Aftermath holocaust
Be sure to use at least one example of the testimonies in formulating your response.
“Testimonies, particularly when they are produced as part of a larger cultural movement, express the discourse or discourses valued by society at the moment the witnesses, tell their stories as much as they render an individual experience.” (xii, Wievorka). Wievorka further states that certain kinds of testimony have not been recorded and certain groups of survivors have given testimony (p. 18).
With this quote and the reading in mind, compare and contrast some of the early testimonies. Some questions to consider in your discussion (you don’t have to answer all of them beyond the first about Wievorka’s statement):
Do you agree with Wievorka’s point raised above, and if so, how do the testimonies from this week reflect the context in which they were recorded? If you don’t agree with her statement, why not?
What has motivated survivors in different periods since the Holocaust to give testimony? Do you think the motivation of the survivor giving the testimony and the interviewer/recorder should inform how the testimony is read and interpreted?
If some experiences and groups of survivors have been left out of the narrative of testimony, as Wievorka suggests, how do you think testimonies have shaped our understanding of the Holocaust?
Primary source readings:
Early testimony in the ITS digital archive (selections) (In folder)
Browse and select from DEGOB early accounts: LINK-
Browse and select from WHL early accounts – Testifying to the Truth:
Browse and select from EHRI Early Holocaust Testimonies Digital Edition (you might find the article by Sharon Kangisser Cohen useful, but it’s not required:
Secondary source readings:
Laura Jockusch, “Introduction: Early Chroniclers of the Holocaust: Jewish Historical Commissions and Documentation Centers in the Aftermath of the Second World War” and Chapter 3: “Writing Polish Jewry’s ‘Greatest National Catastrophe’” in Collect and Record!: Jewish Holocaust Documentation in Early Postwar Europe (, 2012) (In folder)
Elisabeth Gallas and Laura Jockusch, “Anything but Silent: Jewish Responses to the Holocaust in the Aftermath of WWII,” A Companion to the Holocaust, Gigliotti and Earl (2020) (In Folder)
Annette Wieviorka, The Era of the Witness Press, 2006) (entire)
[Recommended] Nicholas Chare, “Holocaust Memory in a Post-Survivor World,” A Companion to the Holocaust, Gigliotti and Earl (2020) (In Folder)
