The End of the Holocaust

Alvin H. Rosenfeld

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9780253011978
• eBook ISBN:
  9780253000927
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

"An illuminating exploration that offers a worried look at Holocaust representation in contemporary culture and politics." — H-Holocaust
In this provocative work, Alvin H. Rosenfeld contends that the proliferation of books, films, television programs, museums, and public commemorations related to the Holocaust has, perversely, brought about a diminution of its meaning and a denigration of its memory. Investigating a wide range of events and cultural phenomena, such as Ronald Reagan's 1985 visit to the German cemetery at Bitburg, the distortions of Anne Frank's story, and the ways in which the Holocaust has been depicted by such artists and filmmakers as Judy Chicago and Steven Spielberg, Rosenfeld charts the cultural forces that have minimized the Holocaust in popular perceptions. He contrasts these with sobering representations by Holocaust witnesses such as Jean Améry, Primo Levi, Elie Wiesel, and Imre Kertész. The book concludes with a powerful warning about the possible consequences of "the end of the Holocaust" in public consciousness.
"Forcefully written, as always, his new volume honors his entire life as teacher and writer attached to the principles of intellectual integrity and moral responsibility. Here, too, he demonstrates erudition and knowledge, a gift for analysis and astonishing insight. Teachers and students alike will find this book to be a great gift." —Elie Wiesel
"This remarkable new work of scholarship—written in accessible language and not in obscure academese—is exactly the Holocaust book the world needs now." — Bill's Faith Matters Blog
"This book has monumental importance in Holocaust studies because it demands answers to the question how our culture is inscribing the Holocaust in its history and memory." — Arcadia

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• One Popular Culture and the Politics of Memory
• Two The Rhetoric of Victimization
• Three The Americanization of the Holocaust
• Four Anne Frank: The Posthumous Years
• Five The Anne Frank We Remember/The Anne Frank We Forget
• Six Jean Améry: The Anguish of the Witness
• Seven Primo Levi: The Survivor as Victim
• Eight Surviving Survival: Elie Wiesel and Imre Kertész
• Nine The End of the Holocaust
• Epilogue: A “Second Holocaust”?
• Notes
• Index