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Forgotten victims? The early Nazi Camp of Osthofen and its Jewish prisoners: a case study in local memorial culture
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posted on 2023-06-08, 23:08 authored by Kim WünschmannWithin the memorial landscape of former sites of Nazi terror the first concentration camps of 1933-34 have long remained forgotten and unmarked territory. This article deals with the early camp of Osthofen in Western Germany and analyses the reasons why the former institution of terror has been wrapped in silence for decades after its closure in the summer of 1934. Focussing on the fate and commemoration of Jewish prisoners it can be shown that camp terror and the violent persecution of the Jews rapidly destroyed the century long tradition of Christian-Jewish relations in the region. Bystanding and sometimes actively working towards the arrest and detention of their Jewish neighbours, members of the local population have participated in and profited from the violent exclusion that started in the midst of German society. But, as the paper shows, it was not only this uncomfortable participation in the historic catastrophe one wished to suppress that is responsible for the ‘forgetting’ of the camp. Politically biased memorial initiatives that remember first and foremost the fate of political prisoners and view the camp as a site of the antifascist class struggle overshadowed the distinct antisemitic dimension of Jewish camp detention. Finally, the horror and fascination surrounding the war-time concentration camps and Auschwitz in particular trivialized early camp terror and let Osthofen and the history of its Jewish prisoner appear ‘harmless’ and therefore ‘uninteresting’.
History
Publication status
- Published
Publisher
The Hebrew University Magnes PressIssue
2Page range
220-228Pages
339.0Book title
Forgetting: An Interdisciplinary ConversationPlace of publication
JerusalemISBN
9789654938464Series
Martin Buber Society of Fellows Notebook SeriesDepartment affiliated with
- History Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- No
Editors
Giovanni Galizia, David ShulmanLegacy Posted Date
2015-11-11Usage metrics
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