Hinter dem Schleier der Erinnerung. Von jüdischen Wurzeln und dem Zweiten Weltkrieg in "Abschied von Jerusalem" von Anna Mitgutsch
Behind the curtain of memory. Jewish roots and The Second World War in "Lover, Traitor: A Jerusalem Story" (Abschied von Jerusalem) by Anna Mitgutsch

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to the image of the Second World War in "Lover, Traitor: A Jerusalem Story" ("Abschied von Jerusalem") by Anna Mitgutsch, a suspenseful story of passion, trust and betrayal, a timely novel about Jerusalem, a fascinating multicultural city, but also about intimate and political relations between Israelis and Palestinians. Mitgutsch’s story centers around a young Austrian woman who goes to Israel to find a lost relative and her own Jewish identity. The article discusses the attitude to Jewish roots and the problem of remembering of past events, especially memories of The Second World War. In her novel the author combines family history with the history of the country, refers to the issue of cultural and collective memory, and especially to the specific Austrian memory of the events of the Holocaust and the long-standing tendency to diminish the guilt and to negate the participation of Austrians in war crime.

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