Testimony Flashcards
What is intentional testimony?
Sources that were written after the time, attempting to assess what had happened
What is special about the Warsaw ghetto testimonies?
The people writing them knew they were going to die
Why would testimony writers feel the need to change their accounts?
To fit in with what other testimonies said - they don’t believe they’re own experiences
Who was Peter Pulzer?
A German Jewish refugee
What did Peter Pulzer write about?
He wrote how he was a child when Hitler came to power but he knew his life would change massively. He could have understood the significance as a child but it is likely hindsight is playing a role.
What do readers assume about survivors?
That they are nice, normal people.
What happened as survivors got older?
They become more willing to talk about the worst things that happened to them or that they did.
What decision did survivors have to make in the camps/ghettos?
Whether to be moral or whether to survive
Why did Rudolf Reder write his testimony?
He wrote about Belzec very hurriedly after the war to prove to the world what happened and so that it could be used as evidence in the trials.
What did Naomi Samson focus on?
Her individual experiences and how she felt
What testimony gives an example of people clinging to their morality and humanity?
Naomi Samson’s mother would not let them eat inappropriate food on Jewish holy days even if they would otherwise starve.
What is unsuccessful about Samson’s narrative?
She tries to write as an adult but using the child’s perspective.
What did Olga Lengyel write about?
She had acute powers of observation and memory and often wrote about issues specific to women
What did Zoe Waxman argue about testimonies?
That they were the tombstones for the dead
What are Yizkor Books?
Books created after the war to tell stories and anecdotes about those killed in the camps.
