, ont été Les négociations échouent devant le en affaire. Selon les sources, l’équivalent Accueil au palace de Caux aussi celle des juifs qui ont été refoulés à déportés en quelques semaines, dont refus britannique. Mais Rudolf Kasztner de 3 à 8,6 millions de francs a été versé «Certains réfugiés s’étonnaient que, la frontière suisse. On peut y lire: «Nous 275000 ont été gazés à Auschwitz. revient à la charge, rusant intelligem- aux nazis, en dollars, or et bijoux. dans le train qui les amenait du lac de ne les oublierons pas.» I SEMAINE PROCHAINE LA SHOAH EN 8 ÉPISODES Diffamé, assassiné, blanchi, jamais réhabilité… Ces deux prochains dimanches et lundis, RTS2diffuse le docu- Héros ou collabo, Rudolf Kasztner? La question a en Hongrie, d’avoir été complice de l’officier nazi Kurt mentaire en 8 volets «Jusqu’au fait couler beaucoup d’encre –et même le sang –de- Becher pour la spoliation de biens juifs et d’avoir té- dernier –La destruction des juifs puis la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. C’est que moigné en sa faveur lors du procès de Nuremberg. d’Europe». Cette série TV, riche le «Schindler juif», qui avait émigré en 1947 en Israël, Kasztner fait alors recours en diffamation mais est en documents d’archives inédits, avait rejoint le parti travailliste Mapai et était devenu débouté, le juge estimant qu’il a «vendu son âme au explique, au travers de commen- le porte-parole du ministre du Commerce et de l’in- diable», au terme de dix mois d’un procès politique taires d’historiens de tous hori- dustrie en 1952, a dû jouer un jeu très ambigu pour virulent, largement relayé par la presse. Deux ans zons, comment la Shoah a pu parvenir à sauver 1685 juifs des camps de la mort et à plus tard, le 15 mars 1957, il meurt à Tel-Aviv, assas- être pensée, mise en place et les emmener en Suisse. siné par un jeune homme de 22 ans, Zeev Eckstein, exécutée, alors que les Alliés, «Kasztner a dû affronter des situations horribles qui n’était «qu’un pion sur un échiquier», manipulé pourtant très vite au courant, ne et d’épouvantables dilemmes. Il n’avait ni le temps ni par l’extrême droite et les services secrets, selon le do- sont pas intervenus. Un film aux le caractère pour se plonger dans de longues ré- cumentaire «Killing Kasztner» (2008) de Gaylen Ross. images dures, mais incontourna- flexions sur les implications éthiques de ses actes. Il a ble dans le contexte de racisme compris que des vies étaient en jeu, et il a agi aussi Rudolf Kasztner est innocenté l’année suivante par et d’antisémitisme d’aujourd’hui. vite et résolument qu’il l’a pu pour les sauver», assure La scène du meurtre de Rudolf Kasztner, en 1957 à la Cour suprême d’Israël. En 2007, sa famille lègue ses le rescapé Ladislaus Löb, dans son livre témoignage Tel-Aviv, en Israël. GOLDMAN/NOBLESSE OBLIGE/DR archives privées au Mémorial de Yad Vashem.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Private Kaltman by Michael Kaltman
    HERITAGE THE JEWISH GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF ILLINOIS VOLUME XXVII • NUMBER I SPRING 2012 ‘Saving’ Private Kaltman by Michael Kaltman This discussion explores three sometimes overlooked sources of information about relatives who served in the United States military during World War I. As in the case cited below, this information can give a more complete picture of that relative than the more commonly cited genealogical resources can, thereby “saving” them from obscurity. As a bonus, the information also provides a plausible explanation for the Ellis Island ship manifests of Private Kaltman’s parents. Schmerke Kaltman came to America in 1910 on the re-internment in U.S. military cemeteries in France, and SS Estonia, sailing out of Libau, Russian Empire (now the program to repatriate the bodies of soldiers. Also, Liepaja, Latvia). He was approximately 18 years old Laskin has included extensive reference citations and was listed as a “Hairdresser.” His trip began on all aspects of the war, including divisional in Samokhvalovichi, a tiny settlement about histories. 12 miles south-southwest of Minsk, Belarus. Sometime after his arrival in Laskin’s direct writing style sparked a America, Schmerke Americanized renewed interest in finding out about his name to Samuel. From his Samuel. After surfing the Internet, I naturalization records and his WWI decided to start my search with the Draft Registration Card, we know three volume Soldiers of the Great that his complexion was “dark,” his War by Haulsee, Howe, and Doyle, height was 5 feet 5 inches, and he 1920. This enormous compendium had a “medium” build. He owned lists every soldier who lost his life a barbershop on Avenue B in New in the war.
