By Thomas Trezise
Witnessing Witnessing focuses severe realization on those that obtain the testimony of Holocaust survivors. wondering the thought that stressful adventure is intrinsically unspeakable and that the Holocaust hence lies in a quasi-sacred realm past heritage, the booklet asks no matter if a lot present idea doesn't have the influence of silencing the voices of actual ancient sufferers. It thereby demanding situations largely authorised theoretical perspectives concerning the illustration of trauma in most cases and the Holocaust specifically as set forth through Giorgio Agamben, Cathy Caruth, Berel Lang,
and Dori Laub. It additionally reconsiders, within the paintings of Theodor Adorno and Emmanuel Levinas, reflections on ethics and aesthetics after Auschwitz as those pertain to the reception of testimony.
Referring at size to videotaped testimony and to texts through Charlotte Delbo, Primo Levi, and Jorge Semprun, the e-book goals to make those voices heard. In doing so, it clarifies the issues that anybody receiving testimony may well come across and emphasizes the measure to which hearing survivors relies on hearing ourselves and to at least one another.
Witnessing Witnessing seeks to teach how, within the state of affairs of deal with during which Holocaust survivors name upon us, we find our personal tacit assumptions concerning the nature of group and the very demeanour within which we perform it.
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Extra info for Witnessing Witnessing: On the Reception of Holocaust Survivor Testimony
Example text
When the attempt to break out of the camps began, the Jewish inmates found themselves completely alone. No one joined their ranks. ” (BW, 61) In the economy of Laub’s essay, this passage serves a purpose ostensibly very different from the one I shall now assign it. Immediately after quoting the historian, Laub admits that, when interviewing this woman, he himself was unaware of the betrayal of the Jewish inmates by the Polish underground, but he offers this admission only in order to make the point that, had he known of the betrayal, he would probably not have brought it up since, as his query concerning the Canada commando purportedly shows, to do so might well have “derailed the testimony” or even “suppressed [the woman’s] message” (BW, 61).
Of course, it is also one thing to interview a Holocaust survivor and quite another to watch videotaped witnessing or to read written testimony, since the interviewer obviously participates in the telling of a story as it is told. But this does not really detract from the point Laub wishes to make, for in the case of videotaped or printed testimony, reception manifests itself elsewhere, that is, in the spoken or written response offered to other viewers or readers. Provided this response does not consist in merely quoting a given testimony, it will unavoidably entail interpretation, and thus reflect as much on those who receive and rephrase it as on the witness.
She emphasized with pride the way in which, upon returning, she would supply these items to her fellow inmates, thus saving the lives of some of them who literally had no shoes to walk in and no clothes to protect them from the frost. She was perking up again as she described these almost breathtaking exploits of rescue. I asked her if she knew of the name of the commando she was serving on. She did not. Does the term “Canada commando” mean anything to her? I followed up. “No,” she said, taken aback, as though startled by my question.