Minutes of the Class Discussions
Representations of the Holocaust 1.23.2001
Minutes by Susannah Altesman
Discussing the title of this course- Representations of the Holocaust- students brainstormed the significance of this course as seeing different perspectives offered through the poetry, literature, art, photography, film, theater, and etc. of both Germany and the rest of the world. Some of the more prominent literary figures in Germany have demonstrated their attitudes towards the Holocaust and the effect it has had on all areas of the culture.
Most notable is Theodor Adorno, an exile and well-known interdisciplinary writer, who in 1949 declared, " to write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric". He, like other German writers felt that by writing or reliving the experience of Auschwitz through art, allows for the misrepresentation of the actual event and people involved. Dolf Sternberger's "From the Dictionary of the Nonhumans" (Aus Dem Wortenbuch des Unmenschen), went as far as to compile words that had been affected by " Nazi discourse". As a result of the existence of a tainted language, a group of writers called Groupe 47, met in secret once a year to discuss their work and the inevitable obstacles the language had placed on them. Even with the limitations placed on a writer in a post-war Germany, there were some literary figures that attempted to write poetry after Auschwitz, most notably Paul Celan's " Death Fugue" (Todes Fuge) and American Poet W.D Snodgrass's monologues "In the Furors Bunker". Ernestine Schlant Bradley later wrote a book titled " The Language of Silence", discussing the role of silence in literature and the positions that post-war literary figures were placed in depicting the Holocaust.
Martin Niemoller, a critic of Nazi policies put into the concentration camps, wrote, " First, they came for the Socialist, and I didn't speak out, because I wasn't a Socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out, because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out, because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me." This poem not only discusses the silence of the German people but also exemplifies the Nazi treatment of all opposing political, ideological, sexual orientation groups, and etc. Even as the poem has been used throughout the years to illustrate the existence of the Holocaust, many have been found to doctor it, making it fit to their own status.
The depiction and representation of the Holocaust has been a challenge in itself, causing many conflicts between those who feel that silence respects the event itself while others feel representation of the Holocaust is necessary. In either situation, looking back on the Holocaust through the writing of the post-war literature inspires the words of R.G Collingwood, " For history, the object to be discovered is not the mere event, but the thought expressed in it."
Representations of the Holocaust 1.25.2001
Minutes by Jo Bartell
In Thursday’s class (January 25) we discussed the issue of letting the holocaust take it’s place in history. Our discussion centered on the six authors who’s works we read, Ernestine Schlant, Peter Demetz, Michael Sturmer, Ernst Nolte, Christian Meier, and Jurgen Habermas. Each author’s work discussed the difficulties surrounding the German legacy in terms of the terror of the holocaust and Germany’s role in that terror. We discussed the fact that Germans, over the years, have been unable to mourn, and unable to confront their responsibility. Therefore, the holocaust has not been thought of as a historical event, but instead, it hangs over our heads today and causes guilt and tension. We discussed that in order to move on, and in order to remember history in a context for what it was, we must draw a line between what is history and what is today.
In the first reading, Ernestine Schlant’s Introduction to her book: The Language of Silence, we discussed the issue of keeping silent. Schlant said that silence could have two different meanings. For the perpetrators, silence means that they know too much and they cannot come to terms with it, so they repress their knowledge through silence. For the victims, silence means that they are refusing to come to terms with the past, so if they are silent about their thoughts and anger they will not have to face their past trauma. We discussed the fact that no one spoke as the holocaust took place, and no one wants to talk about it now because that is too hurtful. Shalant also wrote about German literature and how the German language changed after the holocaust. Parts of the German language are omitted due to the German’s inability to face the legacy of terror they carried with them.
In Peter Demetz’s On Auschwitz and On Writing in German: a Letter to a Student, Demetz discusses the reoccurring controversy concerning whether we should still speak and write in German (the language of killers). Demetz agonized about the German language being corrupted by Nazi words; he discussed the German’s guilt in using the German language after some of its connotations have changed.
In discussing Demetz, we also talked about movies such as "Life is Beautiful" and "Jakob the Liar," and the comic strip "Mouse." We debated over whether it is morally ok to make comedies about the holocaust, because the thought of a comedy could have been very offensive and controversial.
Michael Sturmer, in his History in a Land Without History states that the memories of the Holocaust cannot be omitted or repressed anymore so that history can become history. Sturmer stressed that history needs to be remembered on all sides before and after the holocaust. In class we discussed historization, which is remembering the facts of what really happened in terms of documents and removing the perspective of the historian. We asked whether or not one should historicize about the holocaust. Sturmer believes the holocaust needs to be accepted into German history, because since Germany has a significant economic power and a prominent place in the world, they need to recognize all parts of their past.
We discussed more of the same issues when we looked at Ernst Nolte’s speech. Nolte spoke about the holocaust and the past that will not past. He said that the German’s have, "set themselves against the nonpassing of the past." In class, we discussed the German’s desire to draw a line under the German past. We explored the Germans as possible victims, and we discussed that the mass murder of the Jews and others may have been in Hitler’s mind a defense in response to the Armenian mass murder by the Turks. Nolte, like Collingwood discussed going inside the events of the holocaust and imagining what motivated a person and a population to commit such terrible acts.
In Christian Meier’s Condemning and Comprehending, He discussed the issue of blame. In class, we talked about condemning every German including train conductors or police men who thought it was their duty to continue in their daily lives and follow German orders. We discussed that people in Germany needed a sense of belongingness. We discussed whether or not it is possible to normalize history and to understand the German’s thoughts and responsibility to not betray their country because of the Nazi regime.
Lastly, we discussed Jurgen Habermas’ passionate essay, Apologetic tendencies. We talked about Habermas’ point that we cannot justify Nazi actions, and that fully comprehending what happened in the holocaust means total pardoning and forgiveness, which is wrong and offensive. Habermas is outraged by historization because totally understanding the actions of the past would lead to moral outbreak and justification of the horrible acts which took place during the time of the holocaust.
