Sources for Studying the Holocaust provides a pathway for readers to engage with questions about what sources can be used to study the Holocaust.
For many historians, the challenge has been how to rescue the story from oblivion when oft-used sources for other periods of history introduce even more issues around authenticity and reliability. What can be learned of what transpired in villages and towns numbering several thousand people, when all its Jewish inhabitants were totally obliterated through Nazi action? Who can furnish eyewitness testimony, if all the eyewitnesses were killed? How does one examine written records preserving knowledge of facts or events, where none were kept or survived the onslaught? And what weight do we put upon such resources which did manage to endure the destruction wrought by the Holocaust? Each chapter looks at one of a diverse range of source materials from which scholars have rescued the history, including survivor testimony, diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, photographs, trial documents, artefacts, digital resources, memorials, films, literature, and art. Each chapter shows how different types of records can be utilised as accurate sources for the writing of Holocaust history. Collectively, they highlight the ways in which all material, even the most fragmentary, can be employed to recreate a reliable record of what happened during the Holocaust and show how all sources considered can be employed to find meaning and understanding by exploring a range of sources deeply.
This book is a unique analysis of the types of sources that can be used to access the history of Holocaust. It will be of invaluable interest to readers, students, and researchers of the Holocaust.
Author(s): Paul R. Bartrop
Series: Routledge Guides to Using Historical Sources
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 282
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Illustrations
Contributors
Introduction
Notes
Part I: The Personal Domain
1. Oral History: Hearing the Voice of the Survivors
Introduction: Listening to Survivors
David Boder and the Early Oral Histories
The Value of Oral History
Assessing Oral Testimony
Oral History Techniques and the Holocaust
Oral Testimonies and Memory
An Ending?
Notes
2. Letters: An Intimate and Innocent Window into History
Notes
3. Written Remnants of Catastrophe: Holocaust Diaries as Historical Sources
Diary Writing in Context
Holocaust Diaries
Issues of Genre
Representation
Historical Understanding
Holocaust Diaries in Historical Research: Benefits
Holocaust Diaries in Historical Research: Limitations
Conclusion
Notes
4. Analysing Memoirs: Gone but Not Forgotten
Introduction
Benefits
Pitfalls
Controversy
Iconic Literature
Notes
5. A Thousand Unspoken Words: Reading Photographs of the Holocaust
Defining Holocaust Photography
Evidence of Collaboration
Evidence of Resistance
Reading Photographs
Commemoration
Conclusion: The Values and Limitations of Holocaust Photographs
Notes
Part II: The Public Domain
6. Considering Nazi Propaganda as a Source for Studying the Holocaust
Defining Propaganda
The Place of Propaganda in the Third Reich
Managing Propaganda
Film and Radio: Managing What Germans Saw and Heard
What Did Germans Read?
Summing Up: Conditioning the Population for Genocide
Propaganda and Studying the Holocaust
Notes
7. Using Trial Documents for Holocaust Study
The Trials
The International Military Tribunal Trial, Nuremberg
The Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT) Trials
Dachau Trials
Sources
Issues
Concerns about Using Trial Documents
Copyright Concerns
Conclusion
Notes
8. Understanding Holocaust Memory Through Museums and Memorials
Introduction
Museums
The National Holocaust Centre and Museum, Newark
The Imperial War Museum, London
The Holocaust Centre North, Huddersfield
Jewish Museum London
Memorials
The Holocaust Memorial, Hyde Park, London
The National Holocaust Centre and Museum, Children's Memorial
The Kindertransport Monument, Liverpool Street Station
Sir Nicholas Winton Statue, Maidenhead Station
Conclusion
Notes
9. Using Church Documents for Holocaust Study
The Protestant Church
The Catholic Church
Assessing the Value of Church Documents in Studying the Holocaust
The Importance of Christianity and the Churches in Nazi Germany
Documentary Issues Unique to the Catholic Church
The Vatican Archives
The Play
Vatican II
Conclusion
Notes
10. Contemporary Newspapers as Sources for Approaching Holocaust Study
The News and Newspapers
The Newspaper Press and the Holocaust: General Features
Assessing Newspaper Coverage
Using Newspapers in Holocaust Research
The Australian Press and the Holocaust
Learning about the Holocaust from Newspapers
Notes
11. Using Yiddish Sources in Studying the Holocaust
What is Yiddish?
The Role of the Yiddish Press
Personal Testimonies in Yiddish
The Ringelblum Archive
Underground Yiddish Accounts
The Post-war Yiddish Press
Holocaust Research Using Yiddish
The Limitations of Yiddish for Holocaust Research
Notes
12. Researching the Holocaust in a Digital World
Introduction
History and Evolution of Digital Research
Examples, Benefits, and Challenges of Key Digital Resources for Holocaust Studies
Future of Digital Research in Holocaust Studies
Conclusion
Notes
13. Persistence of Memory Through Artefacts
Introduction
The Historiography of Artefacts in Holocaust Literature
Material Culture
Challenges
Nazi Destruction of Jewish Material Culture
The Artefacts
Conclusions
Notes
Part III: The Popular Domain
14. Learning About the Holocaust Through Movies
Film and the Holocaust
A Plethora of Movies and Themes
The Holocaust: The Jewish Experience
Colour, Black-and-White, and Schindler's List
Movies beyond the Jewish Experience
Film: Whether and When to Use It
Notes
15. How Holocaust Documentaries Defined Documentary Cinema
The Allies Experience
The French Experience
Night and Fog, Alain Resnais, France, 1956
The Sorrow and the Pity, Marcel Ophuls, France, 1969/1981
Shoah, Claude Lanzmann, France, 1985
Last of the Unjust, Claude Lanzmann, France, 2013
Conclusion
Notes
16. Humanising the Holocaust: Literature as a Source for Studying the Holocaust
Elie Wiesel, Night
Thomas Keneally, Schindler's Ark
William Styron, Sophie's Choice
Bernhard Schlink, The Reader
Tatiana de Rosnay, Sarah's Key
Jane Yolen, The Devil's Arithmetic
John Boyne, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Conclusions
Notes
17. Art as a Source for Studying the Holocaust
Introduction
Subjects
Portraits
Scenes and Recordings from Daily Life
Escapist Scenes
Potential Problems with Using Works of Art as Documents
Analysing Art of the Holocaust
Works of Art Made during the Holocaust
Works Made in Hiding
Works Made in Ghettos
Works Made in Detention and Transit Camps
Works Made in Concentration Camps
Works by Survivors of the Holocaust
Conclusion
Notes
Part IV: Epilogue
18. Thinking About and Using Documents From the Perpetrators
Notes
Chronology of the Holocaust
1919
1920
1923
1924
1925
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
Index
