What I See (Not): Decoding the Visual in Soviet Holocaust Narratives

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

Our knowledge of the Holocaust draws on visual and verbal texts ranging from photos to testimonies to artwork to literature. In these texts, the borders between the documentary and the fictional often merge. Considering sketches of military artists and documentary photoshoots, letters, short stories, and novels, this panel explores the role and function of seeing across different Holocaust texts. Panelists will also analyze ethical challenges and ideological contexts of depicting and representing Holocaust in the USSR.

Sub Unit

• Jewish Studies

Chair

• Nina Gurianova, Northwestern U

Papers

• Photographing and Drawing Evidence of the Holocaust: Soviet Frontline Visual Art during World War II - Marilyn Campeau, U de Moncton (Canada)

• Geven iz nakht un gevorn iz tog: On Dovid Bergelson’s 'Bible of Fascism' and the Power of Documentation - Miriam Schulz, U of Toronto (Canada)

• Narrative of Seeing: Text, Testimony, and the Genre of 'The Black Book' - Anastasiia Simferovska, Northwestern U

• The Novel-Document: Anatolii Kuznetsov’s Doubled Witness to the Holocaust in Kyiv - Spencer Small, Yale U

Discussant

• Andrzej Brylak, U of Southern California