The Representation of the Holocaust in Survivor Memoirs

Catalog description

This course will introduce undergraduate students to representations of the Holocaust in German-language and Yiddish Survivor Memoirs. Following a contextual introduction on the history of the Holocaust, students will learn about the different ways in which Holocaust survivors managed to recount the experiences that they endured, and students will be able to compare the experiences based on gender as well as on where survivors lived after the Holocaust. How did survivors, who chose to publish in German, experience a world in which German was classified as the perpetrator language? Students will also read Holocaust Survivor accounts written in Yiddish in German translation. What are the limits of language? What are the limits of Yiddish, which as a language has been perpetually threatened by extinction since the end of the Holocaust? These important questions will be underscored by an overview of the historical context of the Holocaust. The entire course will be conducted in German.