Shards of Memory: Narratives of Holocaust Survival / Edition 1

by Yehudi Lindeman

Overview

As the last Holocaust survivors die, their testimonies make the transition from memory to history. In this compelling volume, Yehudi Lindeman, Director of the Living Testimonies Video Archive in Montreal, shares compelling stories of survival and triumph collected from years of interviews with those who lived through the most harrowing decade of the 20th century. Here are 25 tales of courage and loss, representing the experiences of women, men, and children who either survived the death camps or lived in hiding, and of their rescuers and redeemers.

The testimonies included in this volume show glimpses of the big movements, the big picture of World War II—the fast German sweep into Poland; the bureaucratic German machine that marked and identified Jews across German-occupied Europe; the efficiently organized roundups of Europe's Jews; the gradual retreat of the Wehrmacht from east to west; the sudden attacks on Holland and France. The fate of the European Jews may be a collective one, but their attempt to survive the onslaught on their liberty and life is often best understood through the portrayal of individual struggles. By focusing on individual lives, the narratives collected here capture the flow of history in all its precise, subjective, human detail.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275994235
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/30/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Yehudi Lindeman is Professor Emeritus of English at McGill University and Director of Living Testimonies, a center for Holocaust research and documentation in Montreal. In 1990, he also contributed to founding the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors. A child survivor of the Holocaust, he was separated from his family and moved through safe houses in Nazi-occupied Holland by members of the Dutch resistance.

Table of Contents

List of photos     ix
Foreword   Elie Wiesel     xi
Acknowledgments     xiii
Introduction   Yehudi Lindeman     xvii
Hiding in the Open: Passing as a Gentile     1
Rose B.     3
Mila M.     7
Edith Z.     13
Women Surviving the Camps     19
Rachel G.     21
Toby Elisabet R.     25
Ilse Z. and Marti D.     30
Irene C.     40
Rifka G.     45
Rena S.     52
Men Surviving the Camps     61
David A.     63
Jacob G.     67
Israel B.     75
Paul L.     84
Saul B.     94
Abram F.     106
Rubin B.     112
Hiding on the Run: Perspectives of Child Survivors     121
Leah K.     123
David G.     129
Stefanie S.     137
Leslie S.     141
Evading the Nazis     147
Margot S.     149
Irene B.     156
Harry F.     163
Rescuing: A Danish Perspective     171
Hans M.     173
Conclusion-Ghostwriters: The Hidden Children of Living Testimonies   Anita Slominska     179
Maps     193
Chronology   Barry Stahlmann     197
Glossary     213
Index     219

What People are Saying About This

Norman Ravvin

"Lindeman's personal engagement with the material is impressive, and the volume's introduction and conclusion contextualize the strenuous work undertaken by the editors to transpose video testimony to the page."

Robert Jan van Pelt

"Yehudi Lindeman's Shards of Memory frames and informs the emerging debate on the value of survivor-testimony in the post-survivor age. The 24 ghostwritten narratives collected in Shards of Memory will confront the reader with the urgent and important question how and where the countless shards of individuality embodied in taped survivor-testimony will survive within the generalized and simplified narratives of future generations."

Sarah Moskovitz

"This compelling book of Holocaust survivor accounts expands our understanding of human resilience. Prof. Yehudi Lindeman compiled these illuminating accounts. And we need to pay attention. For the world's future could depend on our vigilance and ability to extinguish the first flames of genocidal hatred."

Dori Laub

"Anyone who questions the value of Holocaust testimonies for history must read this book. This book goes far beyond story-telling and the mere presentation of past images, as it brings the survivors' actual experiences and reflections directly into the reader's very present. The individual accounts in this book just tell it the way it was. The stories attest to unimaginable events that are told with great self-restraint Not a word is wasted on self-indulgence or sentimentality. The images these stories create are stark and daunting; as they penetrate the reader. They are gripping yet matter of fact."

Doris L. Bergen

"This is a beautiful and surprising book, intensely and painfully human yet careful and scholarly. Each of the narratives is distinctive and unforgettable; each is an account of extraordinary survival against all odds. Even the most seasoned reader of Holocaust memoirs and scholarship will find much to ponder here. Elegantly introduced and analyzed in a poignant and powerful conclusion, these testimonies constitute a historical record of immense value. This book is itself a testimony—to the enormous value of listening to survivors, and also to the incredible amount of knowledge, effort, and love needed to do justice to their lives and their words."

Editorial Reviews

Lindeman, director of Living Testimonies, a center for Holocaust research and documentation in Montreal, has written an excellent introduction that posits the motivation behind the needs of Shoah survivors to tell their stories. The book's chapters are arranged according to three distinctions: gender, age, and whether one survived inside or outside the camps, in hiding, or on the run. Lindeman explains that the decision to separate the chapters of women's accounts of the camps from that of the men was an effort to capture their particular experiences during the Holocaust. He is sensitive to recent Holocaust historiography that distinguishes between the gender-based behaviors of those who were victims of the Nazis. Lindeman writes that although Nazi destruction clearly did not distinguish between men and women, there are differences in terms of what was done to them (vulnerabilities) and what they did (their resources). The volume includes a country-by-country chronology discussed by the survivors, as well as a glossary. Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.” —Choice

“Shards of Memory is a collection of personal testimonies of various means of survival by which individuals preserved themselves in the face of the great Nazi assult on their bodies, psyches, and lives during World War II. The Living Testimonies Project at the Holocaust Video Documentation Archive of McGill University gathers and records the experiences and eyewitness accounts of Holocaust survivors through individually videotaped interviews with survivors. The current volume is a retelling of 25 of these stories. The editors convey the narratives in the survivors' own words and provide candid descritions of the subjects' tone and manner of speaking.” —MultiCultural Review

“Since 1989, Yehudi Lindeman has been interviewing Holocaust survivors for the Living Testimonies Archive in Montreal. In this volume, he shares the stories of 25 individuals. Included are those who managed to pass as Gentiles, others who survived the death camps, and others who went into hiding or escaped. The final narrative offers the perspective of a Danish man who helped smuggle some 7,000 Jews to safety. Elie Wiesel contributes the foreword.” —Reference & Research Book News

“. . . these narratives make an important contribution to Holocaust studies by providing a framework for stories that survivors often find incredibly difficult to share. Reading these personal accounts reminds us of the time when such stories were not welcome, when even family members and friends did not want to hear about the horrific events of the past. Many of these survivors describe the difficulty they have had in discussing their past, even with their own children and grandchildren, and in this admission we can detect both the anguish of reliving their past and a sense of urgency, a need to somehow convey and preserve their experiences. Moreover, this volume reminds us that there are still many stories that have not been shared. Shards of Memory challenges all of us to recognize and appreciate the genuine difficulty of recalling and sharing the terrible realities of the past. Each of the stories in this collection is a reminder that there is yet one more testimony to hear, and that it is our human obligation to listen and learn.” —Shofar

From the Publisher