Conclusion - History and memories of the genocide of the Jews and the Romani

Between 1939 and 1945, approximately 6 million Jews died, in ghettos, by SS commandos (the Einsatzgruppen), and in extermination centres built from 1942, especially in Poland (1 million deaths in Auschwitz alone). At the same time, between 300,000 and 500,000 Romani were killed (the exact toll is difficult to establish).

The specificity of these genocides was initially ignored, drowned among the other crimes of the Nazis against civilians, resistance fighters, or prisoners of war. Gradually, thanks to the accounts of survivors and to history, these genocides emerged as specific, and it became necessary to judge them, to write their history, and to commemorate them.

Literature and cinema also tackle the subject to try to convey the inexpressible. Memory is conveyed through different channels: monuments, memorials (sites for public staging of memory), commemorations (remembrance of an event, a place, an actor, etc.), testimonies, films, songs, political speeches.

How has the history of the genocide of the Jews and Romani become ingrained in collective memory?

#1. Stages of the emergence of the genocides of the Jews and the Romany in collective memory

#A. Until the 1960s, an era of oblivion, a 'dead silence'

After 1945, trials were held against high-ranking Nazis. The genocides were addressed during these trials, but they were diluted among the mass of Nazi crimes. Racial deportees were confused with resistance fighters, concentration camps with extermination camps. The memories of survivors were stifled by other memories and the “official memory”.

In Western Europe, the exaggerated memory of a unanimous French resistance (résistancialisme), and the memory of political deportees prevailed. To reconcile the population, the authorities wanted to forget about collaboration. Amnesty laws were enacted in France in 1947 and 1951-1952. Résistancialisme is a term coined by historian Henry Rousso, 1987. He describes a myth mainly developed by Gaullists and Communists, according to which all French people would have resisted since the beginning of World War II.

In Eastern Europe, the Jewish and Romani victims were ignored by Soviet propaganda, which emphasised the martyrdom of soldiers who died fighting fascism. Jewish and Romani survivors did not testify. Primo Levi's testimony: If this is a man (1947) was an exception.

Initially, there were numerous testimonies, but they quickly dried up because no one wanted to listen and preferred to move on to other things. Jews aimed to demonstrate their belonging to the nation and to no longer be stigmatized. Survivors were few: out of 76,000 deported French Jews, constituting 54% of their population, only about 6% returned, which amounted to approximately 2,500 individuals, including Simone Veil.

#B. The "era of the witness": affirmation of Jewish Memory from the 1960s

The “era of the witness” is an idea proposed by Annette Wieviorka, opposed to her concept of a “dead silence.”

Trials were organised, bringing forth suppressed memories through the testimonies of former Jewish deportees. The Jewish victim became prominent in collective memory. Recognition of the genocide by States occurred. For instance, as early as 1962, the genocide of Jews was included in school textbooks in West Germany. History relied on these testimonies. In 1961, the historian Raul Hilberg published The Destruction of the European Jews. The press, literature, and cinema also contributed to disseminating this memory.

#C. A liberation of memories that gave birth to denialism in the 1970s

In the 1970s, this liberation gave rise to Holocaust denial, denying the genocide of the Jews. For example, Robert Faurisson famously claimed, “In Auschwitz, only lice were gassed.”

Genocide of the Romani people remained largely ignored.

#D. From the 1980s, genocides became part of the collective memory and the 'duty of remembrance'

The memory of genocides has undergone a profound transformation, becoming an integral part of collective consciousness. This shift has been facilitated by various factors, including the increased number of trials due to the non-prescription of these crimes. High-profile cases, such as the trial of Maurice Papon in 1998, have brought attention to the atrocities committed during periods of genocide.

Additionally, there has been a growing acknowledgement by States of their own involvement in these genocides, marking significant milestones in collective memory. When French President Chirac recognised the responsibility of the French State in the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in 1995, it marked a pivotal moment in acknowledging historical truths.

Furthermore, the democratisation of Eastern Europe has provided opportunities to establish memorial spaces and access previously undisclosed archives, enriching the historical record and fostering remembrance.

Alongside these developments, there has emerged a sense of duty to remember, manifesting in memorial laws and the integration of genocide education into cultural mediums such as literature, cinema, and school curricula. Despite these advancements, the memory of certain genocides, such as that of the Romani, remains insufficiently acknowledged, highlighting ongoing challenges in memory efforts.