Representations of the Holocaust 1.30.2001
Minutes by Christina Bonenberger
In today’s class we reviewed the basic events of World War II to give us some idea of the context of the writings we have been reading. In 1923, the Nazi party was outlawed. In 1929, there was a global stock market crash. In 1933, the Nazi party was allowed back into the election and Hitler came to power. The Nazi party won 30-40% of the vote, but went into coalition with another party. When Hitler comes to power, he dismantles the Weimer Republic, which had been in place from about 1920-1933. On September 15, 1935, new laws against Jews were passed. This displays the progressive exclusion of the Jews before the actual Holocaust. We also learned that Ghettos were in Eastern European countries, not actually in Germany. Kristalnacht, or the night of the broken glass, occurred on November 9, 1938. On this night, SS troops destroyed all Jewish synagogues all over Germany. This was the first government involved, violent act against the Jews. Kristalnacht was the German response to the assassination of the German ambassador to France, which was committed by a Jew. Hitler was looking for an excuse to begin acting violently against the Jews. The Nazis burned down the Reichstag and accused the Communists of doing it. In 1939, Hitler invades Poland and the war begins. Hitler breaks his treaty with Moscow, and the allies line up against him (France and Britain). Concentration camps were built in the 30’s, but were not used until the war. People were not put into camps right away, but were forced to live under increasingly reduced conditions. In 1941, Hitler instituted the Final Solution; he decided the best way for his Arian race would be for them to exterminate all of the Jews. Some concentration camps then became extermination camps, while others remained work camps or deportation camps. Extermination camps were mainly in Poland; there were no extermination camps in Germany because Hitler was trying to keep the worst of his plans a secret.
We also discussed the three types of history, which were Monumental History (has to do with the heroic), Antiquarian History, and Critical History. Also, Hitler had a need to create the perfect Arian race. Eugenics is the idea of creating a perfect human being using genetics, which is what John Perkins attempted to do in the 30’s in Vermont. Certain people in Vermont were sterilized in order to improve the racial stock. For today’s class, we were to read "The Stakes of Controversy" in Charles Maier’s The Unmasterable Past. This chapter discusses Reagan’s visit to the cemetery where SS troops were buried, which brings up the question of how we should see these troops. Are they to be honored, or hated? Polarization is the attempt to see this not as right or wrong, but in a historical context. This is as far as we got in discussion of Maier’s book.
Representations of the Holocaust 2.1.2001
Minutes by Jo Christina Bruno
At the beginning of Thursday’s class (2/1), we discussed the actual meaning of the word ‘holocaust’. In a religious sense, it means ‘burnt offering’, while in a more secular sense, it represents any fire that is out of control and horrifically destructive. We also discussed the Hebrew term for the Holocaust, “Shoah”, which means a destructive whirlwind, more often than note inflicted by God upon the Jews of the Hebrew religious text. We discussed the debate surrounding the use of these term to denote the mass murder of the Jews, deciding that in the religious sense at least, they are rather inappropriate, since the Jews were neither a religious offering, nor can it be accepted that the Holocaust was a punishment visited by God upon the Jews.
We then moved to a roundtable discussion of our reading from Ernestine Schlant on the Historikerstreit. We first spoke about President Reagan’s visit to Bitburg with Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1985, and the controversy that this visit sparked. While the West German government had intended the gesture as a sign of reconciliation, many were offended. This conflict posed the fundamental question of the possibility of “normalizing” the Holocaust, of whether or not reconciliation is truly possible. The Bitburg incident was followed by President Weisacker’s more satisfactory speech, which amounted to a confession, but the question remained.
Next, we discussed the varying viewpoints of the literary community. We discussed in particular the perspectives of Gunter Grass (“Freedom as a Gift”) and Heinrich Boll (“Letter to my Sons”) about the end of the war in Germany as either liberation or defeat. While Grass saw the end of the war as a liberation, Boll does not concentrate so much on the Holocaust as the actual war, the hardship of the soldiers. The filmmaker and playwright Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s rather anti-Semitic play Garbage, the City, and Death presented yet another viewpoint. The debate surrounding this play brings into question whether or not anti-Semitism in a German play is acceptable under freedom of speech. In the third section, we discussed the Historikerstreit, the debate between the historians of Germany about whether or not the Holocaust can be historicized. When conservative historians like Nolte and Hillgruber tried to explain the Holocaust, giving possible reasons for Hitler’s behavior, painting all those involved in the war, both Jews and soldiers, as victims, Habermas, a more left-leaning historian, attacked them both in a passionate essay calling for constitutional patriotism rather than any kind of nationalism. Maier added to this debate when he posited that if the Holocaust is unique, then it cannot be “worked-through”.
Next, we discussed the so-called “Jenninger Affair”, which occurred during the 1988 commemoration of the Kristallnacht riots. Then-president Jenninger of the West German Bundestag was forced to resign after making a speech that offended many in its use of Nazi expressions. Although he meant it only to set the mood leading up to Kristallnacht, he broke linguistic taboos that had become deeply ingrained in the German people.
We next discussed the debate surrounding the unification of East and West Germany. Some in Germany at the time argued that two totally different Germanies had resulted from the post-war split; nevertheless they united in 1990. Returning to the previous debate of the end of the war as defeat vs. liberation, the East Germans had held that their side was indeed victim in the war, viewing the Soviets as liberators. The West Germans had come to be recognized as the perpetrators of the war, and had, after the war, made steps toward atonement. Whatever atonement East Germany may have attempted was preempted by unification.
We considered the unification debate between Gunter Grass and Martin Walser, another West German author, who discussed the culpability of the German people. Grass held that if one’s society commits criminal acts, one is a criminal, and was opposed to unification; Walser, a proponent of unification, that it would help Germans in terms of nationalism and the Holocaust to become integrated into Europe.
From the Saul Friedlander article, we considered his division of the German people into three groups: victim, bystander, and perpetrator. This suggests that the Holocaust was not caused solely by the ideology makers, but various other subgroups.
Finally, we viewed a portion of the German documentary film Jeckes, about the European Jews that relocated to Israel after the war. The film, made by young Germans, evinced a desire on the part of the Germans to know their past, despite a sense of awkwardness about being in Israel.
Representations of the Holocaust 2.6.2001
Minutes by Lisa Cohrs
We began class discussing the Immortal Chaplains Prize that is awarded to those who have helped save lives throughout the world. It is being given this year to Pastor Martin Niemoeller for speaking out against Hitler from his pulpit. We discussed Niemoeller on the first day of class with his poem “First they came for the socialists”. His son Doctor Heinz Niemoeller will be accepting the prize. Susanna interviewed him on the phone during class. Also receiving the prize is an American Vietnam veteran helicopter pilot who placed his helicopter between shooting US forces and the villagers during the massacre of My Lai. Can these two wars be compared? Are these heroes alike?
Daniel Goldhagen’s lecture at Skidmore discussed his controversial novel titled “Hitler’s Willing Executioners”. He talks about how most studies of World War II focus mainly on the institutions that existed in Germany, such as the SS. Goldhagen takes a very different look at the war by looking specifically at the human element of the perpetrators. He says that without looking at this view, one can’t possibly explain how and why the Holocaust happened. He found that contrary to popular belief and representation in academic literature, the number of perpetrators is not a small number. Goldhagen suggests that the lowest number of German perpetrators would be around 100,000. Yet, in looking at further data, specifically a catalogue of employees at extermination sites alone was as high as 300,000 people. He goes on to discuss that by today’s standards of criminal acts, all of those who worked at the some 100,000 camps total, would tally up to several ten thousand more perpetrators. The question Goldhagen attempts to solve is why would a large number of Germans kill Jews?
