Holocaust Remembrance Day Research Articles

Why My Jewishness Compels Me to Stand for Justice in Palestine

Why My Jewishness Compels Me to Stand for Justice in Palestine

Collective Trauma From the Lab to the Real World: The Effects of the Holocaust on Contemporary Israeli Political Cognitions

This research tested whether chronic or contextually activated Holocaust exposure is associated with more extreme political attitudes among Israeli Jews. Study 1 (N = 57), and Study 2 (N = 61) found that Holocaust primes increased support for aggressive policies against a current adversary and decreased support for political compromise via an amplified sense of identification with Zionist ideology. These effects, however, were obtained only under an exclusive but not an inclusive framing of the Holocaust. Study 3 (N = 152) replicated these findings in a field study conducted around Holocaust Remembrance Day and showed that the link between Holocaust exposure, ideological identification, and militancy also occurs in real‐life settings. Study 4 (N = 867) demonstrated in a nationally representative survey that Holocaust survivors and their descendants exhibited amplified existential threat responses to contemporary political violence, which were associated with militancy and opposition to peaceful compromises. Together, these studies illustrate the Holocaustization of Israeli political cognitions 70 years later.

Passports in the Time of Trump

Passports in the Time of Trump Leti Volpp1 (bio) On Wednesday, January 25, 2017, five days after Donald Trump assumed the office of U.S. President, the public was treated to "Trump's day of shock and awe" (Digby Parton 2017). Trump stated in an interview on ABC news that he believed that "torture works," as media outlets circulated a draft executive order proposing to reopen secret CIA prisons. Rumors swirled that Trump was about to issue a ban closing the border to Muslim immigrants and to refugees. And that day Trump issued the third and fourth executive orders of his administration, Executive Order No. 13768, "Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States," directed at immigration enforcement in the interior, and Executive Order No. 13767, "Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements," directed at immigration enforcement at the border. Media coverage of these two executive orders centered on two issues: the punishing of so-called "sanctuary cities," and the ordering of the "immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border" ("Trump Orders" 2017). Announcing these executive orders through a speech to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Trump stated: This is a law enforcement agency. [Applause] But for too long, your offices [and] agents haven't been allowed to properly to do their jobs. You know that, right? Do you know that? Absolutely. But that's all about to change. And I'm very happy about it and you're very happy about it. From here on out, I'm asking all of you to enforce the laws of the United States of America. They will be enforced and enforced strongly. [Applause]. ("Remarks" 2017) Precisely how immigration enforcement was "about to change" was not yet publicly apparent, and the attention paid to these two executive orders was rapidly eclipsed by other events. While Thursday's news was dominated by President Enrique Peña Nieto cancelling a scheduled meeting at the White House in response to Trump's ordering the building of a wall between the [End Page 155] United States and Mexico, by Friday, the nation's focus shifted (Ahmed 2017). That afternoon, flanked by an applauding Vice President Mike Pence and then Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, Trump shut down entry to immigrants and refugees in what has been variously labeled a Muslim ban, a travel ban, and a refugee ban. Trump accomplished this via his third executive order targeting immigrants, "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States," which he signed shortly after issuing a statement noting January 27 to be International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a choice of timing described as "offensive" and "repulsive" (Koran 2017; Shear and Cooper 2017; Exec. Order No. 13769). "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry" The order invoked the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011, stated that "[n] umerous foreign-born individuals have been convicted or implicated in terrorism-related crimes since September 11, 2011," and indicated that it is the policy of the United States "to prevent the admission of foreign nationals who intend to exploit United States immigration laws for malevolent purposes" (Exec. Order No. 13769 §§ 1-2). In order to accomplish this goal, the order suspended the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants (temporary visitors) from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for a period of ninety days, with an invitation to the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to submit "names of additional countries recommended for similar treatment" (§ 3(f)). At the same time, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program was suspended for 120 days; upon the resumption of that program, refugee claims "made by individuals on the basis of religious-based persecution, provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual's country of nationality" were to be prioritized (§ 5(b)). The Order then indefinitely suspended the entry of any Syrian refugees as "detrimental to the interests of the United States" (§ 5(c)). President Obama's allocation of 110,000 refugees for fiscal year 2017 was cut by more than half, to 50,000, and "any such entry" of refugees was to be suspended "until such time as I determine that additional...

