Communicating the Unspeakable: Holocaust Survivor Narratives

Catalog description

This course will introduce students to the challenges of communicating the Unspeakable in primarily German-language Holocaust Survivor Narratives. Students will learn about the different ways in which Holocaust survivors managed to recount the unspeakable horrors they endured, and students will be able to compare the experiences based on gender as well as on where survivors lived after the Holocaust. Students will also learn that some survivors were not able to give as full a picture as others, as writing was ultimately a coping mechanism for survivors to work through their experiences and educate future generations. What relationship did Holocaust survivors have to their native language, German? Students will also read Holocaust Survivor accounts written in Yiddish in German translation. What are the limits of language? What are the limits of a language like German that is associated with the perpetrator? 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.