Agency And The Holocaust: Essays In Honor Of Debórah Dwork

Description

The book assembles case studies on the human dimension of the Holocaust as illuminated in the academic work of preeminent Holocaust scholar Deborah Dwork, the founding director of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, home of the first doctoral program focusing solely on the Holocaust and other genocides. Written by fourteen of her former doctoral students, its chapters explore how agency, a key category in recent Holocaust studies and the work of Dwork, works in a variety of different ‘small’ settings – such as a specific locale or region, an organization, or a group of individuals. Contents......Page 6 Chapter 1: Introduction......Page 9 Part I: Youth and Identity......Page 19 Chapter 2: Autobiographies of Jewish Youth in Prewar Poland as Holocaust Sources......Page 20 Background......Page 22 Childhood......Page 24 School......Page 25 Youth Groups......Page 26 Vocational Training......Page 29 Isolation and Conflict......Page 30 Wartime Fate......Page 31 Conclusion......Page 33 Chapter 3: Saving Jewish Girls: A Case Study in Lidingö, Sweden......Page 37 A Case Study: Lidingö, Sweden......Page 39 A Bais Yaakov School in Lidingö......Page 41 Methodological Challenges and Questions......Page 46 Part II: Rescue and Relief......Page 54 Chapter 4: JDC’s Relief Efforts and the Holocaust in Rzeszów County......Page 55 Feeding the Hungry......Page 58 Assessing the Situation......Page 60 Assisting Refugees and the Local Poor......Page 62 Helping Jewish Farmers......Page 63 Ensuring Religious Needs and Instilling Hope......Page 64 Conclusion......Page 65 References......Page 70 Introduction......Page 72 One Jewish Family from Velké Meziříčí: The Muellers......Page 74 The Nazi Occupation of the Czech Lands......Page 75 Czech-Jewish Responses to Nazi Occupation......Page 76 Terezín: The Final Solution Unfolds on Czech Soil......Page 77 From Terezín to the East: Treblinka......Page 78 From Terezín to the East: Auschwitz......Page 79 One Family: Multiple Fates......Page 80 Uncovering the History......Page 81 Conclusion: Recognizing Honorable Actions, Preserving History and Memory......Page 84 Chapter 6: Eleanor Roosevelt and Refugees from the Holocaust: Beyond the Politics......Page 90 Conditions in Europe, 1933–1936......Page 91 1936–1938: Europe and the United States......Page 92 Wagner-Rogers Bill......Page 93 United States Committee for the Care of European Children......Page 96 Emergency Rescue Committee......Page 98 Saving Individuals......Page 99 SS Quanza......Page 100 Conclusion......Page 101 Part III: Gender Dynamics......Page 106 Chapter 7: Sexuality, Sexual Violence, and Sexual Barter in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Women’s Camp......Page 107 Women in Auschwitz-Birkenau......Page 108 Sexual Violence and Female Experience......Page 110 Sexual Agency and Resistance......Page 112 Sexual Slavery and Sexual Assault......Page 115 Women Perpetrators......Page 117 Conclusion......Page 118 Chapter 8: “We Are All Witnesses”: Eva Reichmann and the Wiener Library’s Eyewitness Accounts Collection......Page 124 The Founding of the Wiener Library......Page 126 Eva Reichmann and the Salvage of Memory......Page 127 Concentric and Centrifugal: Transnational Methodology......Page 131 Reichmann and Wiener: “As It Had Been Before”......Page 136 References......Page 139 Part IV: Ambiguities of Perpetration......Page 142 Chapter 9: Genocidal and Anti-genocidal Ethics in Fascist Italy during the Holocaust......Page 143 Italian Police and the Holocaust......Page 144 Castelnuovo di Garfagnana......Page 146 The History and Memory of Castelnuovo......Page 149 Conclusion......Page 151 Chapter 10: The Restitution of Jewish Jobs in the Aftermath of the Antonescu Regime......Page 159 The Struggle for the Restitution of Jobs During the Antonescu Regime......Page 160 The Post-Antonescu Restitution of Jobs......Page 161 The Restitution Legislation......Page 162 Jewish Leaders’ and Organizational Restitution Efforts......Page 164 Ordinary Jews’ Efforts at Restitution......Page 165 Gentiles’ Opposition to Restitution......Page 167 Conclusion......Page 172 References......Page 175 Part V: Cultures of Memory......Page 178 Introduction......Page 179 The Agency of the State......Page 181 Creating “Greater Hungary” During World War II......Page 182 Bystanders and the State......Page 186 Making Hungary Great Again through Global Holocaust Memory......Page 190 Chapter 12: Rebuilding and Renewing Viennese Jewish Identity After the Holocaust......Page 196 Return in the Context of the “Victim Myth”......Page 200 The Ambiguity of Viennese Jewish Identity......Page 201 The Ambiguity of Identity in Professional Life......Page 203 The Ambiguity of Identity in Politics......Page 204 Risks of Silence......Page 206 References......Page 210 Chapter 13: Making Present the Past: Canada’s St. Louis Apology and Canadian Jewry’s Pursuit of Refugee Justice......Page 212 The Three “Rs”: Remembrance, Redress, and Restitution......Page 214 Holocaust Remembrance and Redress......Page 216 Post-World War II Refugee Crises: Agency and Action......Page 219 Apologia: Where Do We Go from Here?......Page 224 References......Page 230 Archives......Page 232 Index......Page 233