Holocaust Memories

A Survey of Holocaust Memoirs, Histories, Novels, and Films

Claudia Moscovici

• Publisher: Hamilton Books
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780761870937
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Holocaust History
• Index: History

Nearly eighty years have passed since the Holocaust. There have been hundreds of memoirs, histories and novels written about it, yet many fear that this important event may fall into oblivion. As Holocaust survivors pass away, their legacy of suffering, tenacity and courage could be forgotten. It is up to each generation to commemorate the victims, preserve their life stories and hopefully help prevent such catastrophes. These were my main motivations in writing this book, Holocaust Memories, which includes reviews of memoirs, histories, biographies, novels and films about the Holocaust.

It was difficult to choose among the multitude of books on the subject that deserve our attention. I made my selections based partly on the works that are considered to be the most important on the subject; partly on wishing to offer some historical background about the Holocaust in different countries and regions that were occupied by or allied themselves with Nazi Germany, and partly on my personal preferences, interests and knowledge.

The Nazis targeted European Jews as their main victims, so my book focuses primarily on them. At the same time, since the Nazis also targeted other groups they considered dangerous and inferior, I also review books about the sufferings of the Gypsies, the Poles and other groups that fell victim to the Nazi regimes.

In the last part, I review books that discuss other genocides and crimes against humanity, including the Stalinist mass purges, the Cambodian massacres by the Pol Pot regime and the Rwandan genocide. I want to emphasize that history can, indeed, repeat itself, even if in different forms and contexts. Just as the Jews of Europe were not the only targets of genocide, Fascist regimes were not its only perpetrators.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction
• Between Fanaticism and Terror
• Elie Wiesel’s Night
• Bergen-Belsen and Four Perfect Pebbles
• The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank by Willy Lindwer
• Hazy Hints of Memory
• Survivors Club
• Primo Levi’s Reflection on Humanity in Crisis
• Sarah’s Key and the Holocaust in France
• The Holocaust in Hungary
• A Holocaust Hero in Hungary
• Imre Kertesz’s Fatelessness
• Anti-Semitism in Hungary Today
• Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism
• The Role of the Masses in The Origins of Totalitarianism
• Beyond the Jewish Genocide
• Hitler’s Ban on Modern Art
• Saving European Art from the Nazis
• The Holocaust in Austria and Woman in Gold
• On the Anschluss
• The Gypsy Holocaust
• Eichmann in Jerusalem
• The Real Banality of Evil
• Eichmann’s Extraordinary Evil
• The Concentration Camp Commandants
• The Auschwitz Kommandant
• The Real Story of the Terezin Jewish Ghetto
• The Wannsee Conference
• America First
• Quiet Neighbors by Allan A. Ryan
• Action T4
• Hitler’s Niece and Historical Fiction
• An Unlikely Hero
• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
• Forgiven but Never Forgotten
• The 1936 Berlin Olympics
• Manufacturing Death
• Prosecuting War Crimes
• Kamikaze Warfare
• Hateful Words
• A Cowardly Success
• Planning a Soviet Holocaust
• Lebensraum
• The Siege of Leningrad and Genocide by Starvation
• The Murderous Einsatzgruppen (Task Forces)
• Poland’s Plight
• Children of the War Years
• Sophie’s Choice
• An Incredible Tale of Survival
• Revealing the Ugly Truth
• A Romanian Hero
• Ion Antonescu
• Anti-Semitism in Romania
• Heroism in Hell
• Privilege and Persecution
• Janusz Korczak
• The Pianist
• Trapped in the Lodz Ghetto
• The Book Thief
• The Forgotten Holocaust
• A Cataclysmic War
• The Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward
• The Killing Fields
• Genocide in Rwanda
• North Korea’s State of Terror
• Yad Vashem
• An Impossible Conflict in Gaza
• Anti-Semitism Today and the Assault on Democratic Values
• Would You Forgive the Nazi Perpetrator?
• Could the Holocaust Happen Again?
• Ethics above Politics
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• About the Author