Holocaust and Genocide Studies Commons^™

Paul Celan And The Processes Of Survival In Post-Shoah Jewish Writing, Ari Savage

Theses

The following is a study of the poetry of Paul Celan as a representation of psychological and social processes present in the written works of Shoah survivors. It begins with an analysis of the place of writing in Jewish culture, then identifies three primary processes which operate in sequence: alienation, individuation, and integration. By examining Paul Celan’s highly personal and autobiographical texts in the context of his life experience as a Shoah survivor it is possible to discern the social and psychological forces at work which compel survivors to express their traumas in written form, and to gain a better …

Imagining The “Day Of Reckoning”: American Jewish Performance Activism During The Holocaust, Maya C. Gonzalez

Masters Theses

Scholars of American Jewish history have long debated the complicity of the American Jewish community in the loss of six million Jewish lives in Europe during the Holocaust. After Hitler took power in 1933, American Jewish leaders took to the streets to protest the Nazi Party’s abuse of German Jews. Two central figures in this history are Reform Rabbi Stephen Wise and Revisionist Zionist Ben Hecht because of their wide-reaching protest movements that operated in competition with each other. Although the historiography presents Wise and Hecht's inability to unite as the product of difference, my examination of their protest performances …

Historical Trauma: Literary And Testimonial Responses To Hiroshima, Mariam Ghonim

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of trauma is controversial in literature. While one may be able to come up with ways to describe trauma in fiction, representing historical trauma is a hard task for writers. Some argue that trauma can not be described through those who did not experience it, while others claim that, provided some elements are added, one can represent trauma to the reader. This thesis focuses on twentieth-century historical traumas related to a nuclear catastrophe and explores the different literary and testimonial responses to the catastrophic man-made event of Hiroshima (1945). In this thesis, Kathleen Burkinshaw’s historical fiction The Last …

Uncovering Emotional Contamination: Five Sites Of Trauma, Abigail Zola

Masters Theses

“Emotional contamination,” describes residual feelings associated with a space where a negative or tragic event occurred to an individual or group either personally, historically, or politically. Emotional contamination affects people’s associations with place and informs their willingness to spend time in them. This project considers a set of design principles rooted in uncovering and acknowledging the lifespan of a site, and considers how this acknowledgment can exist as an urban system rather than an individual architectural artifact. My thesis work analyzes five case studies in Berlin where political and economic factors determined the result of intervention, and how these sites …

Survivor Accounts Of Sexual Violence In The Holocaust And Rwandan Genocide: A Comparative History, Marisa Silva

Honors Projects

This research seeks to analyze and understand the approach and treatment of victims of sexual assaults stories and accounts using case studies of the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide. Research was conducted by collecting and reading first-hand accounts of survivors and their experiences of sexual assault, then analyzing the historical response following the events. The two case studies are synthesized and compared in this project to understand which attributes of political and social policy effected the reception of stories of victims and witnesses of rape and assault. Both genocides are affected by unique struggles in collecting witness accounts, as well …

A Critical-Inclusive Approach To Instructing On Genocide Education In The United States: Delivering An Equally Critical And Inclusive Approach To Professional Development, Cassidy S. Ernst

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper presents a new approach to teaching the preconditions for genocide. Bringing together a number of theoretical insights from recent research, it focuses on the pedagogical value of a critical inclusive approach to genocide education. Such an approach incorporates persecuted groups commonly excluded from educational narratives, such as the experiences of homosexuals during the Holocaust. It also places genocide education within a wider framework focused on prevention and advocacy. Through utilizing a critical-inclusive approach to genocide education in the classroom, youth will be equipped with a stronger conception of genocide, genocidal ideologies, and measures that can be taken to …

Socialist Legality On Trial: The Purge Of The Ukrainian Nkvd, 1938-1943, Reide Petty

Honors Theses

In the winter of 1938, Grigorii Iufa was put on trial in a Soviet court for the violation of socialist legality, a charge alleging that he had manipulated Soviet legal processes and undermined the rule of law during his work. Prior to his arrest, Iufa had worked in the Moldavian division of the NKVD, the Soviet Union’s state security agency. In that capacity, he had played a significant role in the Great Terror, which was a highly concentrated campaign of mass violence conducted by the Soviet Union between 1937-1938 against perceived enemies among its own citizenry. This campaign primarily consisted …

Was Ist (Nicht) Deutsch? Historische Und Aktuelle Versuche "Deutsch" Ex Negativo Zu Definieren, Mark Mckinney Smith

