Jewish-Christian Identities in Conflict: The Cases of Fr. Daniel Rufeisen and Fr. Elias Friedman

The status of Jewish identity in cases of conversion to another religion is a contentious issue and was brought to the forefront of public attention with the 1962 court case of Oswald Rufeisen, a Jewish convert to Christianity known as Br. Daniel, which led to a shift in the way that the state of Israel defines Jewish identity for the purposes of citizenship. At the same time, however, another test case in conflicting interpretations of Jewish identity after conversion was playing out in Rufeisen’s own monastery, hidden to the public eye. Of the fifteen monks who lived together in the Stella Maris Monastery in Haifa, two were Jewish converts, both of whom converted during the Second World War and later immigrated to Israel. Both outspoken advocates for their own understanding of Jewish identity, Rufeisen and his fellow Carmelite Fr. Elias Friedman expressed interpretations of Jewish-Christian religious identity that are polarized and even antagonistically oppositional at times. This paper argues that the intimately related histories and opposing interpretations of Rufeisen and Friedman parallel the historical contestation between Judaism and Christianity. It investigates their overlapping and yet divergent views, which magnify questions of Jewish identity, Catholic interpretations of Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust narratives, and proselytism.

“His Notebook Grew Orchids and Weeds”: Language, Burial, and Recovery in Anne Michaels’s Fugitive Pieces

Through the critical lens of trauma theory, this article explores Anne Michaels’s recurrent imagery of archaeological and geological excavations; burial, drowning, and uncovering; and the inconsistencies, repetitions, and ruptures in language and memory prevalent in Holocaust narratives. By focusing on the image of the buried journal as a kind of grave and unearthing its layered narratives, this article argues for Fugitive Pieces as an excavation of language and memory, and that it functions as a unique type of Holocaust narrative that seeks healing through reinterpreted ideas of place, geography, the body, absence, and displacement.À travers le prisme critique de la théorie du traumatisme, cet article explore l’imagerie récurrente d’Anne Michaels des fouilles archéologiques et géologiques, de l’enfouissement, de la noyade et de la mise au jour, ainsi que les incohérences, les répétitions et les ruptures dans le langage et la mémoire qui prévalent dans les récits de l’Holocauste. En se concentrant sur l’image du journal enterré comme une sorte de tombe et en déterrant ses récits superposés, cet article soutient que Fugitive Pieces est une excavation du langage et de la mémoire, et qu’il fonctionne comme un type unique de récit de l’Holocauste qui cherche à guérir à travers des idées

To Traumatize or to Put under a Taboo? Holocaust Narratives in Children’s Literature

The article investigates the ways of representing the Holocaust in children’s literature published in Poland in the 21st century (e.g. Joanna Rudniańska’s Kotka Brygidy and Smoke by Antón Fortes and Joanna Concejo). Phenomena such as anti-Semitism or death of the main character, called by researchers and critics inappropriate for a young audience, are analyzed with the use of the research on taboo in children’s literature (Bogusława Sochańska and Justyna Czechowska) as well as confronted with the threat of “traumatization” of the young reader (Małgorzata Wójcik-Dudek). The analysis proves that the Shoah only appears to be well-represented in children’s literature as many topics are still omitted.

4. Shoah and memory

“Shoah and memory” looks at the Holocaust through the lens of Jewish literature worldwide, focusing on the differences between the works of Anne Frank (Diary of a Young Girl), Elie Wiesel (Night), Hannah Arendt (Eichmann in Jerusalem), and others, studying the reception each of these works received in Jewish and non-Jewish milieus. There is a connection between memory and testimonial literature, which can especially be seen in fiction as it intersects with the anti-Semitic trend known as “Holocaust denial." We have cases such as “invented” memoirs, for example, The Painted Bird by Jerzy Koziński. There are also a number of nonliterary Holocaust narratives such as the films Shoah and Schindler’s List and the graphic novel Maus.

The suitcase project: Historical inquiry, arts integration and the Holocaust

In this article, we – a history teacher and visual art educator – present a unique, arts-integrated history project that engaged grade eleven history students in creating an installation of suitcase assemblages exploring the lives of young victims of the Holocaust. While we recognize that there exist numerous strategies for teaching about the Holocaust, we assert not only that arts integration is useful in enhancing student learning and engagement in history but also that the curricular approach is ideally suited for the teaching of difficult history such as the history of the Holocaust. In addition to examples of the student artworks produced, we provide evidence of the project’s success in increasing students’ understandings of the assigned historical content as well as its success in complicating two dominant Holocaust narratives. In sharing our own experiences of using an arts-integrated approach to teaching the history of the Holocaust, we hope to inspire both history teachers who are looking for alternative ways to tackle the complex challenge of teaching difficult history as well as art teachers who are looking to integrate sound historical inquiry into their issues-based art projects.

Whose Memory is it Anyway? An Exploration of Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust

During the Holocaust, Hitler and his Nazi Party were responsible for the systematic annihilation of millions of Jews, as well as the callous slaughter of additional minority groups such as Roma, Sinti, homosexuals, the physically handicapped, mentally ill and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Nevertheless, in Western consciousness, the Holocaust has essentially become synonymous with Jewish history and destruction. As a result, the non-Jewish victim experience has been effectively diminished in popular culture. This MRP draws on literature in cultural memory studies and survivor testimonies available on YouTube to analyze the power struggle between non-Jewish minority groups that were persecuted in the Holocaust and their Jewish counterparts to understand why the former appears excluded from mainstream Holocaust narratives. The goal: to emphasize that the Holocaust was not merely a Jewish tragedy, but a profound calamity for humankind.

Whose Memory is it Anyway? An Exploration of Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust

During the Holocaust, Hitler and his Nazi Party were responsible for the systematic annihilation of millions of Jews, as well as the callous slaughter of additional minority groups such as Roma, Sinti, homosexuals, the physically handicapped, mentally ill and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Nevertheless, in Western consciousness, the Holocaust has essentially become synonymous with Jewish history and destruction. As a result, the non-Jewish victim experience has been effectively diminished in popular culture. This MRP draws on literature in cultural memory studies and survivor testimonies available on YouTube to analyze the power struggle between non-Jewish minority groups that were persecuted in the Holocaust and their Jewish counterparts to understand why the former appears excluded from mainstream Holocaust narratives. The goal: to emphasize that the Holocaust was not merely a Jewish tragedy, but a profound calamity for humankind.

“Nature’s Revolt”: The River’s Reply in Ida Fink’s A Scrap of Time

This article accounts for what language and memory are and are not capable of in literary depictions of the Holocaust. To read, analyze, or even write Holocaust narratives, readers must expect to encounter new forms of writing and expression. This interpretation of Ida Fink’s A Scrap of Time effectively inverts the paradox of ‘telling’ the unspeakable by giving voice to an aspect of life that cannot communicate in clear and ordinary ways. In Fink’s fiction, nature speaks. The Gniezna River in “A Spring Morning”, a nameless river in “Titina”, and the Rhine River in “Night of the Surrender”, all brim with associations and themes concerning connections between language, time, meaning, God, nature, and human suffering during the Holocaust. They have unspeakable things to say, refusing to remain silent in response to human atrocity.