The majority of those who killed during the war were not in the SS, but in local police battalions. Groups called Einsatzgruppen were created throughout the country by random drafts. The men drafted were not screened for physical or mental fitness. They were usually in their mid-30’s, not in the army and most were married and had children. They were ordinary citizens; some did not even belong the Nazi party. They came from all walks of German society, had different levels of education, religious denominations, careers, etc. These Einsatzgruppen went into villages on the order to kill every Jew that lived there. Einsatzgruppen led some of the most horrific massacres. “Ordinary Men” by Christopher Browning also discusses this topic indepthly.
Another novel titled “Adolph Eichmann: the banality of evil” by Hannah Ardent also discusses the ordinary-ness of perpetrators of the Holocaust. She interviewed Eichmann in Jerusalem after he was extradited from Argentina to Israel for a war crimes trial. She wrote about how he zealously carried out his orders from Hitler, but really had no influence on policy. He wasn’t anti-Semitic and was not motivated by power or hatred, but rather shallowness and banality. He was a very ordinary man; a very scary thought when dealing with the main perpetrator of the Final Solution. The demonic image is much easier to understand.
Representations of the Holocaust 2.8.2001
Minutes by Tal Chitayat
I.
1. First subject brought up was that of the debate over Pope Pius XII, and about whether the silence he shared with most of the Catholic Clergy at the time of the Holocaust should be forgiven.
2. Discussion then went on to debate whether John Irving’s denial of the holocaust should be taken as a different representation of the holocaust itself. Concentrated on:
- his actual historical accuracy
- and the intelligence of his research and writings.
Class appeared divided on whether to accept his interpretation as valid or not.
II.
1. Began discussion on Intentionalists and Functionalists
- Intentionalists: supported by Lucy Dawidowitz. Idea that Hitler in before and during rise to power had plans (intended) to exterminate Jews.
- Functionalists: supported by Hans Mammsen and Martin Brozadt. Idea Hitler planned to rid Germany of Jews. For ex: no civil liberties, expulsion. As German land expanded, final solution became apparent , stumbled on Holocaust.
Question raised: Was Hitler possibly an Intentionalist, but suppressed his views for the ‘correct’ time?
2. Discussion on Niemoller – Protestant Priest. Was Nationalist, conservative; first followed Nazis. He switched loyalty and was jailed in c. 1938. It became apparent after an interview with his son that the original poem studied did not actually include Jews.
- Received Declaration of Guilt. Problems:
- Never specific, no mention of Jews
- Talks of own suffering
- Was responsibility in helping victims required?
3. Began discussion of why so many Germans involved themselves. Main arguments provided by Browning and Goldhagen.
- Browning is described as a functionalist. He believed that most Germans were merely carrying out orders. He states that most of the police and paramilitary groups were not nazis but were ordinary men.
- Goldhagen positions himself in essentially blaming the German people for what he sees as ‘eliminationalist Anti-Semitic German mentality’. He believes that Germans were provided with an opportunity to kill Jews in World War II, living out the essence of anti-semitism.
Representations of the Holocaust 2.13.2001
Minutes by Julie Feldman
Tuesday’s class began with a brief discussion concerning Peter Schneider. He wrote "Wall Jumper" and "Couples," and is one of the only German authors who imagines Jewish characters in his fiction. Our discussion than shifted to a review of the previous class’s minutes. Intentionalists are those people who believe that Hitler had clear intentions of exterminating the Jews. Functionalists are those who believe that extermination and killing was not his intention, but rather his plan was simply to rid Germany of all the Jews. He wanted them expelled from the country. He wanted them brought to Ukraine and Madagascar, an island off the coast of Eastern Africa in the Indian Ocean. We discussed the fact that Eugenics has been around for a long time. We talked about nobility and how noble families stood above nations, cultures, and nationality. There was deliberate intermarriage that took place.
We briefly touched upon the origins of Anti-Semitism and learned that it stems back to Christianity. Jews would not convert so they were viewed as outsiders.
The round table discussions will be held on Thursday 2/15/01. Each group will present factual information. They are to present the author’s argument based on the information provided. Groups are then to present their own critical response to the text and support that position substantially. The groups are as follows:
GROUP 2: Christina, Marcy, Matt, Ilana
GROUP 3: Tal, Rob, James, Jo
GROUP 4: Christina, Julie, Brie, Meg
GROUP 5: Lisa, Sue, Christine, Pat
GROUP 6: Kara, Susannah, Nikki, Robert
GROUP 7: Alex, Dave, Debbie, Lauren
The second half of the class was devoted to learning how crucial video testimonies are to the study of the Holocaust. We were given a list of possible subjects for our group reports. The expectations of this assignment is to present the information in a vivid and rich way. Each group will provide an extension of the material.
Class was concluded by watching a documentary, which was an example of video-testimony.
Representations of the Holocaust 2.20.2001
Minutes by Debbie Fisher
We began class by discussing several upcoming LS2 class events, including a lecture by Debra Lipstag next Monday, and a visit next week by Natasha Goldman, an art historian. We were then given an article entitled “Saving Konrad Latte” by Peter Schneider, a novelist who wrote about U-boats and the Jews who hid underground in Berlin. His article is an example of historization, as it follows the personal stories of a few people.
Our main topic of the remainder of the class centered upon the difficulty of Germany memorializing the Holocaust. We discussed how monuments built in Germany could be considered controversial because it portrays the persecutors memorializing the victims. We compared this to the Vietnam Memorial, which contains no names of the Vietnamese killed during the war. As a lead in to our discussion of various memorials, we discussed as a class what we felt a memorial represents. We said that artwork holds a crucial place in the life of society. It has a responsibility to those being memorialized, as well as a responsibility to evoke human reaction. Memorials are different from other types of remembrance because they symbolize something in the present. Memorials are special because they represent something more than just the past; they also bring the past into the present, something that simply writing about a topic could not accomplish. We also discussed that it is important to realize to what end we have remembered a certain event. Memory has its consequences, and it is important to realize how one is remembering the past, as it can be open to different interpretations. Additionally, the past cannot be changed, so one must view a monument not as something that tries to glorify the past, but to symbolize it in a special way. We discussed the importance of national holidays in various countries and what those days have come to mean to those individual countries, aside from the actual events that have occurred on those days.
We then began our discussing of various monuments. The first monument described is known as the “disappearing monument,” built by a man named Gertz. People were encouraged to write their own thoughts and words on the monument, and as space was filled on the monument’s surface, it was lowered into the ground until it completely disappeared underneath the earth. A burial stone covers the hole where the monument stood and bares the inscription, “Hamburg’s Monument Against Fascism.” We discussed in class what we felt the disappearing nature of the monument might stand for; we decided it might express closure, a relationship between the past and present, or a symbolic “memory of a memorial” concept.