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

In this thesis I explore the question of how a xenophobic ideology could find a receptive audience in 21st Century Germany. Given extensive postwar efforts in Germany to address the Nazi Period, this question is of particular interest. I analyze and compare racist and xenophobic ideologies in four time periods: the Napoleonic Period, the Wilhelmine Period, the National Socialist Period and the contemporary period. Historically, xenophobic ideology is deeply tied to particular social and economic conditions which leads to the following questions: What are the similarities and differences between contemporary xenophobic messaging and that of the three other time periods …

Banned Or Grand?: Why Graphic Novels Maus And Persepolis Belong In The Classroom, Lauren Volk

Munn Scholars Awards

My capstone essay, “Banned or Grand?: Why Graphic Novels Maus and Persepolis Belong in The Classroom,” seeks to research both the objections to oft-banned memoir graphic novels being incorporated in the secondary school curriculum and the reasons why these graphic novels should not only be incorporated into the curriculum, but also why they assist students in developing necessary skills, such as higher-level critical thinking, a deeper understanding of complicated historical events, and the analysis of form and structure in literature, rather than just content. To enhance my research, I connected my main points to the pedagogical theory of learning transfer.

The Wehrmacht Experience In World War Ii, Tyler Masterson

Theses

German soldiers who were in the Wehrmacht during World War II faced many different experiences from the beginning of the war when it seemed they were in control to later parts of the war were they were being driven back by the Allies. Along with the different experiences from different times of the war, they also faced different experiences when it came to what front they were fighting on. Fronts and theaters that stretch from North Africa and the Mediterranean Campaign to Eastern Europe and Russia to Western Europe. When it comes to the troops that were fighting in the …

An Ill-Suited Memorial? Nazi Atrocities In Publications On The American Right, 1930-1985, Sandor Farkas

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

From 1930 to 1985, reactions to Nazi atrocities in the Saturday Evening Post, Wall Street Journal, and National Review represent a sampling of the American political right’s understanding, memory, and use of the Holocaust. A touchstone for evil in American culture and politics, few scholarly works have explored the origins of the Holocaust’s outsized role in American political discourse, and fewer have seriously considered the American right’s role in this evolution. Nazi atrocities assumed their role in American politics because the novelty of Nazi crimes against Jews and their post-war consequences received persistent media attention. On the American political right, …

The History Of Teaching The Holocaust In Public Secondary Schools In The United States, From The 1960s To The Present, Julia Highbury Spenser

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Vulnerable Culture: Protecting History In War And Peace, Molly Luce

CMC Senior Theses

Cultural, historic, and religious sites and objects have a strong correlation with the identity of the community they belong to, in addition to that of humanity. Rosilawati et al. assert that “Cultural heritage and social identity exists in correlation and are interconnected. The shared identity associated with one’s cultural background and historic setting may initiate feelings of pride in one’s culture.”^[1]Essentially, the looting and destruction of such sites and antiquities is not only an attack on the tangible, but the very essence of a population. As the War in Ukraine rages on, Ukrainian cultural heritage sites and historic …

(Re)Constructing National Memory In Neoliberal Chile Through Patricio Guzman's The Cordillera Of Dreams (2019), Mica Barrett

Scripps Senior Theses

One of the most renowned Chilean exile filmmakers is Patricio Guzmán. Best known for his documentary work regarding the Allende years, Guzmán has continued to make films regarding his homeland in the decades following his initial exile.

The Cordillera of Dreams is the concluding film in a trilogy exploring the natural lands of Chile and their relationship to physical remnants of the human past. The initial and most renowned film in the series, Nostalgia for the Light, centers the Atacama Desert and Chileans’ relationship to the geography as a gateway to revealing artifacts of Chile’s recent history of genocide …

Frewayni's Garden: Preserving Tigrayan Culture During A Period Of Ethnocide, Gabrielle F. Tesfaye

Theses and Dissertations

The recent and ongoing genocidal war in Tigray, Ethiopia, has witnessed the destruction and looting of countless historical religious sites, ancient manuscripts, and artifacts, leaving Tigray’s remaining cultural heritage extremely vulnerable. Such cultural loss erases a shared understanding across generations, robbing them of their history and identity. My work contributes to the safeguarding of Tigray’s cultural heritage and collective memory, informed by literature on cultural preservation efforts in post-war societies, and a series of interviews with Tigrayans in the diaspora and in Ethiopia.

