The Figure of the Child in Holocaust Representations
Open Access
- Author:
- Bubar, Mallory
- Graduate Program:
- German
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- November 18, 2019
- Committee Members:
- Sabine Doran, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Sabine Doran, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Samuel Mark Frederick, Committee Member
Daniel Leonhard Purdy, Committee Member
Eliyana Rebecca Adler, Outside Member
Samuel Mark Frederick, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Thomas Oliver Beebee, Program Head/Chair
Samuel Mark Frederick, Committee Chair/Co-Chair - Keywords:
- Child Figures
Holocaust
Representation
Literature
Film
Museums - Abstract:
- My dissertation titled “The Figure of the Child in Holocaust Representations” focuses on the child as a narrative construct and its function in Holocaust literature, film, and museums. Before my work, the figure of the child in the context of Holocaust representation had not been adequately researched at the academic level, despite its prominent presence in Holocaust representation since the immediate post-war years, starting with the popularity of Anne Frank’s diary. In order to adequately observe the child figure phenomenon, I investigate each medium of Holocaust representation and conduct close readings of popular or well-known representations using Hayden White’s concept of the middle voice and Alison Landsberg’s work in memory studies in order to illustrate how the child’s constructed innocence can impact a work. The first chapter focuses on literary representations of the child and close readings ranging from The Diary of Anne Frank to W.G. Sebald’s Austerlitz. I examine the particular narrative techniques the works use via the child figure to negotiate the impossibilities of Holocaust representation. The second chapter discusses filmic representations of children with an emphasis on film post Schindler’s List. I observe the unique role that films with an emphasis on the child as storyteller play in the discussion of the Holocaust and how a child’s viewpoint can provide a new visual manner of representing the Holocaust in film. The third chapter focuses on museums representations of the Holocaust child figure, centering on USHMM’S Daniel’s Story and its connection to the larger museum spaces dedicated to the atrocities. I evaluate the positioning of the child figure within institutional walls and the educational reach a child’s perspective can have on a visitor. In my conclusion, I examine the digital shift and the future impact of digital tools on these institutions. The works I discuss range from the historical to the fictional to show the child figure’s broad impact on Holocaust representation. My research provides an evaluation of the child’s role across all three mediums of representation and how its perceived innocence can interrupt a standard narrative. By investigating the representations of children in Holocaust narratives, I provide a new approach and way of reading the canonical material as well as new applications of archival material.