Frühe Zeugenberichte des Holocaust als Grundlage von Archiven, Geschichtsschreibung und autobiographischer Literatur
Early Testimonies of the Holocaust as Background of Archives, Historiography, and autobiographical Literature

Summary/Abstract: The Holocaust problematizes the fundament of historiography, the archive. Therefore, the early testimonies of Holocaust survivors as recorded by the NIOD are of vital relevance. The narratological analysis of these testimonies reveals a referential rupture between interviewer and interviewee. Although these testimonies obviously allow a historiography of the Holocaust, as carried out by e.g. Jacques Presser, they fail to create a general system of statements (Foucault). Nevertheless these early documents shape both historiographical writing and later testimonies like Ruth Klüger’s autobiography. This effect becomes apparent concerning the continuous structuring of testimonies along place names or the uncertain positioning of Theresienstadt.

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