Holocaust and Memory

Originally published in Polish and based on interviews with Jewish Holocaust survivors still living in Poland, this book is an investigation of their life during the war and the sense they made of it. The book maps the psychological and social landscape of the Holocaust in the three arenas of Jewish experience - ghettos, camps and the "Aryan side". Dr Engelking presents the survivors' personal interpretations of the Holocaust, including accounts of the reasons for Fascism and antisemitism, the obedience of those who carried out Nazi policies and the passivity of their victims. The psychological consequences of wartime experiences are explored, including interviews with survivors who stayed on in Poland after the war and were victims of antisemitism again in 1968. These discussions bring into question some of the accepted stereotypes found in Holocaust literature. A final chapter looks at the legacy of the Holocaust, the problems of transmitting experience and of the place of the Holocaust in Polish history and culture.