Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory

by Lawrence L. Langer

Shows how oral Holocaust memories complement historical studies by confronting the human dimensions of the catastrophe

Genres: Nonfiction, Holocaust, History, Germany, Psychology

236 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Langer analyzes the oral testimonies of Holocaust survivors, describing the ways that oral testimonies give us raw, less rationalized perspectives on the Holocaust than written memoirs. While the written memoirs by nature attempt to explain the experience to the reader, Langer contends, survivors often despair of making others understand, emphasizing the total disconnect between everyday life and their suffering under the cruelty and absolute authority of the German authorities. More than one talked about having died as a result of the shattering of their world brought about by the Holocaust. Langer writes, echoing some of those that he quotes, that in such an environment where the individual is denied the freedom to make the kind of moral decisions of normal life, standard conceptions of morality and heroism are completely useless. This runs contrary to the ways in which the interviewers of the survivors often wanted to interpret the survivors' stories as evidence of heroism or "the triumph of the human spirit."

I don't think that Langer is right that any conception of morality outside the death camps cannot apply in the camps. Langer seems to be influenced by a kind of existentialist ethic, and perhaps that is impossible in the camps because individual freedom is so radically restricted or destroyed. But I would adopt a softer version of Langer's argument in saying that we on the outside looking in and back should try to understand the kind of disconnect that the survivors tell us about and try to understand the experience of the victims of the Holocaust with great compassion.

Langer seems to think that Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz is one of the best memoirs to take us into the world that the oral testimonies reveal.

[Zachary R · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Holocaust Testimonies was a interesting book but not for the ones who like a more intense book rather than a calm and sort of frightening book upon the Holocaust. This Book is about the past experiences of the people who were sent to the special camps. Their was many main people who played their part in the book, with that being said their was truly no main character besides the Nazi's and how cruel they were to others and the actions that they posed. The plot started out as a place in which people would start to express how they felt about the Holocaust and later on they showed more emotional connections to the friends and family's that they have lost.
The style of the book is separated into 5 parts most of the parts are dealing with the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. The delivery of the stories are sadly not the way it should be explained, for me it sounded as if it was a TV interview in which is just not my style while for some others might enjoy this, reasoning to why I rated this a 1 Out of 5. I'd say the author did a good job on receiving the information but I feel it wasn't expressed enough. I'd say this because it was as if just written with a non-excited voice for me but yet again others might have a different opinion on my thought's.
I put the rating for this book as a 1/5 because I find it in my opinion boring and dull because I have read another Holocaust book before this one. And I found the first one more interesting because it told the life of a victim who explained in detail of what happened. And I see this book as an importance though because it does tell of what occurred and the memories of the victims and how they felt during that period and will look back and try to not make the same mistakes as they have done in that time period and not let human beings go through that again.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Langer, who has observed over 300 hours of Holocaust testimony (I can't even begin to imagine), examines the memories of Holocaust survivors with five specific categories. Although he provides more than enough actual testimony his purpose is in trying to explain how that particular trauma has affected memory. So, this isn't really a history book, but it's not a psychological exploration either. Langer, an English professor, uses literary analysis and philosophical exploration to examine the memories. For me, the memory categories were useful, although at times contrived, and, not being up a literary critic or philosopher myself, felt a little lost in the passages that continually referred to Nietzche and Proust.

However, his examination of the memories is extremely powerful and very painful. In all my reading on the Holocaust, I can't say that I have ever been so personally moved (and distraught). From an historical perspective, I am reminded of the pitfalls, but also the immense value, or using oral testimony in research.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memory of trauma rips the bearer to their core, causing rifts and crags to appear in their lives. For Holocaust survivors, this is a microscopic statement. Lawrence Langer’s book plunges the reader into the tumultuous mind of survivor memory, describing as best he can the absolute decimation of the self among the “ruins of memory”. In his countless observations of oral testimonies, Langer found different modes of memory being used by the witnesses, modes which intersect and connect. These modes are deep memory, anguished memory, humiliated memory, tainted memory, and unheroic memory.

[Micebyliz]

Although i have read extensively about the Holocaust, i'm afraid that some of this material was above my pay grade. It's not that i didn't understand it, but i felt that i was missing a lot that i should have understood. I think the bottom line is that those of us who did not experience this trauma will never truly understand anyway despite our longing to, and all of our research and pursuit of truth.

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read just a few chapters for class

At the same time got it and didn’t get it, but a noble and fascinating effort

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would give three and a half. When you get past the highly academic and haughty language, there is some great content. Difficult to read.

[Emma Ranheim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was incredibly interesting even though I still don’t know if I fully understood it.

[Mill gee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The bad reviews on this are very confusing. It’s an academic text on the function of memory in trauma testimonies…. if you need something intense maybe read The Tattooist of Auschwitz instead ???

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Langer examines historical testimonies of extreme trauma in order to discover the structure of memory. The work offers historians and psychologists perspectives on the legacy of any devastating historical/personal experience.

[Jen]

recommended by Professor Amy Simon in my Literature of the Holocaust course