#2. Places of memory of the genocide of the Jews and the Romani

#A. Memorialisation of genocide sites in Eastern Europe

#a) Lost sites

As soon as the final solution was implemented, the Nazis sought to conceal the reality by destroying evidence. For example, extermination camps like Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka were razed to the ground.

In Sobibor, excavations uncovered mass graves and the foundations of gas chambers. Archaeology serves to recall the murder of the 170,000 Jews who died there and to counteract Holocaust denial by documenting the history of the genocide.

#b) Memorialised sites

Auschwitz-Birkenau is the primary memorialised site of the genocides (2 million visitors/year, mainly Europeans and Americans). Several concentration camps and extermination centres, the only ones to have escaped total destruction, stand as some of the few material testimonies of extermination. Transformed into a museum as early as 1947, it features exhibitions showcasing the belongings of deportees, memorials, and the preserved remains of buildings such as crematoria, barracks ruins, and the railway ramp. In 1979, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The former ghettos also bear a strong significance of memory. In 1948, five years after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Poland inaugurated the monument to the heroes of the uprising, but without mentioning the word “Jewish.” In 1970, the Chancellor of West Germany, Willy Brandt, expressed the repentance of the German people.

#B. Memorialisation of genocide worldwide

#a) Multiple forms and actors

The memory of the Jewish genocide is inscribed in space in numerous countries, in various forms: steles, commemorative plaques, monuments, museums, documentation centres, etc.

There are many actors involved in the creation of memorials: private (associations) and public (States, municipalities).

#b) Examples of memorials

In 1953, Israel established an organisation called Yad Vashem, tasked with commemorating the Holocaust. In France, during the same year, the “The Unknown Jewish Martyr Memorial” was created (now known as the Shoah Memorial).

From the 1980s onward, there has been a proliferation of memorials as the last witnesses of the Holocaust passed away. In 1993, in Washington, D.C., the Holocaust Memorial was established (digitising all archives of the Jewish genocide). In 2005, in Berlin, the “Murdered Jews of Europe Memorial” was erected, featuring 2,700 concrete blocks arranged in a grid-like pattern reminiscent of burial stones.

#c) Limitations

The genocide of the Romani lacks comparable recognition. While the first memorial was established in 1956 in Poland, commemorating the victims of the Szczurowa massacre, it wasn't until 2012 that a significant monument was erected in Berlin, despite West Germany acknowledging the genocide in 1982.

In France, where over 6,000 Romani were deported and murdered, only one memorial exists in Lot-et-Garonne. It wasn't until 2016 that François Hollande acknowledged the responsibility of the Vichy regime in their imprisonment. Romani, astonishingly, were not liberated until 1946, two years after France's liberation.

Criticisms also arise regarding the global tourism industry focused on Holocaust extermination sites.

#3. Prosecuting Nazi crimes after Nuremberg

#A. Trials in Germany after Nuremberg

#a) Occupied Germany : Fours Ds

In 1945, Germany was divided into four occupation zones and lost its political sovereignty.

The Allies agreed on four measures, known as the Fours Ds: demilitarisation, denazification, decentralisation, and democratisation. Some historians add decartelisation or deindustrialisation to this list, creating the alternative name Five Ds.

Denazification was the process, directed by the Allies, to eradicate Nazism from German and Austrian institutions and the population. It encompassed both punitive and preventive measures.

#b) The Nuremberg Trials (November 1945 - October 1946): first international military court

Trials were held in Nuremberg, a symbolic city of Nazism, empasising the denazification process. Twenty-two of the principal captured Nazi dignitaries were tried by four judges (one from each Allied power) for crime against humanity.

Twelve were sentenced to death, seven to prison, and three were acquitted. These trials provided an opportunity for investigations that contributed to the construction of memory and history (they were filmed by John Ford).

#c) Other military quickly anamdoned trials

Other military trials for crime against humanity (involving guards, concentration camp commanders, etc.) were quickly abandoned for a general amnesty. In the Western zones, there were 5,000 convictions, including 800 death sentences, of which 486 were carried out. However, the genocide was overshadowed by the sheer volume of cases, with the majority convicted for crimes committed against German civilians, rather than Jews.