Introduction

Introduction Tony Michels, Ken Moss, and Sarah Abrevaya Stein The remarkable success of President Donald Trump's electoral campaign, against nearly all expectations, has raised profound questions about American and global political and cultural life, and these questions continue to multiply as the new administration flexes its executive power. Though the efficacy of the young Trump administration may be questioned, the pace of news, at least, is undeniably dizzying. With the circulation of tropes of Jewish financial power and perfidy during the 2016 campaign, with the rise in power and influence of white nationalism, with a postelection upswell in Islamophobia, antisemitism, and other hate crimes, with the assault on immigrants and the undocumented, with an assertively Modern Orthodox Jewish family proximate to the White House, with the seemingly spontaneous presidential embrace (however crudely developed) of a single state of Israel/Palestine, with, even, the president's rude bungling of Holocaust Remembrance Day—with this and so much more, scholars of Jewish Studies are called on to take stock of the current moment. What does the time of Trump look like from the vantage of our diverse field? What questions ought scholars of Jewish culture, history, thought, and practice be asking of the present moment? We editors have posed to each other various questions and have at times disagreed in our answers. What relationships are taking shape within this new dispensation between antisemitic impulses, anti-Zionism, and, conversely, support for Israel in the age of Benjamin Netanyahu and Naftali Bennett? Have American Jews moved toward the political right or remained, for the most part, supportive of liberalism? We have debated these and other questions. Indeed, pressing questions sometimes seem to shift with every passing hour. Despite our own disagreements and uncertainties (or all the more because of them) we agreed that Jewish Social Studies ought to make space for an assessment [End Page 139] of the 2016 election and the ascendance of the Trump administration by scholars who think and write about Jews. Informed observers of every stripe, academics among them, have already begun to comment on these matters in opinion pieces. Others have embarked on research projects inspired by the current situation, but these will, in the nature of things, yield fruit only in a few years' time. It seemed to us vital to help foster a third variety of discussion in the pages of Jewish Social Studies: one that brings to bear scholarly expertise and knowledge not reducible to an op-ed, but that takes the risk of trying to define and delineate complex phenomena even as they unfold. The contributors to this discussion represent a range of expertise and speak in a variety of idioms. Some have already demonstrated a scholarly engagement with aspects of the current political moment or have written foundational work that deserves an expansion or rethinking in light of current events. Others have developed a profile as public intellectuals, writing for a wide readership on topics that pertain to Jewish culture and politics. All, in our view, have scholarly expertise that will help us make sense of contemporary America, the Trump administration, and Jews' place within local, national, and global politics, all of which have shifted dramatically in recent months and may shift more dramatically still in the years to come. This roundtable, unique in the history of JSS since its new series began in 1994, affords an opportunity to meditate on the influence of a Moroccan Jewish mystic in the orbit of the White House, to consider the embrace of Trump by an Orthodox Jewish voting bloc, to reinterpret American Jews' relationship to the left, to rethink the legacy of the Enlightenment and liberalism, and to reevaluate Jewish political culture and the role of Jewish philanthropic organizations in our society. These essays start a conversation that will no doubt take decades to develop. Yet they mark a beginning and in so doing honor the legacy of a journal created in another momentous year for Jewish history, 1939, when the founding editors saw fit to capture the energy of a burgeoning field and to use scholarship to help make sense of the world around them. [End Page 140] Copyright © 2017 Indiana University Press

Remembrance Days in European Union – between oblivion, national manifestations and an European narrative?

The tragic events of World War II play an important role in the collective memory of all European nations. Since 1945, many initiatives devoted to the coming-to-terms with the traumatic past have been launched. One of the challenges for actors involved in the creation of historical and educational policies is to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive. In the last years, a significant number of initiatives have been organized on the occasion of anniversaries. The paper presents an analysis of 3 different initiatives connected to the official ceremonies of three international remembrance days in Poland, Germany and France. These are the Holocaust Remembrance Day, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the European Day of Remembrance for the Righteous. The selected countries represent different historical experiences of war and circumstances, in which the process of collective memory took place. The need for reconciliation between France and Germany was one of the basic reasons for European integration. The reconciliation process between Poland and Germany started much later and Poland joined EU just in 2004. These factors have had an important impact on the creation of the memory culture in those countries. The paper gives an indication on who is involved in commemoration activities and which factors are decisive for the question of whether at all and how the selected anniversaries are celebrated in the three chosen countries. It shows, in how far national goals regarding historical policy are still prevailing and in which places and occasions a more universal and international narrative has been developed.

