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Laughter After: Humor and the Holocaust argues that humor performs
political, cultural, and social functions in the wake of horror.
Co-editors David Slucki, Gabriel N. Finder, and Avinoam Patt have
assembled an impressive list of contributors who examine what is at
stake in deploying humor in representing the Holocaust. Namely,
what are the boundaries? Clearly, there have been comedy and
laughter in the decades since. However, the extent to which humor
can be ethically deployed in representing and discussing the
Holocaust is not as clear. This book comes at an important moment
in the trajectory of Holocaust memory. As the generation of
survivors continues to dwindle, there is great concern among
scholars and community leaders about how memories and lessons of
the Holocaust will be passed to future generations. Without
survivors to tell their stories, to serve as constant reminders of
what they experienced, how will future generations understand and
relate to the Shoah? Laughter After is divided into two sections:
"Aftermath" and "Breaking Taboos." The contributors to this volume
examine case studies from World War II to the present day in
considering and reconsidering what role humor can play in the
rehabilitation of survivors, of Jews and of the world more broadly.
More recently, humor has been used to investigate the role that
Holocaust memory plays in contemporary societies, while challenging
memorial conventions around the Holocaust and helping shape the way
we think about the past. In a world in which Holocaust memory is
ubiquitous, even if the Holocaust itself is inadequately
understood, it is perhaps not surprising that humor that invokes
the Holocaust has become part of the memorial landscape. This book
seeks to uncover how and why such humor is deployed, and what the
factors are that shape its production and reception. Laughter After
will appeal to a number of audiences-from students and scholars of
Jewish and Holocaust studies to academics and general readers with
an interest in media and performance studies.
The Holocaust is often invoked as a benchmark for talking about
human rights abuses from slavery and apartheid to colonialism,
ethnic cleansing, and genocide. Western educators and politicians
draw seemingly obvious lessons of tolerance and anti-racism from
the Nazi past, and their work rests on the implicit assumption that
Holocaust education and commemoration will expose the dangers of
prejudice and promote peaceful coexistence. Holocaust Memory and
Racism in the Postwar World, edited by Shirli Gilbert and Avril
Alba, challenges the notion that there is an unproblematic
connection between Holocaust memory and the discourse of
anti-racism. Through diverse case studies, this volume historicizes
how the Holocaust has shaped engagement with racism from the 1940s
until the present, demonstrating that contemporary assumptions are
neither obvious nor inevitable. Holocaust Memory and Racism in the
Postwar World is divided into four sections. The first section
focuses on encounters between Nazism and racism during and
immediately after World War II, demonstrating not only that racist
discourses and politics persisted in the postwar period, but also,
perhaps more importantly, that few people identified links with
Nazi racism. The second section explores Jewish motivations for
participating in anti-racist activism, and the varying memories of
the Holocaust that informed their work. The third section
historicizes the manifold ways in which the Holocaust has been
conceptualized in literary settings, exploring efforts to connect
the Holocaust and racism in geographically, culturally, and
temporally diverse settings. The final section brings the volume
into the present, focusing on contemporary political causes for
which the Holocaust provides a benchmark for racial equality and
justice. Together, the contributions delineate the complex history
of Holocaust memory, recognize its contingency, and provide a
foundation from which to evaluate its moral legitimacy and
political and social effectiveness. Holocaust Memory and Racism in
the Postwar World is intended for students and scholars of
Holocaust and genocide studies, professionals working in museums
and heritage organizations, and anyone interested in building on
their knowledge of the Holocaust and the discourse of racism.
In 1978, Jakub Slucki passed away peacefully in his sleep at the
age of seventy-seven. A Holocaust survivor whose first wife and two
sons had been murdered at the Nazi death camp in Chelmno, Poland,
Jakub had lived a turbulent life. Just over thirty-seven years
later, his son Charles died of a heart attack. David Slucki's Sing
This at My Funeral: A Memoir of Fathers and Sons tells the story of
his father and his grandfather, and the grave legacy that they each
passed on to him. This is a story about the Holocaust and its
aftermath, about absence and the scars that never heal, and about
fathers and sons and what it means to raise young men. In Sing This
at My Funeral, tragedy follows the Slucki family across the globe:
from Jakub's early childhood in Warsaw, where he witnessed the
death of his parents during World War I, to the loss of his family
by the hand of the Nazis in April 1942 to his remarriage and
relocation in Paris, where after years of bereavement he welcomes
the birth of his third son before finally settling in Melbourne,
Australia in 1950 in an attempt to get as far away from the ravages
of war-torn Europe as he could. Charles (Shmulik in Yiddish) was
named both after Jakub's eldest son and his slain grandfather-a
burden he carried through his life, which was one otherwise marked
by optimism and adventure. The ghosts of these relatives were a
constant in the Slucki home, a small cottage that became the
lifeblood of a small community of Jewish immigrants. despite having
been shaped by the ghosts of his father's constantly hovering
sorrow. This book interweaves the stories of these men with that of
Slucki's own upbringing, showing how traumatic family histories
leave their mark for generations. Slucki's memoir blends the
scholarly and literary, grounding the story of his grandfather and
father in the broader context of the twentieth century. Based on
thirty years of letters from Jakub to his brother Mendel, on
archival materials, and on interviews with family members, this is
a unique story and an innovative approach to writing both history
and family narrative. Students, scholars, and general readers of
memoirs will enjoy this deeply personal reflection on family and
grief.
