Role Reversa1 and Passing in Postwar German and Austrian Jewish Literature
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Role Reversa1 and Passing in Postwar German and Austrian Jewish Literature Robert Lawson A thesis submitted to the Department of German in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen's University Kingston, Ontario, Canada Decembei, 2ûûl copyright O Robert Lawson, 2001 Acquisitions and AcquWions et Bib(iognphi Sewices senkes bibliographiques The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence dowing the excIusive permettant à la National Liiof Canada to Bibliothèque nationaie du Caaada de reproâuce, loan, disûiiute or sel reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfonn, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or elecîronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author reiains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la pmpneté du copyrighî in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom t Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othecwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced withouî the author's ou auîrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. PhD. Thesis Abstnct Role Reversal and Passim in Postwar Austrian and German Tetvish Literature Robert Lawson This dissertation examines role reversal and passing in poshar Xushian and Cerman Jewish literahw. Role reversal is a strategy in which individuals or characters in a Literary text trawform their identities by assuming attributes commonly associated with their oppsites. This transformation could involve a perpetrator posing as a victim or the victirn turning into a perpetrator. Passing refers to the way in which individuals or characters hide their identity in order to cross ethnic or social boundaries. For example, an individual or a character might feel cornpelleci to conceal his or her Jewishness or non-Jewishness. This study examines a wide range of narratives by Austrian and German Jewish writers. The ktchapter analyses role reversal and passing in the texts of Edgar Hilsenrath and Jurek Ekcker, two ktgeneration Gennan Jewish authors whose witing establishes certain patterns that second generation writers have adopted in their prose. The subsequent three chapters explore how second generation writers Maxim Biller, lrene Disdie, Esther iii Dischereii, Anna Mitgutsdi, Doron Rabinovici, and Robert -del adapt these patterns for their own pufposes. 1 argue that role reversal and passing serve to counter anti-Semitic stereotypes, to highlight the identity problems of second generation Jews in Austria and in Germany, and to aiticize the way in rvhich non-Jewish Gemans and Austrians have dealt with the Holocaust. I also argue that gender and nationality influence the way in which these authors use role reversal and passing. In the final chapter, 1 compare and contrast two real Me cases of role reversa1 as documented in the memoù of Binjamin WilkomUski, a non- Jewish Swiss posing as a Holocaust victim, and the wartime dironide of Solomon Perel, a Geman Jew who disguised himself as a Hitler Youth to survive the war. 1 would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Petra Fachinger for her tremendous guidance and support. Many thanks also to Dr. David Pugh for his mitical reading of the thesis draft. 1 would also like to thank Dr. Dagmar Lorenz and Dr. Sander L. Gilman from the University of Illinois at Chicago for their valuable suggestions. Last but not least, I am indebted to my parents for their encouragement and support without which 1 would not have been able to complete this thesis. Table of Contents 1ntroduction 1. Cunivaiism versus Irony in Edgar Hilsenrath's Dei Nazi und der Friseur and Jurek Becker's Bronsteins Kinder 2. Passing as Cdhval Cross~Dressingin Irone Dische's and Maxim Bilier's Short Stones 3.The Austrian Jewish Identity Crisis: Doron Rabinovia's Sudie nach M, and Robert Schindel's Gebürtig 4. The Female Jewish Identity Crisis: Anna Mitgubch's Abschied von Tenasalem and Esther Disdiemit's JemisTisch 5. Victim venus Perpetrator: The Contrasting Narrative Sttategies of Binjamin Wilkomirski and Solomon Perel Conclusion Works Cited Introduction Literary history is rife with examples of identity transformations. At hesthese have taken on an element of the fantastic as in Franz Ka£kafs Verwandlung where Gregor Samsa awakes one moniing to the shocking realization that he has become an "insect."Kafka and another tutn of the century contemporarv, Bruno Schulz, employed human to animal "metamorphoses" in part to express theu feelings of alienation as European Jews (Stenberg, ~'Memories"289). Less spectacular than these zoomorphic mutations are instances in which individuals masquerade as representatives of a specifïc socio-economic class or pretend to belong to a certain ethnic group. A good example of the former is in Cari Zuckmayer's 1930 satire Der Hauvtmann von Kibenidc, where a common