Thinking about the Holocaust: After Half a Century

"... stimulating and important anthology..." --Holocaust and Genocide Studies

"... a useful and competent volume that can serve as a good introduction to scholarship on the aftermath of the Holocaust." --Times Literary Supplement

More than 50 years after the end of World War II, how do we look back upon and understand the nature and consequences of that catastrophic event? What kind of historical consciousness has developed over the past half century with respect to the Nazi destruction of European Jewry? These questions are explored by a distinguished international group of scholars who draw on history, literature, memory, memorials, and the representation of the Holocaust in the culture to assess the impact of the Holocaust on postwar consciousness.

Thirteen distinguished scholars examine the representation and reception of the Holocaust within a range of national settings and generic forms. The authors draw on historical writing, testimonial literature, monuments and memorials, theological reflections, and documentary and imaginative poetry, prose, film, and drama to assess both the impact of the Holocaust on postwar consciousness and the impact of contemporary modes of scholarship on our understanding of the Holocaust itself.

Alvin H. Rosenfeld is Professor of English and Director of the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University. His books include Confronting the Holocaust: The Impact of Elie Wiesel, A Double Dying: Reflections on Holocaust Literature, and Imagining Hitler.