The Routledge Handbook to Auschwitz-Birkenau by Cushman, Sarah M.; Pettitt, Joanne; Williams, Dominic;

Short description:

This handbook examines Auschwitz-Birkenau as both a site and a symbol of Nazi genocide. Scholars from a range of disciplinary perspectives consider Auschwitz’s history by engaging with Holocaust historiography and its place in Holocaust memory and representation, illustrating their mutual influence.

Long description:

This handbook examines Auschwitz-Birkenau as both a site and a symbol of Nazi genocide. Scholars from a range of disciplinary perspectives consider Auschwitz’s history by engaging with Holocaust historiography and its place in Holocaust memory and representation, illustrating their mutual influence.

The chapters bring new insights to topics that other studies of Auschwitz have explored before, such as the Sonderkommando, the Czech family camp, and literary representations of Auschwitz. Other chapters cover recent developments and more neglected areas, such as the experience and memory of Romani prisoners, the fate of Soviet prisoners of war, and Auschwitz’s presence on social media. The handbook also responds to a number of recent trends and new paradigms in Holocaust Studies, including contributions from the fields of Environmental Studies, Spatial Studies, and Gender Studies.

As a crucial overview of the topic of Auschwitz-Birkenau and an introduction to its most recent and fruitful scholarly approaches, this handbook will be a valuable resource for undergraduates from second year and up, as well as for graduate students and researchers seeking a survey of the field.

Table of Contents:

Introduction  Section 1: Placing Auschwitz  1. Auschwitz and the SS Concentration Camp System  2. Mapping Auschwitz  3. Thinking Auschwitz Spatially  4. The Auschwitz Environment  5. Auschwitz and Its Locale  Section 2: Prisoner Groups  6. O Drom o Rromano k’o Aušvic (The Romani Road to Auschwitz)  7. The Theresienstadt Family Camp in Auschwitz  8. Prisoner of War Camp Auschwitz  9. Children in Auschwitz-Birkenau  10. The Auschwitz Sonderkommando  Section 3: Experiences of Community and Suffering  11. Food and Hunger at Auschwitz  12. The “Muselmann” in Auschwitz  13. Music Making as Community Formation in Auschwitz-Birkenau: The Case of Krystyna Żywulska  14. Torah and Mitzvahs in Hell: Jewish Religious Activity in Auschwitz-Birkenau  Section 4: Perpetrators and Collaborators  15. Auschwitz and Its Imagery  16. SS Affiliated Women in Auschwitz  17. Civilian Workers on Site  18. The First Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial, 1963–1965  Section 5: Representing Auschwitz  19. Auschwitz and Fiction  20. Seeing Auschwitz: The Nazi Gaze in Auschwitz Perpetrator Fiction  21. “Auschwitz Still Lives and Breathes in Me”: Auschwitz-Birkenau in Romani Writing  22. Images of Auschwitz in Graphic Novels  23. Filming Auschwitz  Section 6: Key Figures in Cultural Memory  24. Hermann Langbein: Remembering as Political Practice  25. Charlotte Delbo  26. Arriving at Auschwitz with Elie Wiesel  27. Born of Fire: Yehiel Dinur (Ka-Tzetnik)’s Literary Testimony to Auschwitz  28. Primo Levi: The Duty of Testimony  Section 7: Global Auschwitz  29. The Meaning of the Barbed Wire: Auschwitz’s Place and Holocaust Memory in Brazil  30. Translating and Writing Auschwitz into Chinese Literature  31. Polish Perceptions of Auschwitz  32. Representing Horror: Auschwitz-Birkenau‏ in Israeli Documentary Cinema  Section 8: Postwar Reflections and Engagements  33. Auschwitz as a Political-Philosophical Problem  34. "We Remind People Daily. Again and Again": The Role(s) of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum’s Social Media  35. Tourism at Auschwitz