Abstract
Swedish Jews’ supposed inactivity over Europe’s persecuted Jews during the Holocaust has been a prevalent discourse during the post-war period. This article ponders the origins of that discourse and how it affects how and what Swedish Jews narrate about aid and relief work, and Jewish refugees and survivors, when recounting their memories from the 1930s and 1940s. This investigation also examines how previous research has addressed and represented the aid efforts of the Jewish minority in Sweden and discusses what new empirical knowledge about Swedish Jewish aid and relief work during the Holocaust we can ascertain by using oral history. Hence, it is also a contribution to the ongoing debate in the research field of ‘refugee studies’, initiated by the historians Philip Marfleet and Peter Gatrell, who emphasise both the importance of working with historical perspectives and asking questions about the sources at the disposal of historians and what sources they choose to work with when writing about aid, relief work and refugees.
 
 
Highlights
Swedish Jews’ supposed inactivity over Europe’s persecuted Jews during the Holocaust has been a prevalent discourse during the post-war period
This article ponders the origins of that discourse and how it affects how and what Swedish Jews narrate about aid and relief work, and Jewish refugees and survivors, when recounting their memories from the 1930s and 1940s
This investigation examines how previous research has addressed and represented the aid efforts of the Jewish minority in Sweden and discusses what new empirical knowledge about Swedish Jewish aid and relief work during the Holocaust we can ascertain by using oral history
Summary
Abstract Swedish Jews’ supposed inactivity over Europe’s persecuted Jews during the Holocaust has been a prevalent discourse during the post-war period. Jag undersöker således inte enbart de insamlade levnads berättelserna i samlingen ”Judiska minnen” för att nå ny kunskap om den svensk-judiska verksamheten för Europas förföljda judar, utan studerar även hur berättarna förhåller sig till diskursen kring de svenska judarna och hjälpverksamheten under 1990-talet. Av forsknings etiska skäl anonymiseras samtliga berättare i enlighet med Nordiska museets regler för hur det insamlade materialet får användas.[5] De. Skälen till att de fyra personer, vars berättelser utgör stommen i föreliggande framställning, intervjuades inom ramen för insamlingen ”Judiska minnen” skiljer sig åt. Han svarar: Ja. Jag var nog påverkad väldigt tidigt där för det fanns så mycket judiska flyktingar som umgicks i vårt hem och vi hade även en judisk flyktingflicka boende hos oss, så man hade hela tiden någon sorts kontakt med, på det sättet också, med den verklig heten. Berättelser om de individuella initiativen och hjälpen till släktingar är således ytterligare ett exempel på ny kunskap om det judiska hjälparbetets mångfacetterade karaktär som vi kan nå genom att arbeta med oral history och berättelser som källmaterial
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