Jewish Families in Europe, 1939-Present : History, Representation, and Memory

Abstract

This book offers an extensive introduction and 13 diverse essays on how World War II, the Holocaust, and their aftermath affected Jewish families and Jewish communities, with an especially close look at the roles played by women, youth, and children. Focusing on Eastern and Central Europe, themes explored include: how Jewish parents handled the Nazi threat; rescue and resistance within the Jewish family unit; the transformation of gender roles under duress; youth’s wartime and early postwar experiences; postwar reconstruction of the Jewish family; rehabilitation of Jewish children and youth; and the role of Zionism in shaping the present and future of young survivors. Contents • Foreword—Sylvia Barack Fishman • Preface—Joanna Beata Michlic • Jewish Families in Europe, 1939–Present: History, Representation, and Memory—An Introduction—Joanna Beata Michlic • PART I: PARENTHOOD AND CHILDHOOD UNDER SIEGE, 1939–1945 • Parenthood in the Shadow of the Holocaust—Dalia Ofer • Clandestine Activities and Concealed Presence: A Case Study of Children in the Krakow Ghetto—Joanna Sliwa • Resistance in Everyday Life: Family Strategies, Role Reversals, and Role Sharing in the Holocaust—Lenore J. Weitzman • The National Institute for the Israelite Deaf-Mute in Budapest, 1938–1948: A Case Study for the Rescue Strategy of Continuously Operating Jewish Communal Institutions—Kinga Frojimovics • Moving Together, Moving Alone: The Story of Boys on a Transport from Auschwitz to Buchenwald—Kenneth Waltzer • Life in Hiding and Beyond—Jennifer Marlow • PART II: AFTER THE WAR: REBUILDING SHATTERED LIVES, RECOLLECTING WARTIME EXPERIENCES • A Zionist Home: Jewish Youths and the Kibbutz Family after the Holocaust—Avinoam Patt • What Does a Child Remember? Recollections of the War and the Early Postwar Period among Child Survivors from Poland—Joanna Beata Michlic • Memory Imprints: Testimonies as Historical Sources—Rita Horvath • “I Will Not Be Believed”: Benjamin Tenenbaum and the Representation of the Child Survivor—Boaz Cohen and Gabriel N. Finder • Transcending Memory in Holocaust Survivors’ Families—Uta Larkey • Holocaust Child Survivors, Sixty-Five Years after Liberation: From Mourning to Creativity—Eva Fogelman • Afterword: In Defense of Eyewitness Testimonies: Reflections of a Writer and Child Survivor of the Holocaust—Henryk Grynberg • List of Contributors • Index