The outcome of this thesis is embodied in a series of distinct jebenas, traditional Tigrayan clay coffee …

A Hollow Victory And Unending Problem: The Undying Anti-Russian Insurgency In Ukraine, Abraham Ashley

MSU Graduate Theses

This thesis uses quantitative and qualitative research methods to: (1) explore the base causes of insurgency in Ukraine, (2) examine the historical basis for Ukrainian insurgency, (3) provide historical examples of successful and unsuccessful insurgencies to contrast against Ukraine, and (4) provide recommendations for NATO and Ukrainian policy. Collectively, this project demonstrates that current Russian counterinsurgency tactics will not be successful without significant adjustment. This Ukrainian insurgency may also derail the possibility of peace in the region.

A United Failure: The Failure Of The United Nations, United States, And Global Community In Preventing And Responding To The 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Josh Ratsch

Honors College Theses

The Rwandan Genocide represents a glaring failure of the global community to provide humanitarian protection to targets of ethnic violence and slaughter. The complete indifference displayed by the United Nations provided extremist Hutu leaders with an environment for killing without a threat of foreign intervention. Calls by the leader of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), Roméo Dallaire to reinforce the mission both before and during the slaughter fell upon deaf ears as UN leaders attempted to justify their inaction. Accounts from Rwandan representatives, who at the start of the genocide held a position on the UN Security …

“I Held On At Any Price”: Victim Self-Preservation In The Sonderkommando In Auschwitz And Treblinka, Jessica Christina Foster

All Theses

Many Holocaust victims have expressed uneasiness or even shame regarding the actions they took to stay alive in the death camps. These acts of self-preservation were usually humiliating and often came at the expense of their fellow victims. This comes out most clearly in the testimonies of the members of the Sonderkommando in Auschwitz and Treblinka. Writers such as Filip Müller, Zalmen Gradowski, and Richard Glazar recount how they survived the lethal environment of the camp by appropriating the food, clothing, and valuables of the people murdered in the gas chambers. Although most scholars have interpreted these testimonies, and the …

Budding Nationalism In The Black Garden; Nagorno Karabakh And The Role Of Conflict In Developing Azerbaijani National Identity, Kris Bohnenstiehl

History Theses

Azerbaijan's war with Armenia in late 2020, was dubbed the "Patriotic War" by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his supporters. Emphasizing the nature of conflict with Armenia as the greatest possible expression of Azerbaijani nationalism, the Aliyev cabinet has utilized the conflict to generate popular support for the authoritarian government. This paper delves into the history of Azerbaijan to flesh out the roots of the conflict and better understand how Azerbaijanis understand their own national identity.

From Serbia To Xinjiang; A Comparative Analysis Of Genocidal Regimes, Drake Mitchell Olson

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Rather than seeking to give a causal explanation of genocide and ethnic cleansing, I ask the more pointed question “are there patterns present at the societal level that signal the potentiality of genocide in a given cultural context?” Through examination of two socially and temporally distinct instances of genocide, the Bosnian genocide and the Uyghur genocide, I argue that there exist certain patterns which precede historical instances of genocide and that these antecedent phenomena contribute to the potential for genocide in those societies. I identify three broad trends that contribute to the potential of genocide: the cultivation of ethnic nationalism …

From Madness To Medicine: How Nazi Medical Experimentation Morphed Into Today’S Medical Field, Alexandria Daughn Kerby

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

It is no secret that many of our current scientific and medical advancements stem from a long history of research, trials, and experimentation, but not enough is known about the origins of our routine practices. The Holocaust enabled Nazi doctors to explore countless victims in search of the ultimate answer to the Jewish question. The answer: to alleviate the burden that those deemed “unworthy of life” placed on the greater society. The mass extermination practices which highlight the atrocities of the Holocaust are the end result of constant scientific developments disguised as medicine. Tiergarten 4 (T4) serves as the beginning …

'The Street Scene Prologue': Holocaust Survivors, The American Nazi Party, And Exodus, Jason Van

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

During the early 1960s when the American Civil Rights movement was beginning to gain momentum, another movement across the world was taking place to solidify the newly formed country of Israel as a sovereign state. To commemorate the foundation of Israel, American director Otto Preminger created the film Exodus, adapted from a book of the same name by Leon Uris. George Lincoln Rockwell, leader of the American Nazi Party, decided to take action by traveling throughout the country with his closest members to protest the film. Rockwell and his group of Nazis were outraged by the pro-Zionist depictions and the …

The Restitution Of Nazi-Looted Art In The United States: A Legal And Policy Analysis, Katharine J. Namon

Senior Theses and Projects

Restitution of Nazi-looted art in the United States is a complicated legal and policy issue. Victims and their heirs seeking restitution of their stolen art frequently encounter inconsistent legal standards at the state, federal, and international levels. Moreover, there are many different parties involved in these cases, including countries, museums, private collections, auction houses, heirs, and individuals who may have an interest in the particular work of art. Ethics must also be considered, and in the past, international principles for nations have been established to guide the process of delivering victims of wartime looting justice. Unfortunately, the current legal framework …

