Planet Auschwitz

Brian E. Crim is professor of history at the University of Lynchburg in Virginia, and author of Our Germans: Project Paperclip and the National Security State and Antisemitism in the German Military Community and the Jewish Response, 1914-1938.

"The industrialized murder of the Shoah, forever associated with concentration camps during World War II, was coined with the term Planet Auschwitz as another world, but is hardly imaginable for younger generations. Brian E. Crim explains astutely how the ripple effect of the Holocaust resonates in American popular culture, especially in the genres of Science Fiction and Horror. This book studies the imagery that persists in visual media but avoids the normalization of the genocide. It keeps the study of the Holocaust alive to guarantee that the "torrent of testimony" will not perish with the last witnesses."— Karen A. Ritzenhoff, Co-editor of New Perspectives on the War Film"A great text....original in scale and scope."— Jonathan C. Friedman, author of The History of Genocide in Cinema: Atrocities on Screen"Crim contributes to the scholarship exploring how the Holocaust has filtered down and across popular culture, leaving its trace in numerous ways. His focus is on how it has influenced and shaped science fiction and horror film and television over the past half-century but particularly over the past 20 years."— Times Higher Education"Crim provides a valuable contribution to Holocaust scholars by having us pay attention to metaphorical representations in works of horror and science fiction."— Central European HistoryCompelling and persuasively argued ... shows the extent to which Holocaust ideas and images have crept into popular horror and science fiction film and TV.— Oren Baruch Stier, author of Holocaust Icons: Symbolizing the Shoah in History and Memory"Planet Auschwitz: Holocaust Representation in Science Fiction and Horror Film and Television" interview with Brian Crimhttps://newbooksnetwork.com/brian-crim-planet-auschwitz-holocaust-representation-in-science-fiction-and-horror-film-and-television-rutgers-up-2020/— New Books Network - New Books in German Studies"History professor writes about life on 'Planet Auschwitz'"https://www.lynchburg.edu/news/2020/04/history-professor-writes-about-life-on-planet-auschwitz/?fbclid=IwAR38ua3a_14Gehg9cY2D7Xi9JzHCfSyTFaUlARdIVemESFGuIsWId20uFQ0— University of Lynchburg"Crim offers an engaging interdisciplinary consideration of the Holocaust in horror and science fiction. Across chapters, this book engages with many primary film and television sources [and] supplies an excellent resource for identifying media imprinted by the legacy of the Holocaust."— Journal of Popular Culture Review"In this deeply researched and insightful study, Crim lucidly reveals how the Nazi genocide has left an indelible and often unsettling mark on American popular culture."— Gavriel Rosenfeld, author of Hi Hitler! How the Nazi Past Is Being Normalized in Contemporary Culture"His research is up-to-date and meticulous, demonstrating his long familiarity with the complexities and vicissitudes of modern German culture."— SFRA Review"Planet Auschwitz ends on a strong note. The book's deceptively simple premise –reading sf and horror for Holocaust metaphor –reveals its complex layers piece by piece as it goes on, showing how film and television reflect the enduring influence of the Holocaust in the psyche of Western society."— Science Fiction Film and Television

• ContentsList of ImagesIntroduction1          From Muselmann to "Walker": Holocaust Imagery in the Zombie Genre               2          Silent Screams: Representing Trauma and Grief in The Pawnbroker and The Leftovers     3          Nazi Monsters and the Return of History      4          The View from Hell: Demons, Antichrists and the Persistence of Evil after the Holocaust  5          "A World That Works": Astrofascism Across Time and Space6          "All of this has happened before": Cyborgs, Humans, and the Question of Genocide        ConclusionAcknowledgmentsIndex