Between Auschwitz and Tradition

Between Auschwitz and Tradition
Author: James R. Watson
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2021-11-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 900446364X

The reference of the postmodern task of thinking is Auschwitz, the abyss and discontinuity separating us from the world of our ancestors. As inhabitants of Planet Auschwitz our point of reference lacks all transcendental warrants; it is not a non-referable reference which constitutes the abyss we must enter, endure, and in which our intellectual and cultural tradition must be transformed. The private/public transformations which constitute the texts of this book attempt to depart from the dystopic individuality and public life resulting from business-as-usual after Auschwitz. The three parts of the book are progressive reworkings of traditional metaphysics as adapted and modified by a modernism that refuses to grapple with its complicity. It is precisely that complicity which postmodern thinking takes up in its attempt to signify otherwise than the easy modernist translations and images of tradition. Thus it is a series of uneasy images imaging otherwise but never apart from modernity that take us away from complicity toward a transformed tradition. The uneasy images of this book are photogrammic combinations of photographs and texts, mutual supplements, pulling tradition through the Event against the persistent and murderous forces of contemporary idolatry and repression.

(God) After Auschwitz

(God) After Auschwitz
Author: Zachary Braiterman
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 219
Release: 1998-11-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 1400822769

The impact of technology-enhanced mass death in the twentieth century, argues Zachary Braiterman, has profoundly affected the future shape of religious thought. In his provocative book, the author shows how key Jewish theologians faced the memory of Auschwitz by rejecting traditional theodicy, abandoning any attempt to justify and vindicate the relationship between God and catastrophic suffering. The author terms this rejection "Antitheodicy," the refusal to accept that relationship. It finds voice in the writings of three particular theologians: Richard Rubenstein, Eliezer Berkovits, and Emil Fackenheim. This book is the first to bring postmodern philosophical and literary approaches into conversation with post-Holocaust Jewish thought. Drawing on the work of Mieke Bal, Harold Bloom, Jacques Derrida, Umberto Eco, Michel Foucault, and others, Braiterman assesses how Jewish intellectuals reinterpret Bible and Midrash to re-create religious thought for the age after Auschwitz. In this process, he provides a model for reconstructing Jewish life and philosophy in the wake of the Holocaust. His work contributes to the postmodern turn in contemporary Jewish studies and today's creative theology.

Utopia of Understanding

Utopia of Understanding
Author: Donatella Ester Di Cesare
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2012-06-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1438442548

Speaking and understanding can both be thought of as forms of translation, and in this way every speaker is an exile in language—even in one's mother tongue. Drawing from the philosophical hermeneutics of Martin Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer, the testimonies of the German Jews and their relation with the German language, Jacques Derrida's confrontation with Hannah Arendt, and the poetry of Paul Celan, Donatella Ester Di Cesare proclaims Auschwitz the Babel of the twentieth century. She argues that the globalized world is one in which there no longer remains any intimate place or stable dwelling. Understanding becomes a kind of shibboleth that grounds nothing, but opens messianically to a utopia yet to come.

Auschwitz Chronicle, 1939-1945

Auschwitz Chronicle, 1939-1945
Author: Danuta Czech
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Total Pages: 855
Release: 1997
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780805052381

Gathers eyewitness accounts by former prisoners, original camp documents, orders of the commandant, notes on medical experiments, secret messages smuggled out by prisoners, and brief profiles of the perpetrators

European Pack for Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum

European Pack for Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum
Author: Alicja Białecka
Publisher: Council of Europe
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9789287167941