The second monument we discussed was built by a man named Hrdlicka in retaliation to a monument erected by the Nazis in 1936. It was built in remembrance of German soldiers who had died in World War I. An inscription on the monument by Heinrich Lersch reads, “Germany must live, even if we have to die.” This monument proved very controversial and was attacked by protestors. After months of protest, a counter monument was erected right next to the Nazi monument, depicting a bronzed bombed out city and skeletal figure leaning against the wall. We discussed the controversial nature of the two monuments being so close together, and the importance of self-expression rather than community approval of art.
We then moved on to discuss how people debating a memorial is a memorial in itself. We were told that the “topography of terror” was a location where the notorious Gestapo had their “house prison;” it has now become a historical site. We were shown more traditional monuments in Europe memorializing those who had died at the Mauthausen Camp.
We then watched a film entitled “Degenerate Art.” It showed us an event in which the Nazis put on display many pieces of art that they considered inappropriate to subdue modernist ideas and works. Most artists and writers fled, while some stayed on to see their careers ruined. It was documented in the film that Hitler himself was an artist and favored paintings that depicted only photograph-like images.
Representations of the Holocaust 2.22.2001
Minutes by Alex Fribourg
Memorials in Israel
- Monuments are found in both public places and small community areas (kibbutz)
- Israel wouldn’t be Israel without having had the holocaust because Israel acted as a safe haven for Jews who were uprooted from their European homes.
- Most citizens in Israel have had some or all family members killed in the Holocaust
- The Israelis prefer to believe that the Jews were not victims as much as they were heroes and this was reflected in their monuments
- After the war the Holocaust was a subject rarely discussed and ignored as much as possible, until the trial of Adolf Eichman in 1961. The citizens of Israel had tried to forget, but the trial had brought the whole thing back to light, and they had to struggle for a National Identity.
- MARTYR’S FOREST
- Aforestation project going on villages
- The trees symbolize the way the Jews were uprooted from their homes in Europe and dispersed 2000 years earlier, now they have their own land and are free to grow and flourish.
- ½ million trees have been planted, and the project is supposed to plant six million total for each of the Jews who died in the holocaust. The forest has been burned twice since the beginning of the project. Once by natural causes and the other by arson.
- The main point of the monuments that were erected was to try to get rid of the victim image, and replace it with a brave, courageous image of people who can and will better their situation, yet still not forget.
- YAD VASHEM
- Holocaust memorial – "righteous among the nations" inscribed at the entryway. Trees planted with a plaque in front of each one bearing the names of non Jews who assisted the Jews during the war
- Children’s Memorial – 1.6 million candles burning representing all the Jewish children who were killed during the war. A TV is hung by the ceiling and it shows the names, faces and places of birth of every child who was killed.
- Hall of Names – pretty much self-explanatory. The names of those killed in the war inscribed on a huge wall
- Hall of Remembrance - An ever burning flame situated in the center of an otherwise dark room
- Valley of Communities – stone wall with the names of the murdered on it. Also includes a huge map of Europe that one can walk over. The map shows the location of camps the German’s used during the Holocaust
- YOM HASHOAH
- The day to remember. In the morning a siren is sounded and everyone stops what they’re doing, gets out of their car etc. and takes two minutes of silence to remember the events of the Holocaust. Yom Hashoah is held on the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, when the Jews first showed heroism.
Representations of the Holocaust 3.01.2001
Minutes by David Gonsier
We spent the majority of our time going over some of the artwork we had seen in the previous class. The first was Beuys' "Fat Chair." We discussed how the materials that Beuys used were very symbolic in their meaning. The use of fat and felt were very important in that both of them are symbols of healing, which is somewhat odd imagery to use in Holocaust art. Nonetheless, they are powerful symbols. Also, this use of fat as a symbol of healing is important since it puts fat in a slightly different light than most people think of it in. The general misconception is that the fat of Jews was used by the Nazis to make things like soap and candles. This piece of art goes in direct opposition to this notion and turns it around, making the fat a positive thing.
Next we spoke about the work of Anselm Kiefer. Kiefer's imagery was also very powerful, but in a more critical light. His photographs of the lone figure saluting are meant as satirical works. The first is the figure in the square in front of the massive saluting statue. The small, insignificant figure that Kiefer depicts is even further diminished by the statue behind him and the giant, empty square he is standing in. The other image, that of the man saluting off the cliff is a play on Friedlich's romantic painting of the Wanderer in the Mist. Kiefer's photograph turns the image from being romantic to being almost pathetic with his "wanderer" saluting the expansive, empty sea.
We then spoke briefly on the subject of Deborah Lipstadt and her libel trial against David Irving. Irving was a Holocaust denier who sued Lipstadt and her publishing company for libel in her book Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory.
To end class, we watched a part of the video Port of Last Resort, a documentary on the Jewish community in Shanghai. This community formed because of the large influx of European Jews since Shanghai was the only place Jews could escape to without papers.
Representations of the Holocaust 3.8.2001
Minutes by Elana Haimes
William and Christina Schurtman arrived at Tisch 201 at approximately 11am. The class began with an informal discussion of the New York Times article (Sunday March 4, 2001), "Israel's Ties with Germany Elude US Jews", written by Roger Cohen. The article discusses the differences between the Israeli and American view of Germans. When asked by Professor Mayer her thoughts on the article, Mrs. Schurtman responded by explaining about where she and her husband live: a prominently Jewish town in Long Island, New York. She explained how neighbors and acquaintances could not understand how she or her husband (both of Austrian or German decent) could travel to Germany after what happened in the Holocaust. In reference to the Israeli-German relationship, Christina turned to Bill.
Bill explained that Israelis are very cordial towards Germans because, as Bill said, Germany has a unique responsibility to Israel. Without the reparations after the Holocaust from Germany, Israel might have never become a state.
Bill continued by telling the class an anecdotal story from Germany. He was working as an American liaison for the German magazine, "Stern Magazine". One of the reporters claimed he had Hitler's actual journal. Stern Magazine published the diaries, and Schurtman became responsible for marketing the publication in America. In the journal is written the story of Hitler hiding in a bunker with his mistress Eva Brown and contemplating suicide. Supposedly, Hitler sent these diaries to the West so they would be saved from the destructive Russians. The diaries were published all around the world in many different languages. The diaries were assumed to be authentic, the paper and ink were even checked in a lab for authenticity.
As it turns out, these diaries were a hoax, in addition to the actual reports of authenticity. Bill viewed this as an imaginative act, similar to W.D. Snodgrass's (American Pulitzer prize poet) "In the Furer's Bunker."
