This thesis examines how poetic responses to the Holocaust in America, when they emerged, have differed from the novels addressing the same subject; how the Second World War has challenged, in a way the First World War did not, basic humanistic assumptions regarding the image of man, the role of God, the benefits of civilisation & culture, and the humanising power of art or reason; and how this impact has influenced modern trends in poetry. After an extensive background section documenting the impact the Holocaust and Second World War have made upon the literary imagination, an extensive review is conducted of the varied critical positions and criteria, both aesthetic and ethical, from which American literary responses have been evaluated. Among the major critical positions is the belief that there should be no literary response to the Holocaust; that this literary response must primarily serve to document and testify; that the Holocaust should not be addressed imaginatively by non-victims; and that the Holocaust should not be used as a metaphor to convey some other subject or theme. These and other critical standpoints are discussed in relation to works by ten American poets whose poetry is representative of the ways in which the Holocaust has impacted on the poetic imagination, the breadth of poetic responses to this atrocity, and the range of difficulties and corresponding criticisms which are associated with almost all attempts to respond creatively to the Holocaust. The poets examined are Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Maxine Kumin, Adrienne Rich, Denise Levertov, Stephen Berg, Van Brock, W.D. Snodgrass, William Heyen and Charles Reznikoff. Where illustrative, comparisons to relevant European poets have been made, including Nellie Sachs and Paul Celan. It was concluded that certain poets (Levertov, Rich, Heyen), as well as certain critical standpoints (Ezrahi, Langer, James Young) did more justice to the reality of the Holocaust and the challenges it poses to the literary and poetic imagination. Bibliography: p. 135-140.

A shortened version of the author's dissertation (doctoral)--University of South Africa, entitled: A heuristic study of the meaning of suffering among Holocaust survivors. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [287]-311) and indexes.

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The diploma thesis deals with the Auschwitz theme in philosophy and ethics. The first part of the thesis aims to describe the development of the humanistic tradition in Europe as well as individual types of humanism, their basis and their difficulties. The main focus of the diploma thesis is on the philosophy of Emmanuel Lévinas and Jean-François Lyotard. Furthermore, the hypothesis, according to which traditional humanism resulted in the events of Holocaust, is derived from their thoughts. The aim of the study is to prove or disprove this hypothesis. In addition to the analysis of both Lévinas and Lyotard's theories, it also addresses the studies of other philosophers whose philosophical thinking is related to the issue of Holocaust. Their thoughts and concepts are compared and confronted with the theories of the main critics of the concept of humanism, Lévinas and Lyotard. Key words: Auschwitz, Holocaust, Nazism, Humanism, Lévinas, Lyotard

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

In der vorliegenden Diplomarbeit wird untersucht, welchen Einfluss kollektive Erinnerung und offizielle Geschichtsschreibung auf die Bildung kollektiver Identitäten haben und speziell auf Israel bezogen, wie und ob aus der Erinnerungskultur an die Shoah Handlungsmotivationen im gegenwärtigen Konflikt abgeleitet und diese mit Bezug auf die Shoah legitimiert werden. Der Focus im theoretischen Bereich der Arbeit liegt in erster Linie auf der Entstehung kultureller Gedächtnisse und kollektiver Identitäten speziell auf den Dynamiken, die sie in Großkollektiven wie Nationen entwickeln, in denen mehrere Erinnerungsdiskurse und Gruppenidentitäten der gesamtgesellschaftlichen Integration bedürfen. Des weiteren wird der Frage nachgegangen in welchem Verhältnis moderne Geschichtswissenschaft und kollektive Erinnerung zueinander stehen. Ist eine echte Trennung von Geschichtswissenschaft und kollektiver Erinnerung in der gelebten Realität einer Gruppe überhaupt möglich, vor allem, wenn ihr Gegenstand eine zentrale Rolle im kulturellen Gedächtnis des Kollektivs einnimmt und exponiert zur Identitätskonstruktion herangezogen wird, wie die Shoah in Israel? Hier schließt sich die Rezeption der Entwicklung der Shoah-Erinnerung in Israel von der Gründung des Staates bis heute an. Untersucht wird hier, welchen Stellenwert die Erinnerung an die Shoah zu den verschiedenen Zeiten im Selbstbild der jüdischen Israelis einnahm und warum sie immer wieder Eingang in tagespolitische Diskurse und Entscheidungen fand. Kommt es in Zeiten der äußeren Bedrohung durch Selbstmordanschläge oder andere außen- und innenpolitischen Unsicherheitssituationen zu einer verstärkten Projektion der Shoah-Erinnerung auf die Gegenwart? Dieser Frage wird im dritten Teil der Arbeit an Hand einer Zeitungsanalyse nachgegangen. / This diploma thesis analyses the impact of the collective remembrance and the official historiography on the collective memory. The specific question concerning Israel is asking if the actions in the ongoing conflict are derived and motivated from the cultural remembrance of the Shoah and how are these actions legitimized in reference to the Shoah. The theoretical focus of this paper lies in the genesis of the cultural commemorations and collective identities, specifically on the dynamics that have developed in large groups such as in nations, where different discourses of remembrance and group-identities require integration to society as a whole. Furthermore the question how historical science and collective memory relate to one another is pursued. Is it possible that there is a definite distinction between the historiography and the collective memory of the living group’s reality, particularly when the subject plays a major roll in the cultural recommendation of the collective society, such as the Shoah in modern Israel? This is followed by an analysis of how the remembrance of the Shoah has developed in Israel from its foundation as a state to modern times. The specific subject of interest here is the relative importance of how the remembrance of the Shoah has affected the self-perception of Jewish Israelis and why it consistently penetrates current political affairs and their decisions. Can there be found an increased projection of the Shoah remembrance in the present in situations of inner- and outer political interference, for example by suicide-bombings or in times of external and internal uncertainty? This question is pursued in the last part of this paper through newspaper analysis.

This study examined the narratives and stories of 13 daughters of Jewish women Holocaust survivors. A qualitative multi-methodological integrative approach that incorporated feminist standpoint epistemologies and elements oF grounded theory was used. Mechanisms such as the use of an auditor and judges were utilized to address the researcher's reflexive stance and subjective frame. Participants' data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Interviews were subjected to extensive qualitative analyses and were compared to find recursive themes and sub-themes. The results oF this study indicated that Holocaust survivor mothers were conceptualized by their daughters as being either strong, challenged or both. Participants described the lessons they learned from their mothers' survivor narratives and stories in terms of strength, resilience, transcendency and Jewish identity. Participants considered these lessons to be vital aspects of their lives and strategies for living.

This thesis aims to investigate the religious beliefs/practices of Jewish victims of the Holocaust to discover whether these beliefs/practices were experienced as helping them to deal with the horror they were faced with in a spiritual and psychological sense. I am calling this spiritual survival in contrast to physical survival as most of the Holocaust victims did not survive physically. I intend to research this by reading diaries and other works written, as much as possible, during the actual time of the Holocaust. These materials are somewhat limited as even the materials to write with were hard to come by. Therefore, writings by survivors will also be used. I will analyse the materials with the use of two main areas of psychology; firstly, developmental psychology which looks at the development of a sense of self and secondly, recent research on trauma. / Thesis (MArts(ReligionStudies))--University of South Australia, 2003.

Thesis (PhD) -- University of Western Sydney, 2002. / "A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney in the fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts (Honours), May 2002." Bibliography: p. 300-333.