Marion Kaplan – författare

Ordinary victims' voices from the Holocaust are still far less recognized than those of the perpetrators, Volume III of The Cambridge History of the Holocaust centers upon victims' perspectives, examining their experiences, responses, and fates. Chapters encompass the ordeals of a range of persecuted groups: Jews, Roma and Sinti, and homosexuals, as well as those with physical and mental challenges, Slavs, and Soviet prisoners of war. Covering a wide geographical scope, contributors underscore the differences between victim experiences in eastern and western Europe while highlighting national and regional complexities. Through a breadth of primary sources including diaries, letters, memoirs and interviews, readers gain insight into the diverse reactions and behaviors of victims as well as those who helped or hurt them. This volume offers an overview of Holocaust scholarship through victims' voices, while highlighting areas for further research.

The social history of the genocide, its representation in postwar culture, and new theoretical approaches stand at the forefront of current research in a range of disciplines.   Analyses at the most intimate scale—of the individual or of a particular locale— are juxtaposed with those that turn to broader studies of the war or postwar order. Complementing these different scales are theoretical investigations that address individual agency, moral judgment, and the construction of meaning and memory in the study of the victims of the Holocaust and in our understanding of society as a whole. Together they mark the contemporary scholarly landscape of Holocaust studies, which includes history as well as film and literary studies, philosophy, and religious studies (among other disciplines). Each of the volume's three sections contributes to understanding the Holocaust and postwar ramifications of the genocide by focusing on: 1) the history of specific communities of both victims and perpetrators; 2) postwar cultural representations; and 3) new theoretical understandings of each. The essays in this volume thus represent new interests in the field that contribute to building integrated histories of the Holocaust.

The social history of the genocide, its representation in postwar culture, and new theoretical approaches stand at the forefront of current research in a range of disciplines.   Analyses at the most intimate scale—of the individual or of a particular locale— are juxtaposed with those that turn to broader studies of the war or postwar order. Complementing these different scales are theoretical investigations that address individual agency, moral judgment, and the construction of meaning and memory in the study of the victims of the Holocaust and in our understanding of society as a whole. Together they mark the contemporary scholarly landscape of Holocaust studies, which includes history as well as film and literary studies, philosophy, and religious studies (among other disciplines). Each of the volume's three sections contributes to understanding the Holocaust and postwar ramifications of the genocide by focusing on: 1) the history of specific communities of both victims and perpetrators; 2) postwar cultural representations; and 3) new theoretical understandings of each. The essays in this volume thus represent new interests in the field that contribute to building integrated histories of the Holocaust.

Portugal im Zweiten Weltkrieg: Eine emotionale Geschichte der jüdischen Flüchtlinge im Exil.Portugal war eines der wenigen neutralen europäischen Länder vor und während des Zweiten Weltkriegs. Damit wurde das Land zu einem zentralen Anlaufpunkt für Jüdinnen und Juden auf der Flucht vor dem Nationalsozialismus. Der portugiesische Diktator Salazar nahm Zehntausende auf, die nach Westen flüchteten – ließ dann aber seine Geheimpolizei auf diejenigen los, die nicht rasch genug weiterzogen.Marion Kaplan beschreibt die dramatischen Erfahrungen jüdischer Flüchtlinge, die in Portugal ausharrten, bis sie sichere Häfen in Übersee erreichen konnten. Die Autorin untersucht nicht nur die sozialen und physischen Umwälzungen, die diese Flüchtlinge erlebten, sondern versucht auch ihre Gefühle nachzuzeichnen. So schreibt sie eine emotionale Geschichte der Flucht. Die Autorin untersucht, wie sich bestimmte Orte und Situationen auf das Innenleben der Flüchtlinge auswirkten, darunter etwa die riskante Grenzüberquerung oder die hoffnungsvolle Fahrt auf überfüllten transatlantischen Schiffen. Dabei stützt sich Marion Kaplan auf Berichte und Quellen der Betroffenen und bereichert so die Geschichte der jüdischen Flucht vor dem NS-Terror um ein zentrales Kapitel.