aiminal disguised as an army captain is able to dupe the Prussian military elite. Regarding the latter, I have noticed the remarkable presence of identity transformations, specificaiiy role reversal and passing, in postwar Austnan and German Jewish literature. In this thesis 1 argue that role reversal and passing constitute a dominant trope in the works of fint generation wrîters who suMved the horrors of Nazi persecution, such as Jurek Becker and Edgar Hilsenrath, as weli as in those of the second generation, boni predorninantiy after 1945, including MaUm Biller, Irene Dische, Esther Dischereit, Anna Mitgutsch, Doron Rabinovia, and Robert Sdiindel. A representative sample of these authors' novels and short stories will be the foundation for my analysis. In chapter five 1 present a rather unorthodox case which complements several of the issues presented within the Austrian and German comparative framework. Here 1 examine the Me of Binjamin Wilkomirski, a non-JewishSwiss passing as a Jew, and compare his fabricated Holocaust memoir with the autobiography of Çolornon PereI, a Jew who disguised hirnself as a Hitler Youth in order to survive the war. Many of the writers in this study have received relatively Little critical attention and so it is necessary to begin this introduction with a brief biographical overview.1 Since this is a comparative/contrastive study, I shall focus speaficaliy on the parameters of generational, national and gender differences. 1 then offer a more prease definition of the terms "mie reversal" and "passing" and briefly discuss the scholarly research in this area. Following a short ove~ewof the types of identity transformations encountered in the texts considered in this study and the reasons why authors employ role reversa1 and passing in their narratives, I conclude the introduction with a chap ter breakdom. As indicated, Jurek Becker and Edgar Hilsentath are ktgeneration authors. Becker was bom in 1937 in Lodz, Poiand. mer the war, during which he was intemed in Ravensbrück and later Sachsenhausen, Becker se ttled wi th his father in East Berlin. He became one of East Germany's most 1 1 shall present the biographical details of Binjamin Wïlkomirski and Solomon Perel in the final chapter. celebrated writers although he had to leave the country for protesting the expatriation of Wolf Biermann in 1976. Becker lived in West Berlin from 1979 unol his death in 1997. Edgar Hilsenrath was boni in Leipzig in 1926, but, fleeing Nazi persecution, moved with his family to Rumania in 1938. Mer surviving the ghetto of Modhilev-Podolsk, Hilsenrath spent the in Palestine and later the United States before settling in Berlin in 1971. The three second generation German authors included in this study Vary greatly in tmof background and experience. Born in Prague in l%O, Maxim Biller has been living in the Federal Republic since 1970. Sander L. Gilman has characterized him as the "enfant terrible" of German Jewish Literahire for his provocative essays and short stories (Jewç in Todav's 69). Irene Dische was born in New York City in 1952 to Geman Jewish emigrant parents who raised her as a Catholic, a religious transformation highlighted in many of her stories. She moved to Berlin in 1980 where she now lives and writes. Esther Dischereit hds from Heppenheim (near Mannheim), where she was born in 1952. Although her mother was Jewish, Dischereit was raised in her father's Lutheran tradition. In addition to her writing career, Dischereit teaches Jewish Studies at the University of Potsdam. I have &O induded three Austrian writers in this study. Robert Sdundel was born in 1944 near Linz. He suMved the war in hiding while his parents were sent to concentration camps. His father was murdered in Dachau. After a variety of jobs in television, radio and film, he dedicated his talents to fictional prose, for which he has received great international acdaim. Anna Mitgutsch, born in 1948 in Linz, is an accomplished acadernic who has had a multi-faceted career. She hed for a short time on a kibbutz in Israel and has taught in many countries, induding the USA and South Korea. She currently lives in Leonding near Linz where she works as a freelance journdist, essayist and literq critic. Doron Rabinovici, born in Tel Aviv in 1961, is the only writer in this study who is of Israeli origin. However, in 1964 his family retumed to Vienna. Rabinovià is a peace activist for the Middle East and a freelance historian, joumalist and ter of fiction. Since the Holocaust marks such a fundamental caesura in German and Aushian Jewishlnon-Jewishrelations, I have chosen to examine only poshvar iiterature in this shidy. I wiU employ a &O-historical rnethod of interpreta tion, an approach which requires, firs t of all, some familiarization with the history of anti-Semitism in the German and Austrian diaspora. A variety of anti-Jewish stereotypes have evolved over tirne to separate and isola te Jews from non-Jews.