Translation and Memory from the Cremation Ovens in Poland to Freedom in Greece and the US: The Journey and the Manuscripts of Marcel Nadjary

Abstract

In a timeframe of 35 years, from 1945 to 1980, some manuscripts left by 5 Jewish members of the Sonderkommando were found buried near the crematories in Auschwitz-Birkenau. These prisoners were forced to do activities directly connected to the genocide, and because of that they were considered as bearers of secrets. Known as The Scrolls of Auschwitz, these manuscripts have been held as sources of high historical-social-psychological value. The narrative found in 1980 was written by a Greek Jew called Marcel Nadjary (1917-1971), the only amongst the authors to survive the Lager. The degradation of the papers demanded a long recovery work that recently produced two books: Μαρσελ Νατζαρή Χειρόγραφα 1944-1947 (2018) and Marcel Nadjari’s Manuscript November 3, 1944 (2020). The work of translation from Greek to Portuguese has allowed us to examine the paths in which a survivor of the Gray Zone builds his memories, in two different moments: at the time of the event, and a posteriori. Therefore, it is possible to identify what is kept and what changes in the subjective assumption of History itself, and in the way the author uses the words to narrate his memories and transmit the secrets he carried. Keywords: Marcel Nadjary, translation, testimony, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sonderkommando.