Transmission of Collective Memory and Jewish Identity in Post-War Jewish Generations through War Souvenirs
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Abstract
The article includes a sample of testimonies and the results of sociological research on the life stories of Jews born in the aftermath of World War II in two countries, Czechoslovakia and Luxembourg. At that time, Czechoslovak Jews were living through the era of de-Stalinization and their narratives offer new insights into this segment of Jewish post-war history that differ from those of Jews living in liberal, democratic European states. The interviews explore how personal documents, photos, letters and souvenirs can help maintain personal memories in Jewish families and show how this varies from one generation to the next. My paper illustrates the importance of these small artifacts for the transmission of Jewish collective memory in post-war Jewish generations. The case study aims to answer the following research questions: What is the relationship between the Jewish post-war generation and its heirlooms? Who is in charge of maintaining Jewish family heirlooms within the family? Are there any intergenerational differences when it comes to keeping and maintaining family history? The study also aims to find out whether the political regime influences how Jewish objects are kept by Jewish families.
Topics
Main Topic: Other Oral History and Biography Interviews Family and Household Age and Generational Issues Memory Post-War Jewish History
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
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2(3)
Page Number / Article Number
1785-1798
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Link
Link to article including link to pdf, Transmission of Collective Memory and Jewish Identity in Post-War Jewish Generations through War Souvenirs
Bibliographic Information
Transmission of Collective Memory and Jewish Identity in Post-War Jewish Generations through War Souvenirs. 2019: 1785-1798. https://archive.jpr.org.uk/10.3390/heritage2030109