    [Show full text]
  • The Jerusalem Report February 6, 2017 Wikipedia Wikipedia
    Books A traitor in Budapest Rudolf Kasztner was not a hero but an unscrupulous Nazi collaborator, insists British historian Paul Bogdanor in his new book By Tibor Krausz REZSŐ KASZTNER was a much-maligned Was Kasztner, the de facto head of the Bogdanor’s book is a meticulously re- hero of the Holocaust. Or he was a villain- Zionist Aid and Rescue Committee in Bu- searched, cogently argued and at times ous Nazi collaborator. It depends who you dapest, eagerly liaising with Adolf Eich- riveting indictment of Kasztner, which ask and how you look at it. Over 70 years mann and his henchmen so as to save any is bound to reopen debate on the wartime after the end of World War II and almost 60 Hungarian Jews he could from deportation Zionist leader’s role in the destruction of years after his death, the Jewish-Hungarian and certain death in Auschwitz-Birkenau? Hungary’s Jewish community. Zionist leader remains a highly controver- Or was he doing so out of sheer self-inter- sial figure. est in order to make himself indispensable IN APRIL and May 1944, the author To his defenders, like Israeli histori- to the Nazis by helping send hundreds of demonstrates at length, Kasztner knew an Shoshana Ishoni-Barri and Hungar- thousands of other Jews blindly to their fate full well that the Nazis were busy deport- ian-born Canadian writer Anna Porter, through willful deception? ing Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz, where the author of “Kasztner’s Train” (2007), In his book “Kasztner’s Crime,” Brit- the gas chambers awaited them.
    [Show full text]
  • Gadol Beyisrael Hagaon Hakadosh Harav Chaim Michoel Dov
    Eved Hashem – Gadol BeYisrael HaGaon HaKadosh HaRav Chaim Michoel Dov Weissmandel ZTVK "L (4. Cheshvan 5664/ 25. Oktober 1903, Debrecen, Osztrák–Magyar Monarchia – 6 Kislev 5718/ 29. November 1957, Mount Kisco, New York) Евед ХаШем – Гадоль БеИсраэль ХаГаон ХаКадош ХаРав Хаим-Михаэль-Дов Вайсмандель; Klenot medzi Klal Yisroel, Veľký Muž, Bojovník, Veľký Tzaddik, vynikajúci Talmid Chacham. Takýto človek príde na svet iba raz za pár storočí. „Je to Hrdina všetkých Židovských generácií – ale aj pre každého, kto potrebuje príklad odvážneho človeka, aby sa pozrel, kedy je potrebná pomoc pre tých, ktorí sú prenasledovaní a ohrození zničením v dnešnom svete.“ HaRav Chaim Michoel Dov Weissmandel ZTVK "L, je najväčší Hrdina obdobia Holokaustu. Jeho nadľudské úsilie o záchranu tisícov ľudí od smrti, ale tiež pokúsiť sa zastaviť Holokaust v priebehu vojny predstavuje jeden z najpozoruhodnejších príkladov Židovskej histórie úplného odhodlania a obete za účelom záchrany Židov. Nesnažil sa zachrániť iba niektorých Židov, ale všetkých. Ctil a bojoval za každý Židovský život a smútil za každou dušou, ktorú nemohol zachrániť. Nadľudské úsilie Rebeho Michoela Ber Weissmandla oddialilo deportácie viac ako 30 000 Židov na Slovensku o dva roky. Zohral vedúcu úlohu pri záchrane tisícov životov v Maďarsku, keď neúnavne pracoval na zverejňovaní „Osvienčimských protokolov“ o nacistických krutostiach a genocíde, aby „prebudil“ medzinárodné spoločenstvo. V konečnom dôsledku to ukončilo deportácie v Maďarsku a ušetrilo desiatky tisíc životov maďarských Židov. Reb Michoel Ber Weissmandel bol absolútne nebojácny. Avšak, jeho nebojácnosť sa nenarodila z odvahy, ale zo strachu ... neba. Každý deň, až do svojej smrti ho ťažil smútok pre milióny, ktorí nemohli byť spasení. 1 „Prosím, seriózne študujte Tóru,“ povedal HaRav Chaim Michoel Dov Weissmandel ZTVK "L svojim študentom, "spomína Rav Spitzer.
