When the memory of the Holocaust becomes a "monster" | Books | '
‘: Your book is called "Monster" in the German translation, literally translated from the Hebrew original, the title would even be "memory monster." How is remembrance of the Holocaust a monster?
Yishai Sarid: The history of the Holocaust is not something that just disappears. To this day, she has a great influence on Jewish life and on Israel, both as a personal family trauma and on an institutional level. Emotions such as hatred and hostility that arise out of it go in all directions – like a monster that you can not control.
The protagonist of your book is a historian working in Israel's national Holocaust memorial. In the name of Yad Vashem, he accompanies Israeli tour groups to Poland and leads them through the extermination camps of the Nazis, such as Auschwitz, Majdanek and Treblinka. He becomes aware of the cold-blooded planning of the Nazis, the murder of six million Jews, in his thoughts literally eaten. Sometimes he imagines that he is one of the perpetrators, then again he sees how the eyes of the victims look at him. What are these places doing with him?
The Holocaust becomes his personal monster. Every day he goes through this extermination process again and again. He becomes obsessive, addicted to this dark fascination. It's almost like pornography. The evil has an attraction.
The "Hall of Names" at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem
It is no wonder that Nazi biographies are published all over the world: we are fascinated by their actions. My protagonist is looking for meaning in all this and starts to wonder who we remember? We remember the German perpetrators because they stayed alive and they did the deeds, they were the active part. That's not fair. The protagonists should be the victims, not the perpetrators.
So he looks for survivors, as in reality many journalists and historians. Today, many want to talk to the last witnesses. Do we too much trust these old and traumatized people?
It is important to listen to the survivors and document their eyewitness accounts, because soon they will not be with us anymore. But for many of them it is very difficult. In my book, the protagonist finally finds a survivor and convinces him to join the group by bringing him first to his native city in Poland and then to Auschwitz, where he was trapped. But that's too much for this old man. He collapses.
Every year at Yom HaShoah, on the Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Day, A siren sounds throughout Israel, letting people pause for a minute and commemorate the victims. What does remembrance culture in Israel mean?
This is what my book is about: The teaching that we draw from the Holocaust and how institutional remembrance is handled is very problematic. First and foremost, it teaches that the Jewish people must be strong and able to defend themselves, which, after all that has happened, is a good lesson for the Jewish people. I do not want to underestimate that.
Yad Vashem: Commemoration of the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel
But let's take a look at Yad Vashem. The Holocaust is first and foremost a Jewish tragedy, but it is also a tragedy for all humanity. But they do not teach the young people the universal doctrine of the Holocaust: what would you do if you found yourself in such a situation? How can we ensure that this never happens again and nowhere?
How should be remembered instead?
First and foremost, it is important to know the facts. That's the basis for everything. When you start twisting the facts, it becomes dangerous. That's why I did not want to invent a narrative about the Holocaust. "Monster" is a thin book, but it contains many historical facts and they are all correct. The story I invented plays in the Today. I think it's important that artists engage in the Holocaust. The facts must be right, but the lessons learned should not be left alone in the hands of a few institutions.
Visitors in the permanent exhibition of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp memorial
Each Israeli high school sends its students to Poland for a trip to visit the Nazi extermination camps. The hero of her roma leads such groups. He sees them wrapping themselves in Israeli flags, singing and crying the Israeli national anthem. What do you think about these trips?
I have a problem with that, because they are twisting the story. Instead of starting such trips in Germany, they go to Poland. This is a mistake.
If you ask Israeli students who is responsible for the Holocaust, then they know that it was the Germans. But if you ask a bit, especially during these trips to Poland, you quickly get to the point where they blame the Poles. This is historically wrong, of course. There were also bad Poles who collaborated with the Germans and did terrible things, but of course they did not trigger and plan it.
All Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany. Many non-Jewish Poles were also imprisoned, tortured and murdered in the Auschwitz extermination camp,
Right, that's why the Poles understand themselves as victims. But because the long history of the Jewish people in Poland is full of pogroms and persecution, Jews see the Poles as collaborators of the Nazis.
Of course there were concentration camps in Germany as well, but the huge Nazi extermination camps, where most of the Jews were murdered, were in Poland. The Germans deliberately did that so as not to pollute their beautiful Germany. The dirty work should not take place on German soil. And historically they were successful with it.
April 1945: Liberated prisoners in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Today, Israelis see Germany as a holiday destination. Friends of mine are going to the Black Forest this summer. They asked me if I did not want to come with my family. I told them, I will not go on a family holiday in the Black Forest, even if it is beautiful there and the people nice. But you should not overdo it.
Many Israelis live in Berlin today. There are also several German-Israeli couples and couples …
First of all, the Germans of today are not responsible. I do not want Israelis hateing Germans. That's not my intention. But we should keep in mind who was on which page.
Sometimes, discussions between Israelis and Germans are such that it seems that the Holocaust is a shared experience. You were there and we were there and that was all so terrible and the Germans stress how sorry they are and we accept the apology. That will be too comfortable for me. What I am saying in the book is that the dividing line between killers and victims should be kept. It is not a shared experience. You killed and we were murdered. We should keep that clear.
Visitors in the permanent exhibition of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp memorial
The hero of your book hears in the extermination camp Israeli students whisper: "Arabs, that should be done with the Arabs".
That's just part of the monster: the feelings of hatred, this desire for revenge do not just disappear. They are directed only against others: against Poles and Arabs. The Germans do not hate anymore today. I think that's problematic.
The tour guide in her book also works for the Israeli army, which wants to bring an elite unit to Poland to symbolically conquer one of the extermination camps there. Do not you drive the satire a bit far?
For the State of Israel it is very important never to be weak again, not to be dependent on others. I believe that this is the most important motive to date – to go to the army. In 2003, the Israeli Air Force completed a flight over Auschwitz with F15 fighter jets, a picture of victory, so to speak. This photo is very famous and hangs in the offices of many generals.
Brisanter Roman: "Monster" by Yishai Sarid
It also moved me with his statement: Look where we came from and where we are now. On the other hand, the picture is a historical falsification. Trying to win this tragedy is wrong. At the Auschwitz memorial, one should simply remain silent and mourn over what was done to the Jewish people and humanity. There is no victory there. I put that in my book to the extreme, to say: this should not be the doctrine of the Holocaust. Respectfully treat each other and provide security structures that prevent such from happening again. The first time you hold a person by force and do something bad to you, it's the beginning of the end, because we humans carry this cruelty in us.
To criticize Israel as a German is a very sensitive topic. How do you feel about this? Is it permissible to criticize Israel as a German?
I am a critic of the Israeli occupation policy of the Palestinians. However, frankly, I do not think that Germany is the right country to push the state of Israel to anything or to teach human rights.
I expect that from other nations, from the United States, for example, but not from Germany. Nevertheless, I expect Germany to be honest with Israel and not to support any false or immoral tactics of Israeli politics.
Author and collaborator of Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial: Yishai Sarid
I do not want to reveal the end of your book. But I think I can say that in the end there is a confrontation between a German director and your protagonist.
In the end, my husband makes it very clear: It is enough with the nonsense. Let's finally do what we should have done a long time ago.
The interview was conducted by Sarah Judith Hofmann in Tel Aviv.
"Monster" is Yishai Sarid's fourth novel. After spending six years u.a. He served as an intelligence officer in the Israeli army and studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at the elite University of Harvard. Today, Yishai Sarid works as a lawyer in Tel Aviv. Yishai Sarid: Monster. Novel. Publisher No & But. Of 2019.
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