Mirrors of Destruction: War, Genocide, and Modern Identity

313 Pages·2000·1.19 MB·English

by  Omer Bartov

MIRRORS OF DESTRUCTION

n MIRRORs OF
DESTRUCTIOn
War, Genocide, and
Modern Identity
n
OMER BARTOV
1
2000
1
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Copyright © 2000by Oxford University Press, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bartov, Omer.
Mirrors of destruction : war, genocide, and modern identity / Omer Bartov.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–19–507723–7
1. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)—Historiography. 2. Genocide. 3. Ethnicity.
4. World War, 1914–1918––Influence. 5. France––History––20th century––Historiography.
6. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)––Public opinion. 7. Public opinion––Germany.
8. Memory. I. Title
D804.348 B37 2000
940.53′18′072––dc21 99–039974
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
in memoriam
Yehudit Bartov,
1924–1998

Acknowledgments
This book was written over the span of several years. At times it
seemed that it would never be completed. Now that it is done, I feel
that there is much more that could have been said, read, and written
on this topic. Yet it does represent my thinking at this point in time
and will hopefully be of some use to others who are grappling with
the realities of our century as it comes to a close.
On the way I accumulated more debts than I could possibly ac-
knowledge without providing a long list of names. I would thus like
to thank all those who have read and commented on drafts of papers,
published articles, lectures, reviews, and all other thoughts and ideas
I sent their way verbally, electronically, or on paper. One of the more
elevating experiences I had in writing this often depressing book was
to confirm the tremendous value of an ongoing intellectual exchange
with friends and colleagues ranging well beyond the academic poli-
tics and gossip that seem to take up so much of our time and energy.
In particular I wish to thank the National Endowment for the Hu-
manities for a research fellowship during 1996–97and Rutgers Uni-
versity for granting me sabbatical leave during 1995–96. Without these
two years of leave, I would not have been able to complete this book.
My wife, Li Wai-yee, has her own books to write and our daughter,
Shira, and my son, Raz, thankfully have more enjoyable things on
their minds than war and genocide, as they forge their own identities.
But without them, I would not have had the courage to stare at the
Gorgon’s face. I dedicate this book to my mother, whose life spans
not only much of this century’s sorrow and pity but also its hope and
glory, from Buczacz in Polish Ukraine to Kibbutz Ein Ha-choresh
viii acknowledgments
in Israel. She taught me more than I ever admitted during her life-
time.Tehi nishmatah tserurah bi-tsror ha-chayim.
Some sections of this book include revised versions of previously
published articles and chapters in edited volumes. I wish to thank the
editors and publishers of the following publications for allowing me
to reprint them here, either in part, whole, or expanded form. These
are, in order of appearance in the book: “Martyrs’ Vengeance: Mem-
ory, Trauma, and Fear of War in France, 1918–1940,” in The French
Defeat of 1940: Reassessments,ed. Joel Blatt (Providence and Oxford:
Berghahn Books, 1998), pp.54–84; “The Proof of Ignominy: Vichy
France’s Past and Present,” Contemporary European History7/1(1998):
107–131; “Trauma and Absence: France and Germany, 1914–45,” in
Time to Kill: The Soldier’s Experience of War in the West 1939–
1945, ed. P. Addison and A. Calder (London: Pimlico Press, 1997),
pp.347–58; “Trauma and Absence,” part II, in European Memories of
the Second World War,ed. H. Peitsch, C. Burdett, C. Gorrara (New
York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1999), pp. 258–71; “Defining
Enemies, Making Victims: Germans, Jews, and the Holocaust,”
American Historical Review103/3(June1998):771–816; “The Lessons
of the Holocaust,” Dimensions12/1(1998):13–20; “Kitsch and Sadism
in Ka-Tzetnik’s Other Planet: Israeli Youth Imagine the Holocaust,”
Jewish Social Studies(spring1997):42–76.
All translations in this book are mine, unless otherwise noted.
All photographs copyright © by Omer Bartov, unless otherwise
noted.
Contents
Introduction 3
1. fields of glory 9
2. grand illusions 45
3. elusive enemies 91
4. apocalyptic visions 143
Conclusion 213
Notes 231
Index 289