In 1944, members of the Sonderkommando—the “special squads,” composed almost exclusively of Jewish prisoners, who ensured the smooth operation of the gas chambers and had firsthand knowledge of the extermination process—buried on the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau a series of remarkable eyewitness accounts of Nazi genocide. This careful and penetrating study examines anew these “Scrolls of Auschwitz,” which were gradually recovered, in damaged and fragmentary form, in the years following the camp’s liberation. It painstakingly reconstructs their historical context and textual content, revealing complex literary works that resist narrow moral judgment and engage difficult questions about the limits of testimony.
- ISBN10 1782389989
- ISBN13 9781782389989
- Publish Date 1 December 2015
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Berghahn Books
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 264
- Language English
- URL http://berghahnbooks.com/title/ChareMatters