    [Show full text]
  • Elie Wiesel Tells Hungary to Ban Holocaust Denial
    JANUARY 2010 VOLUME 24 NUMBER 1 Elie Wiesel tells Hungary to ban Holocaust denial BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary should consider Peace Prize in 1986 told a meeting of Jewish and Hungarian leaders in parliament. banning Holocaust denial to improve its image abroad In July a court ruling dissolved the far-right Hungarian Guard, a radical and contain lurking hostility towards its minorities, nationalist organization, which staged intimidating marches against Roma Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner nationwide, in black uniforms and insignia, which critics say are reminiscent of Elie Wiesel said recently. the Nazi era. Hungary is grappling with its worst economic “I ask you, why don’t you follow the example of France and Germany and downturn in almost two decades and rising aversion declare Holocaust denial not only indecent, but illegal? In those countries Holocaust towards ethnic groups, mainly the country’s large deniers go to jail,” Wiesel said. Roma population, lifted the far-right Jobbik party into Wiesel warned against what he called the perils of indifference and said the European Parliament earlier this year. Hungarians were responsible for how they handle memories of the past. Based on poll readings Jobbik is also likely to Hungary at present has no law protecting communities against imflammatory win enough votes in next year’s elections to get into remarks. Attempts to outlaw such language have failed to pass in parliament or parliament. win the approval of President Laszlo Solyom. “Wherever in the world I come and the word Anti-Roma tensions have heightened in the country where 6-7 percent of the Hungary is mentioned, the next word is antisemitism,” said Wiesel, 81, who was 10 million population are Gypsies.
    [Show full text]
  • ALPATA a Journal of History
    ALPATA a journal of history Volume XVI, Winter 2021 Cover: Unknown Artist. The Caiman Wood Ceremony. April 14, 1791. ALPATA is named after the Seminole word for alligator. ALPATA a journal of history Volume XVI, Winter 2021 A publication of the University of Florida Phi Alpha Theta, gamma eta chapter Undergraduate Managing Editor Grant A. Graves Business Editor Benjamin Chitko Book Review Editor Christopher Calton Cover Design Olivia Urban Layout Adam S. Weiss Editorial Board Lauren Azurin, Tamsyn Butler, Shannon Chamberlain, Ryan Chatoo, Benjamin Chitko, Jacob LeMaster, Simon Lothair, Brian Marra, Jillian Medina, Hope Scheff, Dorothea Schmid, Shannon Scott Faculty Advisor Dr. Louise M. Newman Note from the Faculty Advisor The essays published in this journal were written by undergraduate students at the University of Florida prior to the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, which disrupted so much of normal life in 2020. The sudden transition to online/remote instruction in March, the psychological uncertainties and economic struggles that resulted from shutdowns and stay-at- home orders in April, and the physical dislocations that occurred during the spring semester, as students were forced out of dormitories or had to relinquish off-campus housing, interrupted a post-production process that would normally have resulted in this issue appearing in May 2020. But as this issue goes to press in the winter of 2020-21, it is possible to see the value of this scholarship in ways that would not have been evident had Covid-19 not changed how we live and work. First and foremost, is the quality and depth of research, undertaken at a time when students had physical access to libraries, archives and traditionally published books and could take advantage of regular face-to-face meetings with faculty, librarians, peers, and mentors.