When the private sphere hides from the public sphere: The power struggle between Israeli national identity and football fandom

On 13 May 2012 Israeli sports fans were deprived of one of the season’s most important soccer tournaments, after the scheduling of both legs of the UEFA Champion’s League semi-final matches overlapped with national days of remembrance. A week before, Israel’s sports channels refused to play the first leg of semi-final matches since one of the games coincided with Holocaust Remembrance Day. And, again, a week later, Israeli sports fans were confounded with the same issue, with Memorial Day coinciding with the soccer tournament’s second leg of semi-final games. It is well known that sports spectatorship is a transformative experience through which fans escape their humdrum lives, just as religious experiences help the faithful to transcend their everyday existence. In an era where alternative channels (television, Internet, etc.) are easy to find, we used in-depth interviews with sports fans to learn more about the dilemma of both public and private media expressions and watching and enjoying soccer matches while the Israeli nation is in agony. Findings reveal a whole different viewing experience whereas instead of group watching, cheering and eating together rituals, on a regular match day, an unaccompanied, quiet and even embarrassing experience was marked.

Yad Vashem and the State of Holocaust Education in Israeli Schools in the 1960s

In March 1960, Yad Vashem, in partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Education, surveyed Israeli school principals about Holocaust education and observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day in their schools. This article analyzes the results of that survey and how it was used by Yad Vashem to begin a dialogue with Israeli schools over how the Holocaust should be taught. In particular, the survey reveals that Israeli students were far more likely to study the Holocaust through their literature readers than their history textbooks. Finally, it shows that the Eichmann trial only accelerated changes in Holocaust education that had already begun.

Man's Search for Meaning:A Commentary

The commentary is on the book title, 'Man's Search for Meaning written by Victor e Frankl. The purpose for writing this commentary is to start a fresh discussion on positive social psychology highlighting the sufferings of a Holocaust survivor who has no heartburn for the people who were instrumental in all the valuable losses that he had suffered. Man's search for meaning is a journey that keeps alive the drive to reach your destination, the ultimate destination, the ultimate goal, the ultimate search, the journey itself. The book tries to bring forward the concept pioneered as 'logotherapy' by Dr. Victor. The book is a must read, which perhaps brings forwards the most significant thinking since Freud and Adler.Commentary: Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And Since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.With these lines the story of a man who survived the Nazi death camps during World War II at Auschwitz and Dachau comes to an end. A man namedDr. Viktor E. Frankl whom world saw later, as one of the most gifted psychiatrists and who humanize psychiatry using 'logotherapy' now widely accepted as the Third School of Viennese Psychiatry is aman who survived all the suffering from cold, hunger, hourly extortion in extremely stressful and life threatening conditions as a long time prisoner in a concentration camp. He is a person who after losing every valuable and invaluable possession during his stay in those camps has come up with a meaning in all these sufferings, has come up with a thought that, a man can bear with even the worse conditions ifhe/she has a meaning in his life, ifhe/she has a reason to endure and survive all the sufferings. The life changing book written by Viktor E. Frankl truly justifies its title. It not only narrates but also starts a journey for, 'Man's Search for Meaning'. The book is known more than the story of author's triumph: it has significant impact on humanity with a remarkable blend of science and humanism and science and spiritualism by Viennese psychiatrist.When I am writing my views on the book, I am under a threefold aura of emotions which I would like to name as Relevance of Place, Relevance of Time and Relevance of Situation ('Desh- Kaal & Paristhiti1). First one is relevance of place where this review is being written, my motherland India, which in itselfis globally accepted as a laboratory for searching meaning of one's life. The second relevance is of time which coincides with the day when I could complete the book was the day of' Vasant Panchami', the day which is believed to be one of the most auspicious days in Hindu calendar 1 which initiates and astronomically officiates the beginning of new hopes in natural, physical and spiritual worlds. Relevance of time is also reflective with the fact that last year on January 27th 2014 the world witnessed the observance of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. The last and the third is the relevance of situation, of a book whose first manuscript was confiscated in the Nazi death camp, whose first print was published in Austria in 1946 and which holds its significance even after so many years when Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of United Nations2 visits the place again this year (2014) and accepts that, "Bigotry still courses through our societies and our politics. The world can and must do more to eliminate the poison that led to the camps".So, one should be mentally, socially, politically and most importantly spiritually prepared to navigate through the same sea of suffering and learning and ultimately finding out the meaning in not only those tortures that Nazi death camps have given but also in the life that succeeds thereafter.The content of the book is presented in three parts:Part One, is Experiences in a Concentration CampPart Two, is Logotherapy in a NutshellPostscript 1984, is The Case for a Tragic Optimism. …