We then split into groups to listen to each speaker individually. William was born in Vienna. His father was a World War I veteran, and became a successful businessman. In March of 1938, the Nazis invaded Vienna, capturing all Jewish men, and forcing them to be publicly humiliated. William remembers seeing the Nazis forcing Jewish men to rub out Nazi political propaganda with a toothbrush on the sidewalks in bleach. His father was eventually arrested, after the Nazis took over Vienna, because he was a leader of an anti-Nazi party. He was sent to a camp, but released that August. When William's father returned, he explained to William and his mother that they had to pack their bags because they were going to China. They boarded a train to Italy, were smuggled across the border, then took a boat to Shanghai, China. Shanghai was selected because it was the only place where refugees could go, where a visa was not necessary for entry to the city. American relatives refused to support Germans coming to the States, so many Jews began to flee to Shanghai. William explained that he believed that American Jews have a guilty conscience about not helping so many Jewish refugees. He described the regret as, "feeling of guilt that makes it so hard to reconcile with Germans."
After a few months on the boat, William and his family arrived in the fully westernized Shanghai in 1938. In 1937, there was a war between the Japanese and Chinese when there became Japanese occupation of Shanghai. But, the international section of the city was left, unoccupied. William's family did very well at first, although many people could not make any money and were forced to live in camps. In 1941, at the occurrence of Pearl Harbor, All Americans, British and French were interned into camps. But, they didn't know what to do with all the Jews. Adolf Eichman sent an assistant to China to deliver the blueprints for camps and gas chambers, to solve the problem of what to do with the Jews. The Japanese, though, were appalled at this idea of cold-blooded genocide. But, the Japanese did believe all the Nazi propaganda: the Jews ruled the United States. The final decision was to put all 20,000 Jewish refugees into a ghetto. Families spent 3 to 4 years in this ghetto in Shanghai, then the United States bombed the Japanese, avoiding the ghettos. The Japanese put all of their military artillery into the ghettos since they knew the United States would not bomb the ghetto. But the US realized this and was forced to bomb the ghetto in 1945.
William thoroughly described life within the ghetto with 20,000 highly educated Jews with nothing to do. They started building up a rich internal culture filled with theaters, operas, and sports. Bill recalled, "it was really an incredible place to live." William was six and a half when he left for Shanghai. He knew what was going on but not really in the context of World War II. He just understood that he had to move. In Shanghai, he went to a British school and learned English. In 1947 when he graduated from high school, he applied for an American visa; it became obvious that the Communists were going to invade China. William's father had a brother living in Bolivia who welcomed the Schurtman family. They spent 3 years in Bolivia, then went to New York. At that time, Jewish refugees were also fleeing to South America, in addition to Palestine (but at some points, the British would not allow Jews to enter Palestine). William explained that the Jews assimilated easily because these cities in South America became their permanent home, whereas the refugees in Shanghai thought of their new home as a temporary haven. If the Jews had stayed in Shanghai, or planned to, they would have learned much more and become more involved in the native culture. William was 19 years old when the came to the United States.
In America, William sold machinery. In 1950, Willam started to go to college at night at City College in New York. He worked for a publishing company, where he received a scholarship to law school and later became an international lawyer. When asked how he felt about his Austrian pride, William explained that he felt betrayed by Austria so it was hard to have pride for his country. He never felt uncomfortable in Germany, only Austria. The Austrians were historically very anti-semitic, whereas the Germans were not until Hitler's rise. William said that he constantly wonders why his father even stayed in Vienna. His father never once spoke of his experience in the camp. Apparently he made arrangements to go to Shanghai while in the camp. On the boat to Shanghai, the Schurtmans rode second class (business class), which was a wonderful experience. William described traveling to many different places all over the world on his trip to China. On the boat were Austrians, Germans, and Czechoslovakians. The Polish Yeshiva school packed all their study materials and continued school, not missing one lesson, on the boat.
There had been two other waves (1950) of refugees to China. The Iraqi Jews fled to China and became very successful as opium traders. One of whom, Sir Victor Sassoon, a sephardic Jew, is a well known refugee to China. The second wave occurred after World War II, when White Russians took the trans-Siberian railroad to Manchuria and then down to Shanghai. When the Nazi refugees arrived in Shanghai, the Jews living there were very helpful.
The man in charge of the ghetto was named Goya, who was responsible for issuing 2,000 passes to leave the ghetto. William's parents were able to bring back to the ghetto enough money to sustain the whole community. Goya was very Napoleonic in his ideas, calling himself "the king of Jews", with an entourage to follow him. He was very cruel to those who applied to leave the ghetto, but never caused any real injuries. William recalled his encounter with Goya as pleasant; he loved children. The Japanese military would send any Jews found outside of the ghetto without permission to jails.
William went back to Shanghai in 1981, and last year. He went to the ghetto where one synagogue remains and a stone memorial. The only contact the Jews had with the Chinese during the years in the ghetto was with the low class Chinese. There was very little intermingling between the Jews in the ghetto and other cultures. In China, the whites were considered almost "gods". When the Jews came the Chinese realized that these were whites that were worse off than they were. Many Chinese laborers, or Coolies, were injured or killed in the 1945 ghetto bombing, and the Jews organized ambulances and doctors to help them. These low class Chinese became very friendly with the Jews. Once William arrived in the States he learned that all of his family that remained in Europe was killed in Germany.
William's mother had been a society lady in Vienna, but was forced to learn a trade; she took classes on how to make leather gloves. In Shanghai, she made a living making gloves, going house-to-house making custom gloves. This turned out to be a very profitable and lucrative career during the years in Shanghai. William described life, pre-Pearl Harbor, as pleasant. But, post-Pearl Harbor, they lived in a small room in an old Chinese school. William remembers that there was very bad lighting in the small room, so his mother used to sit on a chair on top of a table just to be near the light bulb, to have light to sew her gloves.
After the establishment of Israel, the Germans started paying billions of reparations, which really helped to start the state of Israel. As the NY Times article asked, "Where do you draw the line?". The Germans did not allow people to deny the holocaust.
Mr. Schurtman recalled being very afraid of the air raids in Shanghai. He recounted a story about the Italian ships (formerly used to transport the refugees to China) at the time when the Pacific war began. The Japanese took these ships for troop transport. The Italians sunk the ship, though. William remembers walking down the main avenue in Shanghai, the Bund, and seeing the sunken ship. The Japanese decided to raise the sunken ship. Across from the ship was the British custom house which they used as a fulcrum to raise the ship. William remembered how everyday at noon he would see the US planes flying over the Bund to take pictures of the boat being raised. After 3-4 months of work, the ship was raised and there was a huge celebration in Shanghai. Then the United States bombed and sank the ship again!
