Approaching an Auschwitz Survivor: Holocaust Testimony and its Transformations by Jurgen Matthaus, ed.
Approaching an Auschwitz Survivor takes a unique approach to understanding the Holocaust. Instead of simply compiling stories of many survivors, this book takes the testimony of one survivor, Helen "Zippi" Tichauer, and has it analyzed by Holocaust scholars who have known her personally. Zippi's detailed testimony covers over fifty years, from her time in Auschwitz to meeting and marrying her husband in a DP camp, surviving the war and making a new life for herself in New York, but at the same time making sure that her story would never be forgotten. Five scholars who have interviewed Zippi independently of each other analyze different aspects of her story: order, death, and survival in Auschwitz, comparative humane aspects of camp life, translating and transforming Zippi's first testimony dating back to 1946, postwar Jewish life, and the role of survivors for classroom teaching. These scholars have put together a fascinating read about not only how survivor testimony better helps in the understanding of the Holocaust itself, but delving into the deeper meaning of collecting testimonies and their value in history. Highly recommended for all types of libraries.
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