Holocaust Testimony, Ethics, and the Problem of Representation

Kushner, Tony

doi:10.1215/03335372-2005-004

Cited by 42 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…during the 1990s, Steven Spielberg's Shoah Visual History Foundation recorded over 54,000 Jewish testimonies of the Holocaust (Kushner, 2006). the existence of this immense collection is widely known, but the interviews held in california are difficult to access.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telling Our Stories/Animating Our Past: A Status Report on Oral History and Digital Media

High¹

2012

Canadian Journal of Communication

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Tens of thousands of oral history interviews sitting in archival drawers, on computer hard drives, or on library bookshelves have never been listened to. Thousands of new interviews are being added each year by the many large testimony projects now underway, including Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Historica–Dominion Institute’s Memory Project. Although the existence of these immense collections is widely known, the interviews are difficult to access. How can we combine oral history and new media to ensure that the potential of such important projects is fully realized? Emergent and digital technologies are opening up new possibilities for accessing Canadian memories and transmitting them to various audiences. New forms of media are changing the ways we think about and do oral and public history.Des milliers d’entrevues d’histoire orale oubliées dans des tiroirs d’archives, sur des disques durs et sur des étagères de bibliothèque n’ont jamais été écoutées. En même temps, chaque année, de nouvelles entrevues viennent s’ajouter par milliers dans le cadre de grands projets de témoignage, y compris la Commission de vérité et réconciliation du Canada et le Projet Mémoire de l’Institut Historica Dominion. Bien que l’existence de ces collections immenses ne soit guère un secret, les entretiens sont difficiles d’accès. Comment peut-on combiner l’histoire orale et les nouveaux médias afin de réaliser pleinement le potentiel de projets si importants? Des technologies numériques récentes présentent de nouvelles possibilités pour accéder aux souvenirs canadiens et les transmettre à divers publics. En effet, de nouvelles formes de média sont en train de changer les manières de penser et de pratiquer l’histoire orale et publique.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telling Our Stories/Animating Our Past: A Status Report on Oral History and Digital Media

High¹

2012

Canadian Journal of Communication

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“…The study of survivors' recorded, written and/or published accounts had led to very high standards of processing the material, especially after the "ethical turn" in the 1990s (Glowacka 2012: 4-5). Today, the standards involve above all respect for the communicated meaning, irrespective of its sometimes hobbled form (Felman, Laub 1992; see also Kushner 2006) and attention paid to the smallest detail not only at the factual level, but also as regards the articulation: fluency of sentence structure, vocal emission, gesticulation and body language (Kidron 2009). The ethical requirement is combined with a non-reductive approach to the material and with multi-level analysis using diverse tools.…”

Section: Testimony In Its Proper Framementioning

confidence: 99%

Naturellement: Speech Variants of Holocaust Bystanders in Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah

Sendyka¹

2019

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The article discusses the testimonies of bystanders as presented to the public in Claude Lanzmann's documentary Shoah. It proposes to apply norms and practices developed within Holocaust studies to the analysis of the victims' testimonies in the emerging field of bystander studies. The Polish bystanders' utterances in the documentary were edited and simplified through the process of interpretation and re-translation; this inaccurate rendition has been used in Holocaust debates and the lack of sensibility to this aspect of communication in Lanzmann's film may result in skewed interpretation of the bystanders' engagement in the scene of violence. The analysis proves that without renewed scrutiny to the bystanders' speech Holocaust research may lose some important insights. Signs of violence impact, traces of traumatization or brutalization, specificity of cognitive and affective response may be overlooked. The paper calls for an universalizing epistemic approach to all types of the speech emerging from the Holocaust, beyond the (debatable) divisions of its social fabric into victims, perpetrators and bystanders.

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“…Whilst historians (Roth 2005;Kushner 2006), artists (Lang 2000), psychologists (Raalte et al 2007;Kellerman 2001), and educationalists (Short and Reid 2004;Davies 2000) have formulated approaches that balance these considerations, given the longevity of research in these areas, similar practices for the study of the archaeological remains of this period have not yet been established. In the past, some archaeological projects have faced criticism for failing to account for the beliefs of affected groups and this has undoubtedly impacted upon the number of subsequent projects undertaken (Weiss 2003;Gross 2004).…”

Section: Contextualising Archaeological Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holocaust Archaeology: Archaeological Approaches to Landscapes of Nazi Genocide and Persecution

Colls

2012

Journal of Conflict Archaeology

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The landscapes and material remains of the Holocaust survive in various forms as physical reminders of the suffering and persecution of this period in European history. However, whilst clearly defined historical narratives exist, many of the archaeological remnants of these sites remain ill-defined, unrecorded and even, in some cases, unlocated. Such a situation has arisen as a result of a number of political, social, ethical and religious factors which, coupled with the scale of the crimes, has often inhibited systematic search. This thesis will outline how a noninvasive archaeological methodology has been implemented at two case study sites, with such issues at its core, thus allowing them to be addressed in terms of their scientific and historical value, whilst acknowledging their commemorative and religious significance. In doing so, this thesis also demonstrates how a study of the physical remains of the Holocaust can reveal as much about the ever-changing cultural memory of these events as it can the surviving remnants of camps, execution sites and other features associated with this period. By demonstrating the diversity and complexity of Holocaust landscapes, a case is presented for a subdiscipline of Holocaust Archaeology.'I have buried this among the ashes where people will certainly dig to find the traces of millions of men who were exterminated' (Salmen Gradowski in Bezwinska 1973:75) This thesis is dedicated to all those whose lives have been, and will be, affected by the Holocaust. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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Holocaust Testimony, Ethics, and the Problem of Representation

Cited by 42 publications

References 7 publications

Telling Our Stories/Animating Our Past: A Status Report on Oral History and Digital Media

Telling Our Stories/Animating Our Past: A Status Report on Oral History and Digital Media

Naturellement: Speech Variants of Holocaust Bystanders in Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah

Holocaust Archaeology: Archaeological Approaches to Landscapes of Nazi Genocide and Persecution

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