Lessons about Humanity and Survival from My Mother and from the Holocaust

Abstract

This essay centers on a story from the Holocaust, situated in the context of history, identity, and political economy, a story with lessons that have continued relevance for our understanding of violence, suffering, survival, and their aftermath. My mother was an aspiring physician in pre-war Poland, whose career was cut short when she was arrested by the Gestapo in 1944. As a Polish Catholic caught in the Holocaust, her story raises issues concerning the blurred boundaries of concepts such as survivor and collective memory, and provides the opportunity to apply "the focusing power of the Holocaust," by underscoring the key, pervasive role that forces such as dehumanization continue to play in the production and reproduction of violence, be it physical, political, symbolic, or structural.