    [Show full text]
  • Four Constructions of the Holocaust in Israeli Political Culture
    Cont Jewry (2017) 37:125–170 DOI 10.1007/s12397-017-9208-7 The Holocaust in Israeli Political Culture: Four Constructions and Their Consequences Editor’s Note: This Article is Followed by Four Comments and a Response by Ian Lustick Ian S. Lustick1 Received: 14 March 2016 / Accepted: 23 March 2017 / Published online: 24 April 2017 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017 Abstract The collective memory of the Holocaust among Israeli Jews has featured competition among four related but distinct constructions: Zionist Proof-text; Wasting Asset; Object Lesson for safeguarding human rights; and Template for Jewish life. This paper will analyze this competition and the implications of the apparent victory of the Template. While there is a sequence to the changing prominence of these different versions of the Holocaust, each version has enjoyed periods of relative success since World War II. In recent decades, however, the Holocaust as a Template for Jewish Life has emerged as ascendant. Throughout, competition among the four constructions was driven by parochial and temporary political interests and by the unintended consequences of dissatisfactions associated with any one of them. My analysis will trace this competition and those conse- quences, using them to explain the extreme and highly particular features of current Israeli Jewish collective memory of the Holocaust. The paper concludes with an assessment of the implications of the hegemonic status of this version of the Holocaust for appreciating Israel’s contemporary political predicament. Keywords Israel Á Holocaust Á Political culture Á Collective memory Á Hegemony Á Constructivism & Ian S. Lustick ilustick@sas.upenn.edu 1 Department of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA 123 126 I.
    [Show full text]
  • “Privileged” Jews, Holocaust Representation, and the “Limit” of Judgment R
    INTRODUCTION “PRIVILEGED” JEWS, HOLOCAUST REPRESENTATION, AND THE “LIMIT” OF JUDGMENT R On 17 October 1962, the fragmented and partially indecipherable manuscript of Salmen Lewenthal, a Polish Jew, was unearthed at the site where the crematoria of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp once stood. Although he died before the camp’s liberation, Lewen- thal had included in his testimony the following passage: We were shamed of one another and we dared not look one another in the face … […] I admit that I, too, … […] it appeared that my actions, too, […] were […] … the truth is that one wants to live at any cost, one wants to live because one lives, because the whole world lives. And all that one wishes, all with what one is, if only slightly, bound […] is bound with life fi rst of all, without life […] such is the real truth.1 Lewenthal had been a member of the Sonderkommando (“special squad”) forced to work in Birkenau’s gas chambers and crematoria.2 The tasks of these prisoners, the vast majority of them Jews, involved using decep- tion to keep order among those about to be gassed; sorting their confi s- cated belongings; hosing down the corpses; cutting hair and extracting teeth from the bodies; burning the corpses in the furnaces or on outdoor pyres; crushing the remaining bone fragments; and disposing of the ashes, which were used as fertilizer or insulation, or were scattered on This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. 2 Judging “Privileged” Jews the Vistula River. Men were chosen for the Sonderkommandos upon ar- rival at the camp or, less commonly, as a form of punishment.