William met his wife at Mad River Glen, a ski resort in Vermont. Her father had come to the States before the war. Christina is half Jewish, so she stayed in Munich during the war. Her family was not sent to extermination camps. She did experience much discrimination, though. She was not allowed to finish high school. One thing that William and Christina shared in common was that they were both bombed: Shanghai and Munich.
William concluded the class by telling a story of when the ghetto was air raided. He actually saw the plains flying overhead. After he heard the shots, he was trapped under a beam, which actually protected him. His mother was injured, but as it turned out, the actual soldier who was responsible for the attack on their house met the Schurtmans and actually visited Williams mother in the hospital. The thoroughly apologized for the attack, and regretted he was just following ordered. William just said, "Everyone was just following orders".
Representations of the Holocaust 3.20.2001
Minutes by Sue Kappler
On Tuesday, March 20, 2001, we began class with a discussion of a recent article from the New York Times. This article, entitled "Turning Memory into Travesty," was written by Michael Kimmelman and discusses the plans for a World War II soldiers' memorial on The Mall in Washington DC. The reason that this article is controversial is that it is reminiscent of the designs of Albert Speer. Speer was a German architect who, during World War II, designed memorials to commemorate Hitler's Victories. Even though these victories were never achieved, Speer's work is a haunting reminder of the Holocaust. Although not designed by Speer, the monument in DC shares the monumentality and expansiveness of his work, as well as a similar design. In the article, Young says about the debate, "memorials are intended, even if not explicitly, to stimulate some debate. Otherwise they aren't doing their job, which is to keep the subjects memorialized on the public's front burner". We finished our discussion of this article by contemplating the German reaction to such a memorial in their country. Clearly this memorial would outrage the Germans; a memorial similar to the work of one of Hitler's Nazis would anger Germans rather than memorialize the past.
Class then continued with a discussion of the previous class and the interviews of William and Christina Schurtman. We remembered the stories they each told of their lives during World War II. We also discussed the book that Christina had brought with her entitled, "Vergozen, Unbekawnt Wohim" or "Moved, Destination Unknown". This book was a detailed account of all the Jews in the city of Munich. The intention of this book is to undo the namelessness of the masses of people who were destroyed during the Holocaust.
Because William had fled to Shanghai, during the war, next we watched a section of the documentary, "Port of Last Resort". In the film, life in Shanghai is portrayed as exciting and interesting. The people in Shanghai had dropped everything and left their lives behind. Yet, Shanghai seemed like a good place to live to the refugees there. This is interesting because it's hard to imagine leaving behind everything and being happy with a new life in a strange land. This documentary told about the life in Shanghai through the reading of letters, narration, and interviews. However, while the voice was telling about the life, pictures or films of it were being shown. We discussed that this presents a much more dramatic film than that of "Interview of Thomas Stein- Survivors of the Shoah" which we watched a small piece of next. This is part of Steven Spielburg's Project to record the stories of survivors of the Holocaust. This film showed a shot of Thomas's head throughout the entire interview. It was also interesting to hear the questions being asked and to be able to see the body language and facial expressions that were left out of "Port of Last Resort" because the people speaking weren't always shown.
Representations of the Holocaust 3.22.2001
Minutes by Kristen Lommele
In class on Thursday, we discussed the life of a woman named Ilse Weber. Weber was placed in a camp during the Holocaust, where she wrote many letters to her son Hans, along with a good amount of poetry and books for children. Weber died in Auschwitz, along with her son Tommy. In class, we watched a film about a woman who had taken the poetry of Weber, along with her letters, and had written music to go along with it. The film showed a performance of hers which Hans Weber, his wife, and son Tommy all attended.
Later in class, we watched a second movie titled Night and Fog. This movie discussed the concentration camps. Architects designed these camps, and when they were ready people were brought in trains packed full with one hundred people per train car. When these trains arrived in the night, decisions were made as to who would live and who would die. Those that lived were stripped, shaved, put in uniforms, tattooed, and given triangles to mark why they were there. These people were stripped of their decency. The video talked about the situations all of the prisoners lived in. People were often beaten, simply because the officers were bored. It was very difficult to obtain food, and those that did obtain food often ended up worse off, because the soup they were fed was a diuretic.
One idea that the narrator discusses is that even though the prisoners no longer had the bodies they were used to, they still had their minds. These people wrote, dreamed, and spoke of God. They looked for those that were worse off then themselves, and felt better.
The narrator also speaks of the hospitals. Often, people thought that it would be great to go to the hospital, where they had hope of sleeping in a real bed. These hospitals did experimental operations, discovered the effects of chemicals, did amputations and castrations, but never offered real treatment.
When deportation began to spread all over Europe, the Nazis had more people than they could kill by hand. At this point, they ordered gas and began to kill mass quantities of people at once. The people thought they were going to be able to shower, something they looked forward to, but the shower rooms were really gas chambers, and they were all killed. The bodies were then burned in ovens. The Nazis had to build more ovens to keep up the immense amount of people being killed. At one point, they were burning thousands of bodies a day.
The Nazis didn’t waste anything, and in fact used body parts to make money. Hair was used to make cloth, body fat was used to make soap, skin was used for canvas, and they even attempted to make fertilizer our of bones.
After nine million people had been killed, people began to wonder who was at fault. The kapos denied responsibility, officers denied responsibility, and Germans denied responsibility. Some of these people are still alive today, and have put this past behind them. The narrator emphasized the fact that the sun shines on these camps today, meaning the terror that once plagued these camps has passed for those who never witnessed it. Those who never saw the camps in action cannot possibly envision the horror of those imprisoned there.
Representations of the Holocaust 3.29.2001
Minutes by Rob Marcus
We began the class by discussing the lecture that had occurred the previous evening. The speaker was Tom Segev, an Israeli historian and journalist. Segev's lecture was entitled Twice Promised Land: Jews and Arabs under the British Mandate in Palestine. Many themes were discussed, one of the first being the Holocaust and Jewish Identity. He stressed that the only thing that could unite the world's Jews was the Holocaust. Even non-European Jews want to take part in its memorialization. The problem that with so many forms of Judaism, it becomes difficult to unite at times. He specifically mentions that a trip to Poland is one arena where two different kinds of Jews could find common ground in dealing with the Holocaust.
Another major point that Segev stressed was that the creation of Israel is not directly related to the Holocaust. Thirty years before the Holocaust, the first Israelis where busy building the new nation's infrastructure. He notes that it was this hard work and determination, which created the State of Israel. Next Segev discussed why the British maintained a presence in Israel in the first place. He lists three major reasons: to protect the Suez Canal, Economic and Political factors, and that Sir Lloyd George had a personal admiration of the Jews and the Holy Land.
