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This volume features 50 documents in Polish, Yiddish, and German, with English translations, exemplifying early Holocaust research undertaken by the Central Jewish Historical Commission in Poland in the years 1944-1949. Featured texts include methodological reflections on how the destruction of European Jews ought to be studied, witness testimonies, and journalistic essays. These writings shed light on the motivations of the commission: commemorating the dead, keeping a historical record of the events, gathering evidence that could be used to bring the perpetrators to justice, working through trauma, loss, and destruction, and providing material for future historical research. The documents are a testimony to the survivors' efforts in using both victim and perpetrator sources to describe the everyday life and death of European Jews under the Nazi regime, while placing the experiences of Jewish communities at the center.
About the author
Laura Jockusch is the Albert Abramson Associate Professor of Holocaust Studies at the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University.
Summary
This volume features 50 documents in Polish, Yiddish, and German, with English translations, exemplifying early Holocaust research undertaken by the Central Jewish Historical Commission in Poland in the years 1944–1949. Featured texts include methodological reflections on how the destruction of European Jews ought to be studied, witness testimonies, and journalistic essays. These writings shed light on the motivations of the commission: commemorating the dead, keeping a historical record of the events, gathering evidence that could be used to bring the perpetrators to justice, working through trauma, loss, and destruction, and providing material for future historical research. The documents are a testimony to the survivors’ efforts in using both victim and perpetrator sources to describe the everyday life and death of European Jews under the Nazi regime, while placing the experiences of Jewish communities at the center.
Foreword
Focusing on the Central Jewish Historical Commission in Poland from 1944 to 1949, this volume presents 50 documents on early Holocaust research. Featured texts include methodological reflections on how the destruction of European Jews ought to be studied, witness testimonies, and journalistic essays. The documents are a testimony to the survivors’ efforts in using both victim and perpetrator sources to describe the everyday life and death of European Jews under the Nazi regime, while placing the experiences of Jewish communities at the center.