Moreover, the onset of the Cold War complicated justice, with reconstruction prioritised to secure public support against the opposing bloc. Most prisoners (300,000 Nazis!) were amnestied by 1947 in both zones. Remarkably, out of the 6,500 SS members from Auschwitz, only 50 had been prosecuted.

#d) From 1949 to the end of the 1960s

Following the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949, Chancellor Adenauer expressed a sentiment of moving on from the past until the late 1950s. However, trials were postponed, primarily due to the presence of former Nazis in key positions within the Ministry of Justice and as magistrates, leading to the impunity of numerous perpetrators. A notable example is the Ulm Trials, where only ten members of the Einsatzgruppen were prosecuted as late as 1958.

In 1969, the German judiciary ruled that mere membership in camp personnel was insufficient for conviction: personal involvement had to be proven.

Overall, in West Germany and the reunified Germany, only 925 trials were conducted for Nazi crimes out of 3.5 million suspects in 1945. Despite their limitations, these trials contributed to collective memory and history.

#e) Historical recognition despite the limitations of justice

Civil trials in the 1960s and 1970s faced criticism as defendants were often acquitted due to lack of evidence destroyed by the Nazis, or sentenced lightly due to age or claims of obeying orders. However, investigations and particularly testimonies fuelled historical recognition and stirred public opinion during the 1960s and 1970s. For example, the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials (1963-1965) involved 22 members of the SS administration of Auschwitz-Birkenau, often referred to as a second Auschwitz trial.

#B. Justice without limits of time or borders

#a) Creation of other exceptional courts

The Nuremberg Trials influenced the creation of other exceptional tribunals in Europe. In Eastern Europe, thousands of defendants were brought to trial. For example, in 1947, the first Auschwitz trial was held in Poland, involving 40 defendants, 23 of whom were sentenced to death, including Rudolf Höss, the camp commandant, who was tried and executed near the crematorium of Auschwitz I.

#b) Nazi hunters against impunity

Nazi hunters fought against impunity. The 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, one of the architects of the "Final Solution," was significant. Abducted by Israeli intelligence agents in Argentina, he was brought to Israel for a highly publicised trial, allowing for testimonies and greatly contributing to the international recognition of the uniqueness of the Jewish genocide.

Other Nazi hunters, whether individuals or organised within NGOs, continued the pursuit. For example, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, established in 1977, tracked down Nazis who fled to military dictatorships or were recruited by Western governments. Some former nazis had been employed as “communist specialists” or scientists, like Von Braun, the father of the V2 rockets and later a NASA official.

In France, the Klarsfelds facilitated the arrest of Klaus Barbie in Bolivia in 1983, leading to his extradition. Barbie was prosecuted for his role in the deportation of Jews, including the roundup of 44 children from Izieu in April 1944. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987, marking the first trial for crime against humanity in France.

#c) Debates on imprescriptibility

The issue of imprescriptibility sparked debate. Trials of former Nazi criminals continued into the 2010s due to the non-expiration of their crimes. For instance, in 2002, the Simon Wiesenthal Center launched the Operation Last chance, to ensure Nazi criminals were brought to justice before they die of old age, offering rewards of $25,000 for information.

Reinhold Hanning, a former SS guard at Auschwitz, was tried in Germany in 2016 at the age of 95. He apologised, but claimed to have acted under orders, raising questions about passive participants in crimes. Despite his age, the non-expiration of crimes allowed for the prosecution of individuals nearing the end of their lives who may have changed. This trial also highlighted past impunity.

#d) Contributions of historians to justice

Historians from the 1970s-1980s significantly contributed to justice by uncovering evidence that led to the prosecution of criminals who had previously escaped punishment. For example, Maurice Papon was tried in 1998. While some historians testified to provide context, others, like Henry Rousso, refused to do so.

#4. The genocide in literature and cinema

#A. Producing and preserving traces to survive

#a) The ongoing documentation of the genocide

The first texts on extermination written by victims include numerous manuscripts found in the ruins of ghettos and camps, now preserved at Yad Vashem in Israel. Some of these manuscripts have been published. For example, in 2005, manuscripts from Sonderkommandos, hidden before their authors' deaths, were compiled into Les voix sous la cendre.

One of the most famous testimonies is The diary of a young girl, by Anne Franck. i was published shortly after the end of World War II by her father, sole survivor of the family. Anne Franck wrote the diary while hiding in Amsterdam between 1942 and 1944. The book achieved great success (30 million copies sold) and has been adapted into plays, films, animations, comics, museum exhibits, and more. Anne Frank became the symbol of the extermination. Her narrative significantly contributed to anchoring this genocide in collective memory.