After discussing the lecture we talked about the format of the final project, which consists of a presentation and visual aids. Also the group movie projects where assigned as follows:
Tuesday
Group 1: Ernst Lubitsch: To Be or Not to Be
Group 2: Steven Spielberg: Schindler's List
Group 3: Roberto Benigni: LaVita Bella
Thursday
Group 6: Frank Beyer / Peter Kassovitz: Jacob the Liar
Group 7: Michael Verhoven: The White Rose
Group 8: Charlie Chaplin: The Great Dictator
Finally, we read a short play written by Bertold Brecht. Brecht was a German poet and playwright. He lived in many countries and was known to change countries more than he did shoes. The play that we read is entitled, The Informer (1944). The story has three main characters: husband, wife, boy, and maid. The play depicts the fear that existed amongst the German people during the Third Reich.
Representations of the Holocaust 4.3.2001
Minutes by Kara Mason
The class began with the viewing of the video "Documentary of Schindler", setting the stage for the presentation of Schindler's List. The documentary is an account of Schindler's life primarily narrated by individuals who knew him personally. He was described by many as narcissistic, a womanizer who enjoyed being the center of attention. He was a born salesman, confident and eager to take risks. However, many of these same individuals went on to say "…he was first our savior". The lives that he saved during the war overwhelm the discrepancies of his personality, and he is held in the eyes of many as a hero, redeemer and saint.
Schindler became a Nazi spy and secret agent at the beginning of Hitler's rise to power. However, he was soon appalled by the inhumanity of the Nazi regime that he was forced to take action against it. As a factory owner, he began to employ Jews for cheap labor. When he realized that by employing them he was rescuing them from deportation to concentration and death camps, he began to purchase the Jews solely for the purpose of saving their lives. He generated a list of 800 men and women that he could afford to save through employment. He was so dedicated to saving their lives that he would not allow them to work in the factory making shells because he did not want to produce anything that could kill or harm people. Thus Schindler was losing money by operating a non-productive business and using what money he did have to purchase more Jews to save more lives. However, despite these obvious acts of selflessness, there is still controversy over Schindler's participation in the Holocaust. Some still believe that he is still just a German Nazi, who was pursuing wealth and the promotion of his own name.
The group that presented their interpretation of the film Schindler's List identified three themes in the movie: Art, Schindler's realization of human life, and Nazi disregard for human life. The first scene that they shared demonstrated the artistic aspect of the movie. The scene took place during the liquidation of the ghetto, which Schindler and his mistress watch from above, at a safe distance upon their horses while taking a ride. While Schindler is watching the Jews being thrown from their homes and beaten and shot and killed, he notices one young girl walking alone. This image is extremely powerful for the viewer because although the film is in black and white, the young girl is seen wearing a bright red winter coat. She is walking alone, lost among the chaos of terror and destruction and Schindler sees her, and is struck. Here his compassion for human life is beginning to take seed.
It is in the second scene that Schindler is shown to experience a pivotal moment in his regard to human life. He is at a death camp, surveying the incineration of hundreds of Jews who were killed there. Suddenly, he sees the body of the young girl, still wearing the red overcoat being hauled toward the fire pit to be deposited there to burn.
The third scene the group shared with us was illustrative of nazi disregard for human life. The scene takes place in the Jewish ghetto, during the night after the liquidation when some people are still hiding in their homes. The Nazi soldiers raid a house after hearing a noise upstairs, shooting everywhere and everything, killing anyone they find. In the midst of this killing spree, an officer sits down at the piano and begins to play, seemingly unaware of the horrible scene surrounding him, and desensitized to his own disregard for human life.
Representations of the Holocaust 4.17.2001
Minutes by Nicolette Stewart
Class began with a reading of the minutes from April 12, 2001.
An article regarding the lawsuit against IBM for their alleged aid to Hitler during the Holocaust was then read. The article revealed that the case was to be dropped because an organization that provides relief to victims of the Third Reich threatened to withhold relief payments. The organization was created so as to prevent businesses from being blamed for Nazi involvement. A discussion ensued over whether it is appropriate or relevant to sue a business for Holocaust involvement seventy years after the fact. Some felt that it was inappropriate since IBM is now run by different people. Others felt that recognition of Nazi involvement was necessary at least as a symbolic gesture so as to make people aware of what IBM has been involved with. It was mentioned that the trial brings new information to light and the people should be made aware.
A new film, “In the Arms of Strangers” was mentioned. The film documents the Hindler transport in 1938 and 1939 of ten thousand children to the safety of England.
The class then discussed the differences between collective and historical memory is regards to Peter Novick’s book, “The Holocaust in America”. It was determined that collective memory is how a certain nation or group of people remember/ deal with events from the past. In collective memory culture influences the interpretation of history and the perspective of the present is the determining factor. This type of memory often comes in waves of recognition and often simplifies what really occurred. It was also mentioned that Maurice Halbwachs was a French sociologist who studied collective memory. Historical memory is more detached and objective because it adheres to the facts. This type of memory is more complex, contains multiple perspectives, and has a tolerance for ambiguities. A certain element of “historicity” is also involved.
The presentation of the two “Jacob the Liar” films was then continued from the last class. A scene was shown where Jacob (Robin Williams) sees a man who has just committed suicide – the day after he admitted that he did not really have a radio. This is one of the moments in the movie that compels Jacob to continue to create news to tell his neighbors. A connection was made to the Peter Heller monologue “Kannitz” as its main character often inspired hope in others by reminding them how much worse things could be etc. One major difference between the 1999 and 1974 version of the film is that the 1999 version is rather dramatized and much more violent. For example, in the 1999 version the Nazi’s find out about the phantom radio and when Jacob confesses the true story to them, he is severely beaten. In the 1974 version, the Nazi’s never hear rumors about a radio. A scene was shown of a barber friend of Jacob’s committing suicide after learning that there is really no radio. The final scene of the movie was then shown, a very “Hollywood” version of what one would find in the book or the 1974 version of the film. The Nazi’s try to force Jacob to publicly admit that he never had a radio. Jacob starts laughing at them, refusing to let the people lose hope, and is shot in front of everyone. Shortly thereafter all the people in the ghetto are put on a train to be deported. Jacob’s narrative in the background suggests that maybe they never reached a concentration camp and were instead rescued by incoming Russian troops. This adds two possible twists to the end of the movie: either that Jacob’s stories were correct all along, or that Jacob is telling one last lie, this time to produce hope in us, his audience. The 1974 version of the movie has very little violence in it, which does let you focus more on the characters and their relationships. The first film was made in East Germany before re-unification and it is interesting that this version of the film does not involve the Russians as much as the 1999 version.
