David Cesarani: A Historian with Breadth, Depth, and the Flair of a Raconteur

Abstract

David Cesarani was a prolific scholar and lucid writer who displayed a very broad perspective and wide-ranging understanding about the Holocaust. His long list of publications about the Holocaust began with a study about war criminals who came to Great Britain after the war. He then went on to explore subjects such as the bystanders, the perpetrators, and liberation and survivor testimonies. His final work of scholarship was a comprehensive history of the Holocaust: Final Solution: The Fate of the Jews 1933–1949, completed just before his premature death. Several motifs are present throughout the body of his scholarship. Cesarani demonstrates complexity and unravels myths. He discusses the events of the Holocaust in wider context and he emphasizes that within that history, the perspective of the Jewish victims is crucial. Throughout his writings, one can find the voices of the actors in the unfolding drama as well as Cesarani’s own clearly articulated voice.