Taking groups of students To The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum is a heavy responsibility, but it is a major contribution to citizenship if it fosters understanding of what Auschwitz stands for, particularly when the last survivors are at the end of their lives. it comes with certain risks, however. This pack is designed for teachers wishing to organise student visits to authentic places of remembrance, and For The guides, academics and others who work every day with young people at Auschwitz. There is nothing magical about visiting an authentic place of remembrance, and it calls for a carefully thought-out approach. To avoid the risk of inappropriate reactions or the failure to benefit from a large investment in travel and accommodation, considerable preparation and discussion is necessary before the visit and serious reflection afterwards. Teachers must prepare students for a form of learning they may never have met before. This pack offers insights into the complexities of human behaviour so that students can have a better understanding of what it means to be a citizen. How are they concerned by what happened at Auschwitz? is the unprecedented process of exclusion that was practised in the Holocaust still going on in Europe today? in what sense is it different from present-day racism and anti-Semitism? the young people who visit Auschwitz in the next few years will be witnesses of the last witnesses, links in the chain of memory. Their generation will be the last to hear the survivors speaking on the spot. The Council of Europe, The Polish Ministry of Education And The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum are jointly sponsoring this project aimed at preventing crimes against humanity through Holocaust remembrance teaching.

Culture in the Third Reich

Culture in the Third Reich
Author: Moritz Föllmer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2020
Genre: History
ISBN: 0198814607

A ground-breaking study that gets us closer to solving the mystery of why so many Germans embraced the Nazi regime so enthusiastically and identified so closely with it.

Embracing Auschwitz

Embracing Auschwitz
Author: Joshua Hammerman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2020-05-14
Genre:
ISBN: 9781934730898

The Judaism of Sinai and the Judaism of Auschwitz are merging, resulting in new visions of Judaism that are only beginning to take shape. Each of the chapters of this book outlines an aspect of this work-in-progress, this Torah of Auschwitz, and we will see just how the ways of Sinai are being recast, the old wells re-dug. Jewish survival will not be assured until the grandchildren of survivors and others of their generation can begin to take the darkness of the Shoah and turn it into a song, absorbing the absurdity of a silent God while loving life nonetheless. "Compelling and provocative." --Yossi Klein Halevi, author, Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor "Eye opening and thought provoking." --U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal "A powerful meditation on what Judaism could be in this time." -- Peter Beinart, author, The Crisis of Zionism "Hammerman's brave new vision challenges us and demands our attention." -- Gary Rosenblatt, Editor At Large, The Jewish Week "Should be read by every Jew who cares about Judaism." -- Rabbi Dr. Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, author, The Jewish Way

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Author: Heather Morris
Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre Ltd.
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2018-02-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1760403180

The incredible story of the Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist and the woman he loved. Lale Sokolov is well-dressed, a charmer, a ladies' man. He is also a Jew. On the first transport of men from Slovakia to Auschwitz in 1942, Lale immediately stands out to his fellow prisoners. In the camp, he is looked up to, looked out for, and put to work in the privileged position of Tatowierer - the tattooist - to mark his fellow prisoners, forever. One of them is a young woman, Gita, who steals his heart at first glance. His life given new purpose, Lale does his best through the struggle and suffering to use his position for good. This story, full of beauty and hope, is based on years of interviews author Heather Morris conducted with real-life Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov. It is heart-wrenching, illuminating, and unforgettable. 'Morris climbs into the dark miasma of war and emerges with an extraordinary tale of the power of love' - Leah Kaminsky

Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust

Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust
Author: Beth A. Griech-Polelle
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2017-01-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472586948

Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust surveys the history of the Holocaust whilst demonstrating the pivotal importance of the historical tradition of anti-Semitism and the power of discriminatory language in relation to the Nazi-led persecution of the Jews. The book examines varieties of anti-Semitism that have existed throughout history, from religious anti-Semitism in the ancient Roman Empire to the racial anti-Semitism of political anti-Semites in Germany and Austria in the late 19th century. Beth A. Griech-Polelle analyzes the tropes, imagery, legends, myths and stereotypes about Jews that have surfaced at these various points in time. Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust considers how this language helped to engender an innate distrust, dislike and even hatred of the Jews in 20th-century Europe. She explores the shattering impact of the First World War and the rise of Weimar Germany, Hitler's rhetoric and the first phase of Nazi anti-Semitism before illustrating how ghettos, SS Einsatzgruppen killing squads, death camps and death marches were used to drive this anti-Semitic feeling towards genocide. With a wealth of primary source material, a thorough engagement with significant Holocaust scholarship and numerous illustrations, reading lists and a glossary to provide further support, this is a vital book for any student of the Holocaust keen to know more about the language of hate which fuelled it.