The Nazi Aesthetic: Nuance And Contradiction In Systematic Art Theft And Collection Efforts, Katharine J. Namon

Senior Theses and Projects

Nazi art collecting and looting was a strong and persistent undercurrent throughout World War II. The public and private practices of Nazi officials reveal both their aesthetic tastes and obsession with establishing themselves as highly educated, cultured patrons of the arts. Although the party’s artistic preferences are hard to define, it is evident that their stance on what constituted fine art and culture was entirely illogical, inconsistent, and incongruent. By examining their motives for acquiring such an astounding amount of art, the artistic tastes of individual Nazi officials, and the public exhibitions they held to advertise their values, one can …

Hannah Arendt And The Lives Of The Female Intellectual Celebrity: Public Imagery And Storytelling Before And Since 1995, Gabrielle G. Johansson

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the lives of Hannah Arendt, specifically her image as a celebrity intellectual before 1995 and variant Arendtian protagonists which arose after 1995, with the publishing of Elżbita Ettinger’s Hannah Arendt/Martin Heidegger. Ettinger’s book was the first of its kind to explore their love letters and create from them a narrative of scandal, passion, and paradox. Before 1995, Arendt’s image was secure as a well-respected philosopher and guide for Vergangenheitsbewältigung. After 1995, Arendt’s image and legacy fragmented as artists and academics tried to make sense of how the celebrated philosopher could have had an affair with …

Contextualizing Britain’S Holocaust Memorial And Museums: Form, Content, And Politics, Rebecca D. Pollack

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The quantity of Holocaust memorials in Britain and their prominence in public debates beseeches the question: Why does a country with a modest Jewish population, that was neither occupied by the Nazis nor lost its citizens in the horrors of the Holocaust, devote large quantities of resources and time to memorializing the events of the Holocaust? While there are private and synagogue-based Holocaust memorials in Britain, this dissertation centers on Britain’s statefunded Holocaust memorials and museums, a substantial network of memorials that is often left out of the abundant literature on Holocaust memory. Each memorial project is examined through the …

The Relationship Between Turks And Armenians Leading Up To And During The Great War, Kutay Agardici

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper examines the long-standing debate over the events that transpired during the late Ottoman Empire between local Armenians and their predominately Muslim neighbors as well as the government. The term, “Armenian Genocide” has been used often to describe these tragic events. My writing goes into depth regarding the background history of this term. I write about the narrative of what happened between the two major groups during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as told by multiple different scholars. Narratives included are of Abdul Hamid II’s reign, the political parties created by Armenians in order for protest, the …

The Slater Fire Was The Product Of Settler Colonialism, William Joseph Curtis

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The Slater Fire of 2020 burned in Karuk aboriginal territory overseen by the Klamath National Forest. It burned over 200 homes to the ground and ravage over 100,000 acres of forest. This thesis argues that state-enforced fire suppression policies and methods are tools of settler-colonial erasure and the continuation of genocidal violence towards Karuk people. It analyzes the conflict between interests of the colonial state on one side and Indigenous resistance and survival on the other. Fire is an essential tool for the survival of Indigenous cultural identities, the material security of said populations, and the health of the environs …

Johnson V. M'Intosh: Christianity, Genocide, And The Dispossession Of Indigenous Peoples, Cynthia J. Boshell

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Using hermeneutical methodology, this paper examines some of the legal fictions that form the foundation of Federal Indian Law. The text of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1823 Johnson v. M’Intosh opinion is evaluated through the lens of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to determine the extent to which the Supreme Court incorporated genocidal principles into United States common law. The genealogy of M’Intosh is examined to identify influences that are not fully apparent on the face of the case. International jurisprudential interpretations of the legal definition of genocide are summarized and used as …

Seeing Forced Isolation Through New Eyes: Covid-19, Anne Frank, And The Violence Of The Nation-State, Anna Raines

CMC Senior Theses

In my senior thesis, I explore the social, political, and cultural effects and consequences of forced isolation. Forced isolation is a strategy adopted by governments in order to deal with a range of issues in contemporary history, often resulting in exclusionary practices, the redefinition or assertion of national sovereignty and nation-state boundaries, contagion, detention, and imprisonment. As a consequence of these varied processes and actions, when an individual or a social group is forced into an isolated space and ostracized from society, they are cast out of routine socialization, and the effects of this can endure even if a return …