The Holocaust: A Political Asset?

THE HOLOCAUST:

  • Amira Hass argues that Israel has turned the Holocaust “into a political assetâ€? that “serves Israel primarily in its fight against the Palestinians…the dispossession of the Palestinian people from their homeland in 1948 is minimized and blurredâ€? and it “is what allows Israel to systematically discriminate against its Arab citizens.â€? (Haaretz)
  • New information is coming out on efforts of Monsignor Roncalli, who became Pope John XXIII, during the Holocaust. (The Jewish Week)
  • An interview with Saul Friedländer, who has been doing Holocaust history for over 40 years, on how the field has changed over the decades. (Forward)
  • The Holocaust scholar Yehuda Bauer examines the writings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Schneerson on whether the Holocaust was a good thing and concludes that the Rebbe “did not deny the Holocaust. He justified it.â€? (Haaretz)

YOUTH TRIPS TO POLAND:

  • The Polish press is airing increasing reports of unruly Israeli youth on these visits, including vandalism. (Ynet)

HOLOCAUST MUSEUMS AND EXHIBITS:

HOLOCAUST LITERATURE:

  • America’s richest prize in the humanities, worth $1.5 million, has been awarded for a three-year project on the impact of the Holocaust on American literature. Eric J. Sundquist argues that English-language books – original, in translation or as film scripts – are largely responsible for “Americanizing” and universalizing the Holocaust in the world’s consciousness. (The Jerusalem Post)
  • A vivid holocaust diary of Polish 14-year old has surfaced after 60 years, describing her crumbling world in the Bedzin ghetto. (Haaretz)
  • Aharon Appelfeld talks about his novels, which are “set in the years immediately before and after, rather than during, the Holocaustâ€?, and about the one event he is unsure he will ever write about, because he would “need another language.” (The Jerusalem Post)

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