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Alvin H. Rosenfeld kritisiert die Zunahme von Büchern, Filmen und öffentlichen Gedenkveranstaltungen zum Holocaust. Während dies das Gedenken an den Holocaust schwächt, warnt er vor Konsequenzen eines Endes im öffentlichen Bewusstsein.

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The thoughts expressed in this volume serve to further the debate on the Holocaust: The more this theme is discussed, the greater its meaning will become in public awareness.

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In this volume Alvin H. Rosenfeld criticizes the recent increase in the number of books, films and public memorials held to remember the Holocaust. It is almost perverse that such an escalation threatens rather to denigrate the remembrance of the Holocaust and effectively weakens its meaning. Rosenfeld studies a number of events, for example, Ronald Reagan s visit to the cemetery at Bitburg in 1985 or the distortions to the story of the Anne Frank and the overall reception of the Holocaust in popular culture. He also points out the cultural forces that work to downplay the general perception of the Holocaust. The book ends with an emphatic warning against the possible consequences of proclaiming the End of the Holocaust in the public awareness.

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Alvin H. Rosenfeld argues that the increasing number of books, films, tv-shows, museums etc. about the Holocaust caused a tremendous decrease of its meaning. By examining a large amount of cultural phenomena, like Ronald Reagans visit at the Graveyard in Bitburg 1985, the deformation of the history of Anne Frank and the way the Holocaust is shown by artists and movie directors like Judy Chicago or Steven Spielberg, Rosenberg shows the cultural dynamics that minimized the meaning of the Holocaust in public perception.
In contrast he presents factual writings of witnesses of the Holocaust like Jean Améry, Primo Levi, Elie Wiesel and Imre Kertész.

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Rosenfeld, Alvin H.
Dr. Alvin H. Rosenfeld hat den Irving M. Glazer-Lehrstuhl für Jüdische Studien inne und ist Professor für Englisch an der Indiana University Bloomington.

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