“I lit the candle with fire from my heart”

At the Yom Hashoa (Holocaust Remembrance Day) ceremony at the Terraces of Baycrest in Toronto, resident survivors sit at a head table facing the room. They are the embodiment of the ceremony: the victims we remember and the survivors before us. As the eyewitnesses of the darkest time in Jewish history, they mourn their family and friends, and the community mourns with them.This paper presents a case study of this unique service, which stands apart because it is situated in a seniors’ residence. Other Holocaust Remembrance Day observances typically take place “outside” in public institutional spaces: synagogues, schools, community centres, museums; but here, residents invite the community “inside”—into the institutional home—and highlights each survivor’s experiences. By giving residents an opportunity to bring to the foreground their individual narratives, Baycrest staff members facilitate the confirmation of each person’s self-worth and sense of identity. In this way, a creative ritual like the Yom Hashoah Ceremony helps residents to face death, mourning, and remembrance in a supportive, familiar environment while contributing to the sense of family, culture, and community shared by the residents and their extended families.

The Sum of all Fears: Israel's Perception of a Nuclear-Armed Iran

Thucydides’ ancient logic still governs: uncertainty (over Iran’s nuclear intentions) and the fear this inspires (in Israel) increases the risk of another war (in the Middle East). Even if Israel’s response to the Iranian nuclear program does not lead the region into a war, Israel’s fears will be crucial in shaping Middle Eastern politics and will help to determine the stability of the region in the years ahead. The U.S. public has been hearing about Israeli fears of a nuclear Iran for several years. It is understandable if most Americans discount this drama as

Recuerdo y comunicación: sociohermenéutica de rituales de memoria

The analysis of memory rituals represents a methodological challenge for an interpretative social science. Ritual interactions are inscribed in a broader context, which is determined by symbolic traditions and the institutional agreements that configure the general framework of ceremonies. The study of rituals held on International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27th is an opportunity to highlight the linkages between these different levels in the analysis. Our data is based on a videographic research project that probes into the thesis of a “global” memory culture, according to which particular memories coexist and at the same time converge and interact with transnational forms of remembrance. For the analysis we follow methodological approaches rooted in the sociology of knowledge and the sociology of communicative genres.

Cyrillic Cycles:

Cyrillic Cycles:

The detonation of the Holocaust in 1941: a tale of two books

The detonation of the Holocaust in 1941: a tale of two books

Zvi Griliches, 1930–1999: A Critical Appreciation

Zvi Griliches was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, on September 12, 1930, and died on November 4, 1999, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The story of how he got from there to here is a long one with a harrowing beginning. It has been told by Griliches himself in a talk presented on the eve of Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) at the Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel Foundation (Griliches, 1992) and in an interview given to Alan Krueger and Timothy Taylor about four months before his death (Krueger and Taylor, 2000). The beginning was harsh: in 1940, the Soviet Union annexed Lithuania and the other Baltic Republics. The Nazis occupied the country in 1941. Griliches and his family were con®ned to the Ghetto in Kaunas in August of that year. He managed to evade the periodic roundups for transport to the concentration camps until sometime during the summer of 1944. After that, he was moved, often by foot, from one camp to another until he was liberated from Dachau by the American advance in May, 1945. He lost all his immediate family, except for a sister, in the Holocaust. Eventually, Griliches made his way via a British internment camp on Cyprus to what was then Palestine. After working on a kibbutz, participating in the War of Independence, and despite his lack of formal education, Griliches managed to pass what we would call a high school equivalency exam and spent a year studying history and languages at the Hebrew University, 1950±51, before matriculating in the College of Agriculture at the University of California, Berkeley, where he obtained a bachelor's degree, 1953, and a master's degree, 1954, both in agricultural economics. While most people's subsequent intellectual development, ideas and perspective in a social science such as economics would be expected to have been affected profoundly by the horri®c experiences through which Griliches lived in the decade before he emigrated to the United States, I ®nd remarkably little The Economic Journal, 111 ( June), F422±F448. # Royal Economic Society 2001. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.