GERMAN CULTURE NEWS - Cornell University
GERMAN CULTURE NEWS - Cornell University
GERMAN CULTURE NEWS - Cornell University
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{Holocaust - ('(mrimll'd rom ge /)<br />
Gulie Ne·emUII ,Ir(/(/<br />
Israelis began to question Israel·s heroic<br />
self-image, and a new phase of national<br />
discourse on IheShoahset in. Duringthis<br />
phase. the Shoah was \ iewed as a "sacred·'<br />
event. and its<br />
victims Wl·rc re-defined<br />
as heroes and!<br />
or saints. This second.<br />
sacralizing<br />
phase of Shoah narrative<br />
has in tum undergone<br />
a period of<br />
erosion sinCe the<br />
early I980s, with the<br />
piousness of official<br />
Shoah remembrance<br />
becoming. an objecl<br />
ofsatin.' in novels. on<br />
the stage. and ill "alternative··<br />
Shoah<br />
com me morat Ions.<br />
Ne'elllan Arad interpreted<br />
Ihe public·s<br />
new distance from the official Shoah discourse<br />
as part ofa larger shift away from<br />
public. national symbols in Israel and towards<br />
private life. She presemed it :IS:1<br />
positive dcvclopmerltto the extelllthat it<br />
marks a tum towards attempting 10 undersland<br />
th\' Shoah rath\'r than merely cxploltingit.<br />
Peter No,·ick I<strong>University</strong> of Chicago)<br />
pr\'scllIed a provoc:ltive tOllk entitled<br />
··Ameriea·s Nalional Holocaust Narr:llive:<br />
There Isn·t One:· Novid. proceeded by<br />
\'stablishing three possihle criteria for a<br />
·'nation;ll narrativc·· and then sought to<br />
demonstrate that the American discourse<br />
on the Holocaust did not meet any. of the<br />
criteria that would