Module 5: Memory and the Holocaust

Holocaust Remembrance

A Memento of Edith Reh’s Imprisonment in Concentration Camps

A red and white armband inscribed on the interior with the names of four concentration camps: Auschwitz; Bergen-Belsen; Leipzig; and Terezin. —Montreal Holocaust Museum.
Edith Reh’s Armband. Montreal Holocaust Museum, courtesy of Edith Reh.
Look closely at Edith Reh’s armband. What can we learn from this artefact about Edith’s Holocaust experience?

This red-and-white armband bears the names of four concentration camps: Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Leipzig and Terezin. —Montreal Holocaust Museum.

Her prisoner number 50171 is also written on the armband. Edith wrote these inscriptions after the war as a memento of her experience in Nazi concentration camps. Montreal Holocaust Museum, courtesy of Edith Reh. After surviving her internment in Auschwitz and the death march from Bergen-Belsen to the Theresienstadt camp-ghetto, Edith received this armband. She was liberated on May 8, 1945 by the Soviet forces. After the war, she chose to note on it her prisoner number 50171, and the concentration camps she was interned in as a memento of her experience in Nazi concentration camps.

Holocaust Remembrance in the wake of the Eichmann Trial

In this lecture, Dr. Tesler-Mabé discusses the impact of the Eichmann Trial in the postwar period, specifically in terms of how it changed the way that the Holocaust was remembered in collective memory and discourse.

Witnesses of the Eichmann Trial

In order of appearance in the collage from left to right: Israel Gutman, Joseph Reznik, Jospeh Zalman Kleinman, Israel Carmel, Judge Michael Musmanno, Kalman Teigmann, Abba Kowner, Ada Lichtman, Adolf Engelstein, Adolf Rosenberg, Aharon Choter Yishai, Aharon Walter Lindenstrauss, Dr. Aharon Peretz, Dr. Theodor Lowenstein, Dr. Tibor Ferencz, Eliezer Karstadt, Elisheva Szenes, Eliyahu Rosenberg. Lesley Gordon, Margit Reich, Max Burger, Michael Podchlewnik, Mordechai Ansbacher, Mordeichai Eliezer Greenspan, Alexander Arnon, Alexander Brodie, Alfred Oppenheimer, Aviva Flieschman, Avner Less, Abraham Aviel, Ernst Recht, Esther Goldstein, Dr. Franz Meyer, Gedalia Ben Zvi, Dr. Mordehai Chen, Hansie Brand. Mordeichai Zurawski, Moritz Fleischman, Moshe Bahir, Moshe Rosenberg, Rachel Auerbach, Freida Mazia, Abraham Buchmann, Abraham Hadjaj, Abraham Karassik, Abraham Levinsohn, Abraham Lindwasser, Baruch Duvdevani, Henriette Samuel, Henryk Ross, Henryk Zvi Zimerman, Hildegard Henschel, Hinko Zaltz, Hulda Campagnana. Leanna Neumann, Vali Zimmet, Naftali Bar-Shalom, Nahum Hoch, Perla Mark, Philippe Freudiger, Batsheva Rufeisen, Benno Cohen, Dov Freiberg, Charlotte Salzberger, Dr. Paul Maerz, Dr. David Wdowinsky. Zeev Sapir, Zyndel Shmuel Grynszpan, Zvi Pachter, Zivia Lubetkin Zukermann, Noach Zabludowicz, Dr. Moshe Beisky, Prof. Gustave Gilbert, Prof. Salo Baron, Rivka Kupper, Rivka Yoselevska, Shalom Chulawski, Shimon Servernik, Dr. Adolf Berman, Dr. Aharon Beilin, Dr. Arieh Breslauer, Dr. Bedrich Steiner, Dr. Mark Dworzecki, Dr. Ernst Abeles. Dr. Joseph Buzminsky, Ester Shilo, Aharon Zilberman, Avraham Gordon, Raya Cagan, Yacov Gurfein, Shmuel Horowitz, Vera Alexander, Witzlaw Diamant, Werner David Melchior, Yacov Biskowitz, Yacov Friedman, Dr. George Wellers, Dr. Josef Melkmann-Michman, Ernst Grueber, Dr. Jacob Kratky, Dr. Leon Wells, Dr. Martin Poeldy.

Photographs of witnesses in the Eichmann Trial, 1960-61. Yad Vashem, courtesy of the National Photo Archives.

Watch the following video from the Eichmann Trial. How do you think this public display of the victims’ stories and their feelings changed the understanding of the Holocaust in Canada?

Witnesses of the Eichmann Trial. The Spielberg Jewish Film Archive. Available through the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 1999.

Guest Lecture: Jessica Marino

In the following guest lecture, Jessica Marino discusses the idea of memory. While listening to Marino’s lecture, reflect on the connection between Holocaust and memory studies, and the concepts that emerged from this relationship.

Guest Lecture: Dr. Shawn Graham

In this guest lecture, Dr. Shawn Graham describes the importance of Digital Humanities, which involves using various technological approaches to understanding humanity, and human phenomena and experiences. Digital Humanities is a way to both understand humanity through new technology, and to understand our use of technology and reliance upon it as human beings. Digital Humanities is significant for Holocaust memory and education because it allows us to preserve memory and data (with some challenges), track and analyze data in new ways, and makes the material more accessible to a wider audience. Technology also allows us to listen to oral histories first hand, but also remain at a distance to analyze and contextualize the histories within a broader chronological, historical framework.

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