Global Holocaust? Memories of the Destruction of European Jews in Global Context
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Global Holocaust? Memories of the Destruction of European Jews in Global Context Global Holocaust? Memories of the tionship between the West and postcolonial Destruction of European Jews in Global societies. The workshop „Global Holocaust?” Context was intended to make a contribution to this field. Steinweis further outlined a series of Veranstalter: Philipp Gassert, Geschichte des questions for the workshop: What have been europäisch-transatlantischen Kulturraums, the central themes of Holocaust memory Universität Augsburg; Alan E. Steinweis, in the nonwestern world? Do nonwestern Carolyn and Leonard Miller Center for Holo- agents see it as a uniquely European event caust Studies, University of Vermont or an event with universal implications? Datum, Ort: 10.06.2011-11.06.2011, Augsburg Which institutions have been in charge of Bericht von: Jacob S. Eder, Department of His- researching and teaching the Holocaust and tory, University of Pennsylvania who has funded these activities? How has the Holocaust been contextualized in the The memory of the victims of the Holocaust history of oppression and genocide, taking is a central element in present-day European, into account examples such as Apartheid, Israeli, and North American historical con- Stalinist crimes, and the Nanking Massacre? sciousness. Recent publications also point to The first panel, chaired by Francis Nicosia its „global“ and „universal“ character. In or- (Vermont), set out to explore the role of Holo- der to test this assessment, the participants caust memory in the Middle East. GILAD of the workshop „Global Holocaust? Mem- MARGALIT (Haifa) analyzed the concept of ories of the Destruction of European Jews in the „uniqueness“ of the Holocaust for histor- Global Context,” which convened at Augs- ical consciousness and political discourse in burg University on June 10 and 11, 2011, Israel. While this concept is still crucial for set out to explore whether it was justified to Israeli identity today, it had become increas- speak of a „globalization of Holocaust mem- ingly contested since the early 1980s. At that ory“ or whether it was not rather a west- time, critical voices in Israel had begun to ern phenomenon. For this purpose, the orga- point to the negative consequences of Holo- nizers invited a number of scholars to speak caust memory, which had lead to an uncom- about the formation and development of promising stance of Israel towards the rights Holocaust memory in the nonwestern world. of Palestinians and could, in a worst-case sce- The Stiftung Deutsch-Amerikanische Wis- nario, even threaten Israel’s existence. Op- senschaftsbeziehungen (SDAW/Foundation ponents of such a line of argument had la- German-American Academic Relations) pro- beled attacks on the concept of the unique- vided financial support for the workshop. ness of the Holocaust as political attacks on Is- In their opening remarks, conveners raeli and Jewish identity. Thus, for the „Zion- Philipp Gassert (Augsburg) and Alan E. ist mainstream,” the uniqueness of the Holo- Steinweis (Vermont) pointed to the universal caust was inextricably linked with the justi- significance of Holocaust memory for histori- fication of Israel’s right of existence. Crit- cal consciousness in the West, defined as the ical voices gained some momentum during United States, Europe, some former British the 1990s, when Jews who had immigrated colonies, and Israel. Steinweis provided the to Israel from Arab countries criticized the historiographical framework for the work- dominant role of Ashkenazi Jews (Jews from shop by outlining three phases of scholarly Central and Western Europe) in Israeli soci- engagement with the history of the Holo- ety. According to Margalit, they argued that caust and its aftermath. The actual study of the Ashkenazis’ claim for the uniqueness of National Socialist extermination policies con- the Holocaust served to silence any kind of stituted a first phase, followed by the study criticism of social injustice in Israel. Despite of Holocaust memory, especially in those such critical voices and very emotional de- countries where the Holocaust had occurred bates, Margalit concluded, the political main- or refugees and survivors had settled. A stream and the educational system in Israel third phase now focuses on the consequences are still dominated by the concept of the Holo- of „Holocaust consciousness“ for the rela- caust’s uniqueness. © H-Net, Clio-online, and the author, all rights reserved. GÖTZ NORDBRUCH (Odense) shifted the cluded with a critical assessment of the state focus to the Arab world. Nordbruch empha- of Holocaust memorial culture in the Soviet sized that during the Nazi period, sympathy Union, which robbed Jews of their identity, for the suffering of European Jews under the failed to find an appropriate form of memo- Nazi regime and anti-Zionism were not mutu- rialization for Jewish victims, and led to an ally exclusive in the Arab world, but actually equation Zionism with