#b) More testimonies in the 1980s

From the 1980s, testimonies became more common. As survivors were liberated from the camps, many felt compelled to write. Primo Levi's 1947 publication If This Is a Man, detailing his deportation to Auschwitz, initially garnered little attention but achieved international success in the 1960s. Levi's narrative vividly depicts dehumanisation and the guilt, or the shame he felt because he survived.

From the 1980s, testimonies proliferated as the last survivors sought to transmit their experience, becoming invaluable sources for historians.

#c) Testifying through fiction

The Holocaust evolved into literature or comics with the subsequent generation, embodying what Marianne Hirsch calls “Postmemory.”

Some survivors adopted fictional forms to confront and shed their past, narratives blending memory and creative imagination, with the horizon of truth, within the freedom of fiction. For instance, Anna Langfus's 1960 novel Salt and Suffering chronicled the plight of a Polish Jew, mirroring her own experiences.

Fiction, particularly produced by a generation of orphans, children of survivors, endeavoured to recreate memory of the absent ones. Art Spiegelman's 1986 graphic novel "Maus" recounted his Polish Jewish parents' survival of Auschwitz.

Works by authors lacking personal ties to the genocide occasionally provoked controversy. Jonathan Littell's 2006 novel The Kindly Ones, narrated by a fictional SS officer involved in mass killings, Max Aue, rose concerns about empathising with a Nazi perpetrator. Littell stated:

 J'aurais pu prendre des exemples plus récents que j'ai vécus de près, au Congo, au Rwanda, en Tchétchénie. Mais j'ai pris les nazis pour prendre un cas de figure où le lecteur ne pourra pas se défausser en prétextant que “Ah ! ce sont des Noirs ou des Chinois”. Il fallait ancrer ce récit chez des gens comme nous pour empêcher le lecteur de prendre de la distance.

#d) The genocide of Romani, a 'forgotten genocide'

Some historians refer to the Romani genocide as a "forgotten genocide." Due to their marginalisation in society, many Romani individuals avoid discussing it. Additionally, there is a belief that silence is the only way to respect the presence of the departed.

However, there is one notable exception: Ceija Stojka (1933-2013), a Romani survivor of Auschwitz. Her poems and paintings offer rare insight into this history. Ceija Stojka only began testifying in the late 1980s.

#B. Representing and documenting genocides in cinema

Cinema played the most significant role in anchoring genocides in collective memory and showcasing their specificity to the general public. However, the genocide of the Romani is underrepresented, with only Tony Gatlif's film Korkoro being a notable exception.

#a) Documenting the Holocaust

The first films on the genocide date back to the liberation of the camps by the Soviets, with Roman Karmen's documentaries serving as evidence and aiding in understanding the implementation of the genocide. However, early portrayals often focused on glorifying the rescuers, failing to depict the specificity of the genocide.

Documentaries were initially favoured for witnessing and transmitting the genocide. Alain Resnais's Night and fog (1956), for example, did not distinguish between concentration camps and extermination centres and did not mention the word "Jew" even once.

Claude Lanzmann's Shoah (1985) marked a turning point. Running nearly 10 hours without archival footage, it recounted the Jewish genocide through unprecedented contemporary testimonies. Lanzmann refused any images or reenactments, preferring to interview both victims and perpetrators. The Shoah Memorial in France supports documentaries, to collect the last testimonies for memory and history.

#b) The taboo of fictionalising the Holocaust

From the 1950s to the 1980s, many US films featured either ex-Nazis (Orson Welles's The Stranger, 1946) or survivors (Sidney Lumet's The Pawnbroker, 1965), but none depicted the genocide itself.

In 1978, the US series Holocaust told the story of a German Jewish family. Despite criticisms for inaccuracies and sentimentality, it marked a turning point by achieving global success and contributing to anchoring the specificity of the Jewish genocide in collective memory. It allowed the post-war generation to discover the genocide.

Debates revolved around the taboo of representing the Holocaust in fiction, as seen in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993). Claude Lanzmann criticised it, stating, "Fiction is a transgression, there is a prohibition on representing the Holocaust." The controversy partly stemmed from what was previously a taboo: a scence depicting the gas chambers.