The movie and book “The White Rose” was then presented. The film, made in 1983 was not allowed to be shown in Germany. The “White Rose” is the name of a resistance group that consisted of five students and their Professor. They make anti-Nazi pamphlets or “Flugblätter” and secretly distribute them. The students try to remain auspicious by joining the student army group etc. They stand out from everyone else because they are artists and they attend the lectures of the subtly anti-Nazi Professor. After a year they were caught and charged with high treason. They were all found guilty and killed in 1943, but serve as a good example of resistance. Several scenes were shown depicting the student’s relative carelessness; they often mock Nazi officials and take thoughtless risks. In one of these scenes they seem to parody Neimoeler’s poem, “First they came for the Socialists…”, by yelling “On Monday they will come for the bicyclists, etc”.
Representations of the Holocaust 4.19.2001
Minutes by Matthew Sweet
The class began with the reading and discussion of an article by Roger Cohen, a correspondent to the N.Y. Times. The article discussed the Austrian governments restitution payments for Jewish families. After the 2000 election, which brought the coalition of the Freedom Party and the Socialists to power, the European Union censured Austria. The censure arouse from the inclusion of Jorg Haider, a known anti-Semite and opponent of immigration, in the government. Subsequently, Haider removed himself from the government and the censure was lifted. The Haiderless government, in an attempt to heal old wounds, set up this fund for restitution payments to Jewish families. Supporters of these payments include Ariel Muzicant, who is current feuding with Peter Sichrovsky, who sees the restitution payments as “overcompensation” and dislikes the idea of associating money with the Holocaust. Members of the class commented on how much of the article seemed petty, much like several aspects of the historians’ debate.
After the discussion, The White Rose was concluded with the showing of the final scene, which involved the interrogation of the students, their evasion of the Nazi questions and their subsequent execution on February 23rd. Following the completion of The White Rose, another documentary about resisters within Germany was presented. It talked of the beginnings of the resistance and how the resisters tried to warn other nations about Hitler and his plans, but no other nation would trust information coming from a German. Thus, to stop the “madness”, the resisters turned to assassination attempts on Hitler. These attempts were usually very elaborate plans that never worked, such as the planting of a bomb on a plane that never exploded. Clips were then shown of people who participated in the resistance (Von dem Busche, Adam von Trott etc.).
The class then shifted to a discussion of Peter Novick’s book The Holocaust In American Life. We discussed the first section of the book, entitled “We knew in a general way”, which talks of the fact that Americans knew, to some degree, that the Holocaust was happening, but with other traumas in the war effecting them more directly, it was passed over in importance. This led to the discussion of Zionism and Ben Guinan and his idea of the “beneficial disaster”, the notion that “the harder the affliction… the greater the strength of Zionism”. The Holocaust was so terrible that it led to a great result, the formation of the state of Israel. Many in the class held skeptical views towards this idea, finding it hard to say that anything “good” came out of the Holocaust. Next, the discussion moved to the subject of displaced persons (DPs). Over 10 million Jews were displaced during the war and many ended up in displaced person camps. In chapter 3, entitled “ The abandonment of Jews”, of Novick’s book, two issues are discussed that the Jews use to attack the United State’s actions during the war. These issues were the quota system, by which the U.S. prevented many Jews from immigrating and escaping the terror, and the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C., which held material that showed the extent to which the U.S. authorities knew what as going on and consequently did nothing. The bureaucracy and anti-Semitism prevented the U.S. from intervening against the Nazi atrocities. The United States focused primarily on the war effort and the safety of their own troops, not the fate of the Jews within Europe. This gives an explanation as to the existence of the camp at Oswego described in Ruth Gruber’s “Safe Haven” and the Immigration Laws of the time.
At the conclusion of the discussion, the class broke up into the study groups and discussed their presentations for the following week.
Representations of the Holocaust ..2001
Minutes by Meg Schade
We had a speaker come and talk about Paul Celan. He has published 17 books, and is a theorist of transition of French/English, German/English, and English/French. He said that Celan had poet of the 20th century. The core experience, that some think made his turn to writing about the Holocaust, was when he lost his parents.
(Paul Antschel) was born in a land, which changed names many times in his lifetime. Czernowitz (Cernauti) was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I. In A subsequent decade in was part of Romania, Soviet Union, and now Ukraine, I believe.
Culturally, Paul Celan reflected this shifting sense of belonging: born in a German-Jewish family, his mame-loshen -- mother-tongue was German. Yet he lived among Romanians and his first well-know poem appeared first in Romanian. Yiddish was the language at home, and in later years he lived in Paris. I think he always struggled, as a Jew, with writing in German, the language, which had been so, corrupted by the Nazification of the German culture during World War II. He struggled valiantly to keep the beauty and strength of the language of Goethe and Hoelderlin.
This poem is one we heard both in English and in German:
Tosdufugue
Black milk of daybreak we drink it at evening
We drink it at midday and morning we drink it at night
we drink and we drink
we shovel a grave in the air there you won't lie too cramped
A man lives in the house he plays with his vipers he writes
he writes when it grows dark to Deutschland your golden hair
Margareta
he writes it and steps out of doors and the stars are all sparkling
he whistles his hounds to come close
he whistles his Jews into rows has them shovel a grave in the ground
he commands us to play up for the dance.
Black milk of daybreak we drink you at night
we drink you at morning and midday we drink you at evening
we drink and we drink
A man lives in the house he plays with his vipers he writes
he writes when it grows dark to Deutschland your golden hair
Margareta
Your ashen hair Shulamith we shovel a grave in the air there you won't lie too cramped
He shouts jab the earth deeper you lot there you others sing up and play
he grabs for the rod in his belt he swings it his eyes are so blue
jab your spades deeper you lot there you others play on for the dancing
Black milk of daybreak we drink you at night
We drink you at midday and morning we drink you at evening
We drink and we drink
A man lives in the house your goldenes Haar Margareta
Your aschenes Haar Shulamith he plays his vipers
He shouts play death more sweetly this Death is a master from Deutschland
He shouts scrape your strings darker you'll rise then as smoke to the sky
You’ll have a grave then in the clouds there you won't lie too cramped
Black milk of daybreak we drink you at night
We drink you at midday Death is a master aus Deutschland
We drink you at evening and morning we drink and we drink
This Death is ein Meister aus Deutschland his eye it is blue
He shoots you with shot made of lead shoots you level and true
A man lives in the house your goldenes Haar Margarete
He looses his hounds on us grants us a grave in the air
He plays with his vipers and daydreams.
Mayer said after listening to the poem, that he believes it to be figurative, narrative, and abstract! Some facts about Paul Celan include:
- He was married to Giselle Destiange who was from an upper class French family
- At one point for about five/sex years in his life Celan wrote at least one poem a day
- Celan, not knowingly looks outside his window of his train to see Krisnallacht taking place!
- Celan called himself a survivor of Khurbr- which is Yiddish for destruction
- He had an affair with Inge Bachmann, and now her family will not let the letter be published!
