Life Between Memory and Hope: The Survivors of the Holocaust in Occupied Germany

ISBN-13: 9780521811057 / Angielski / Twarda / 2002 / 350 str.

Zeev W. Mankowitz

Opis

The 250,000 survivors of the Holocaust who converged on the American Zone of Occupied Germany from 1945-1948 rose to brief prominence in the immediate post-war years. They envisaged themselves as the living bridge between destruction and rebirth, the last remnants of a world destroyed and the active agents of its return to life. Much of what has been written to date looks at the Surviving Remnant through the eyes of others and thus has often failed to disclose the tragic complexity of their inner lives together with their remarkable political achievements. Zeev W. Mankowitz concentrates on this community of survivors, its people, movements, ideas, institutions and self-understanding, how it grappled with the unbearable weight of the past, the strains of the present and the challenge of the future. These ordinary people lived through experiences that beggar description. In most cases they had lost everyone and everything and were now condemned to a protracted and debilitating stay amidst grim conditions in the land of their oppressors. Yet, they got on with their lives, they married, had children and worked for a better tomorrow. By and large, they did not surrender to the deformities of suffering and somehow managed to preserve their humanity intact. This is the story Mankowitz tells in Life between Memory and Hope. Over the last two decades Dr. Zeev Mankowitz has divided his time between Holocaust research and the training of educational leaders. His celebrated lectures on Issues in the Study of the Holocaust at the Rothberg International School at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has drawn thousands of students from all over the world. In his latest project he is seeking to understand the relationship between history and memory and its implications for educational practice. This is his first book.

Recenzje

'... Life between Memory and Hope is a compelling achievement that will enrich immeasurably our comprehension of the Holocaust and its aftermath ... Mankowitz's book is virtually in a class of its own, and scholars of German and European history, as well as Jewish and Middle Eastern history, are certain to be enlightened by it.' Michael Berkowitz, H-German

Spis treści

Plates; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations and note on spelling and dates; Introduction; 1. The occupation of Germany and the survivors: an overview; 2. The formation of She'erith Hapleitah: November 1944–July 1945; 3. She'erith Hapleitah enters the international arena: July–October 1945; 4. Hopes of Zion: September 1945–January 1946; 5. In search of a new politics: unity versus division; 6. The Central Committee of the Liberated Jews in Bavaria; 7. The politics of education; 8. Two voices from Landsberg: Rudolf Valsonok and Samuel Gringauz; 9. Destruction and remembrance; 10. The surviviors confront Germany; 11. She'erith Hapleitah towards 1947; Concluding remarks; Bibliography; Index.

O autorze

Mankowitz, Zeev W.
Zeev Mankowitz is a senior lecturer at the Melton Center for Jewish Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he has also served as Director. He has also been Director of the Jerusalem Fellows, a programme to develop educational leadership. He is a faculty member of the Rothberg School for overseas students, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dr Mankowitz has been Visiting Professor at Old Dominion University, Yale University, and the University of Cape Town, as well as a visiting research fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and a Fellow of the International Institute of Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem. He is also an academic consultant for the New Museum of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem, and has carried out lecture tours in the US, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, Britain, Austria and Poland.