Laughter After: Humor and the Holocaust argues that humor performs
political, cultural, and social functions in the wake of horror.
Co-editors David Slucki, Gabriel N. Finder, and Avinoam Patt have
assembled an impressive list of contributors who examine what is at
stake in deploying humor in representing the Holocaust. Namely,
what are the boundaries? Clearly, there have been comedy and
laughter in the decades since. However, the extent to which humor
can be ethically deployed in representing and discussing the
Holocaust is not as clear. This book comes at an important moment
in the trajectory of Holocaust memory. As the generation of
survivors continues to dwindle, there is great concern among
scholars and community leaders about how memories and lessons of
the Holocaust will be passed to future generations. Without
survivors to tell their stories, to serve as constant reminders of
what they experienced, how will future generations understand and
relate to the Shoah? Laughter After is divided into two sections:
"Aftermath" and "Breaking Taboos." The contributors to this volume
examine case studies from World War II to the present day in
considering and reconsidering what role humor can play in the
rehabilitation of survivors, of Jews and of the world more broadly.
More recently, humor has been used to investigate the role that
Holocaust memory plays in contemporary societies, while challenging
memorial conventions around the Holocaust and helping shape the way
we think about the past. In a world in which Holocaust memory is
ubiquitous, even if the Holocaust itself is inadequately
understood, it is perhaps not surprising that humor that invokes
the Holocaust has become part of the memorial landscape. This book
seeks to uncover how and why such humor is deployed, and what the
factors are that shape its production and reception. Laughter After
will appeal to a number of audiences-from students and scholars of
Jewish and Holocaust studies to academics and general readers with
an interest in media and performance studies.
In 1978, Jakub Slucki passed away peacefully in his sleep at the
age of seventy-seven. A Holocaust survivor whose first wife and two
sons had been murdered at the Nazi death camp in Chelmno, Poland,
Jakub had lived a turbulent life. Just over thirty-seven years
later, his son Charles died of a heart attack. David Slucki's Sing
This at My Funeral: A Memoir of Fathers and Sons tells the story of
his father and his grandfather, and the grave legacy that they each
passed on to him. This is a story about the Holocaust and its
aftermath, about absence and the scars that never heal, and about
fathers and sons and what it means to raise young men. In Sing This
at My Funeral, tragedy follows the Slucki family across the globe:
from Jakub's early childhood in Warsaw, where he witnessed the
death of his parents during World War I, to the loss of his family
by the hand of the Nazis in April 1942 to his remarriage and
relocation in Paris, where after years of bereavement he welcomes
the birth of his third son before finally settling in Melbourne,
Australia in 1950 in an attempt to get as far away from the ravages
of war-torn Europe as he could. Charles (Shmulik in Yiddish) was
named both after Jakub's eldest son and his slain grandfather-a
burden he carried through his life, which was one otherwise marked
by optimism and adventure. The ghosts of these relatives were a
constant in the Slucki home, a small cottage that became the
lifeblood of a small community of Jewish immigrants. despite having
been shaped by the ghosts of his father's constantly hovering
sorrow. This book interweaves the stories of these men with that of
Slucki's own upbringing, showing how traumatic family histories
leave their mark for generations. Slucki's memoir blends the
scholarly and literary, grounding the story of his grandfather and
father in the broader context of the twentieth century. Based on
thirty years of letters from Jakub to his brother Mendel, on
archival materials, and on interviews with family members, this is
a unique story and an innovative approach to writing both history
and family narrative. Students, scholars, and general readers of
memoirs will enjoy this deeply personal reflection on family and
grief.
The Holocaust is often invoked as a benchmark for talking about
human rights abuses from slavery and apartheid to colonialism,
ethnic cleansing, and genocide. Western educators and politicians
draw seemingly obvious lessons of tolerance and anti-racism from
the Nazi past, and their work rests on the implicit assumption that
Holocaust education and commemoration will expose the dangers of
prejudice and promote peaceful coexistence. Holocaust Memory and
Racism in the Postwar World, edited by Shirli Gilbert and Avril
Alba, challenges the notion that there is an unproblematic
connection between Holocaust memory and the discourse of
anti-racism. Through diverse case studies, this volume historicizes
how the Holocaust has shaped engagement with racism from the 1940s
until the present, demonstrating that contemporary assumptions are
neither obvious nor inevitable. Holocaust Memory and Racism in the
Postwar World is divided into four sections. The first section
focuses on encounters between Nazism and racism during and
immediately after World War II, demonstrating not only that racist
discourses and politics persisted in the postwar period, but also,
perhaps more importantly, that few people identified links with
Nazi racism. The second section explores Jewish motivations for
participating in anti-racist activism, and the varying memories of
the Holocaust that informed their work. The third section
historicizes the manifold ways in which the Holocaust has been
conceptualized in literary settings, exploring efforts to connect
the Holocaust and racism in geographically, culturally, and
temporally diverse settings. The final section brings the volume
into the present, focusing on contemporary political causes for
which the Holocaust provides a benchmark for racial equality and
justice. Together, the contributions delineate the complex history
of Holocaust memory, recognize its contingency, and provide a
foundation from which to evaluate its moral legitimacy and
political and social effectiveness. Holocaust Memory and Racism in
the Postwar World is intended for students and scholars of
Holocaust and genocide studies, professionals working in museums
and heritage organizations, and anyone interested in building on
their knowledge of the Holocaust and the discourse of racism.
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