    [Show full text]
  • Deliverable D2.4 As
    Ref. Ares(2021)220364 - 11/01/2021 Deliverable D2.4 Database of Films, Artworks, and other Visual Culture Products Lead-beneficiary OFM Work Package No. and Title WP2 Curation and advanced digitization of assets Work Package Leader OFM Relevant Task Task 2.8 Curation and advanced digitization of popular culture content Task Leader HUJI Main Author(s) HUJI (Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann, Lital Henig, Noga Stiassny) Contributor(s) DFF (Kerstin Herlt, David Kleingers, Bianca Sedmak) HUJI (Talia Litvinov, Shir Ventura, Julia Marie Wittorf) LBI/HUJI (Fabian Schmidt) LBI (Ingo Zechner) Reviewer(s) LBI (Ingo Zechner, Sema Colpan) OFM (Anna Högner, Michael Loebenstein) Dissemination Level Public Due Date M24 (2020-12) Version (No., Date) V1.9, 2021-01-11 This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 822670. www.vhh-project.eu Database of Films, Artworks and other Visual Culture Content Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 3 2. THE VHH POPULAR CULTURE COLLECTION ................................................................ 4 2.1. Migrating images ........................................................................................................ 5 2.2. Representations of the Holocaust in popular culture ............................................... 7 2.3. VHH Premium Content ...........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • JEWS Holocaust Ethics, Representation, and the “Grey Zone”
    This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. JUDGING “PRIVILEGED” JEWS This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. War and Genocide General Editors: Omer Bartov, Brown University; A. Dirk Moses, European University Institute, Florence, Italy/University of Sydney There has been a growing interest in the study of war and genocide, not from a traditional military history perspective, but within the framework of social and cultural history. This series offers a forum for scholarly works that refl ect these new approaches. “The Berghahn series Studies on War and Genocide has immeasurably enriched the English-language scholarship available to scholars and students of genocide and, in particular, the Holocaust.”—Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions Volume 1 Volume 10 The Massacre in History Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder: Edited by Mark Levene and Penny Roberts Political and Economic Planning for German Occupation Policy in the Soviet Volume 2 National Socialist Extermination Policies: Union, 1940–1941 Alex J. Kay Contemporary German Perspectives and Controversies Volume 11 Edited by Ulrich Herbert Theatres of Violence: The Massacre, Mass Killing and Atrocity in History Volume 3 Edited by Philip G. Dwyer and Lyndall Ryan War of Extermination: The German Military in World War II, 1941/44 Volume 12 Edited by Hannes Heer and Klaus Naumann Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in Volume 4 In God’s Name: Genocide and Religion in World History Edited by A. Dirk Moses the Twentieth Century Edited by Omer Bartov and Phyllis Mack Volume 13 The Train Journey: Transit, Captivity, and Volume 5 Hitler’s War in the East, 1941–1945 Witnessing in the Holocaust Simone Gigliotti Rolf-Dieter Müller and Gerd R.
    [Show full text]
  • Shoah and Other Holocaust Documentaries
    CHAPTER 3 BRIDGING HISTORY AND CINEMA “PRIVILEGED” JEWS IN CLAUDE LANZMANN’S SHOAH AND OTHER HOLOCAUST DOCUMENTARIES R Just as various prefi gurative choices in the use of language signal the moral point of view of a historian, “the camera’s gaze” may signal the ethical, politi- cal, and ideological perspective of the fi lmmaker. —Bill Nichols, Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary Claude Lanzmann’s infl uential fi lm Shoah (1985) may be viewed as a bridge between history and documentary fi lm. Widely believed to be “the most important fi lm about the Holocaust ever made,”1 Shoah has been praised by John K. Roth as “a cinematic counterpart to Hilberg’s monumental writing.”2 Indeed, Lanzmann’s fi lm exhibits a complex re- lationship with history, not least of all through the crucial impact Raul Hilberg had on the fi lm’s conceptualization and his on-screen presence in pivotal scenes. The intersection of fi rsthand testimony, historical content, and fi lmic techniques in Shoah—along with Lanzmann’s po- sitioning of Hilberg in the fi lm—results in judgments of “privileged” Jews being developed in intricate ways. Complicating generic boundar- ies, Lanzmann’s groundbreaking fi lm is a complex, confl icted, and often incoherent work that is the result of various infl uences. Embracing the This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. 110 Judging “Privileged” Jews early writings of Primo Levi and Hilberg, Lanzmann shuns traditional modes of representation to create a singular fi lm that still commands widespread attention today.
    [Show full text]