Fascism. existed in tandem. After a long period of non- The next speaker, Holocaust historian engagement with the Holocaust, this earlier WENDY LOWER (Munich), moved the dis- differentiated attitude towards the Holocaust cussion to the largest former Soviet republic and the opposition to the state of Israel gained outside Russia, the Ukraine. Drawing from new popularity in the 1990s. The positive her own research in the Ukraine, Lower stated reception of publications by European Holo- that while local memories of the Holocaust ex- caust deniers in the Arab world in the mid- isted, there was no „collective memory“ of the 1990s caused a critical reaction from Arab in- Holocaust in the Ukraine. As in other former tellectuals from abroad. While they chastised Soviet states, this lack of memory also applied the oppression of the Palestinians, they also to the issue of collaboration with the Nazi demanded that the Holocaust needed to be regime, which was widely ignored. In addi- accepted as a historical reality. Nordbruch ar- tion, Ukrainian memory of World War II was gued that this eventually led to a „new open- overshadowed by the Ukraine’s history of vic- ness“ towards the study of the Holocaust in timization at the hands of the Stalinist regime the Arab world. Even though Holocaust de- during the „Great Famine of 1932-1933,” also nial is still widespread, Arab scholars have be- known as the „Holodomor,” during which gun a serious investigation into the history of millions of Ukrainians died. With regard the Holocaust and its aftermath. In the en- to Holocaust education in Ukrainian schools suing discussion, Nordbruch stated that en- and universities today, a „gap between his- gagement with the history of the Holocaust tory and memory“ is still apparent: while a has actually moved from intellectual circles majority of students had some knowledge of to the societal mainstream, although cooper- the Holocaust, they mostly perceived Ukraini- ation between Arab and Israeli scholars does ans either as fighters for independence or vic- not yet exist. tims of Stalinism. The discussion of both pre- The next panel, chaired by Lutz Kael- sentations mainly focused on the role of com- ber (Vermont), provided an assessment of munist ideology for the formation of Holo- Holocaust memorial culture (and its ab- caust memory in the former Eastern block. sence) in the former Soviet Union and the Yet Lower’s presentation also pointed to the Ukraine. DENISE YOUNGBLOOD (Vermont) lack of awareness in the West for the defining provided an overview of the development of catastrophic event of the Ukraine during the Holocaust memory in the Soviet Union since 20th century, the Holodomor. the beginning of „Operation Barbarossa“ in Leaving the Eurasian continent, a panel 1941. It was characterized, she argued, by a chaired by Jacob S. Eder (Pennsylvania) state-sanctioned „collective amnesia.” In offi- dealt with the memory of the Holocaust in cial Soviet memory of World War II, German Latin America and South Africa. Literary soldiers were characterized as barbaric perpe- scholar AMALIA RAN (Nebraska/Tel-Aviv) trators and the Soviet people as a whole as reminded the participants at the outset of her their victims, but the mass murder of Soviet presentation of the multitude of approaches Jews was not addressed. While no written or- toward the destruction of European Jews in ders about how to deal with Holocaust mem- Latin America. As Latin American soci- ory existed, a number of reasons accounted eties had their own history of violence, mil- for the development: anti-Semitism, an em- itary coups, and civil wars, Holocaust mem- phasis on the unity of the Soviet people, the ory needed to be located in this context. suppression of a specific Jewish conscious- The evolution of such memory has been hin- ness, and the foregrounding of the Slavic role dered, however, by „institutionalized anti- in resistance movements. Youngblood con- Semitism and political racism“ in the region. © H-Net, Clio-online, and the author, all rights reserved. Global Holocaust? Memories of the Destruction of European Jews in Global Context Nevertheless, it constituted a crucial part in in India: not only has Mein Kampf been a Latin American societies’ process of coming to bestseller, but also a Bollywood movie about terms with their own history. The Holocaust Hitler’s love life is currently in production, has served as a universal „narration“ that al- entitled „My Dear Friend Hitler“! This devel- lowed recognition of past crimes and created opment clearly demands a thorough scholarly demands to remember. Thus, Ran concluded, analysis. In a second step, Framke shifted the Holocaust memory in Latin America has al- focus to the prewar period and summarized ways „vacillated between the universal and the results of her research about Indian per- the local.” ception of German anti-Semitism up to 1939. SUSANNA B. SCHRAFSTETTER (Ver- She stated that the Indian media had followed mont) stressed the „global“ character of the the fate of the Jews in Nazi Germany closely lessons drawn from the Holocaust in South and with empathy.