What
interests me most about Wiesenthal is the role he played in shaping
the Holocaust memory, in Israel and the world; his role was quite significant
and at least in regard to Israel - somewhat ironic.
In 1949 Wiesenthal had practically forced the Holocaust on Israeli national
memory, long before most Israelis were ready for it. Over the years Israel
sought to become the sole or at least the main moral authority on Holocaust
lessons, and the Holocaust became a major component of the Israeli identity.
Wiesenthal in the meantime worked hard to prevent the world from sinking
the Holocaust into oblivion. The Holocaust became a universal code of
ultimate evil, largely due to Wiesenthal's work. But as result of this
development Israel lost its self-proclaimed monopoly on the Holocaust
heritage, much to its dismay. Wiesenthal's approach to the Holocaust
was often too universal for the Israelis. For instance there were differences
of opinion between Yad Vashem and Wiesenthal concerning the proper way
to remember the extermination of the Sinti and Roma.
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Tom
Segev, Ph.D., is an Israeli journalist and historian. Segev’s
weekly column is being published in “Haaretz”, Israel’s
leading daily newspaper. The column deals mainly with the politics
of culture and with human rights. Occasional articles in major US
newspapers, including “The New York Times” and the “LA
Times”. Occasional talks and lectures at major US Universities,
including Harvard, Berkeley, Yale and Princeton. MASUA Award for
Holocaust studies; National Jewish Book Award 2001; JDC Katzky Award
for archival excellence. Born in Jerusalem 1945, The Hebrew University
B.A in History and Political Science, Boston University PhD in History;
Fall 2001 - Senior Fellow, The Center for the Study of Jewish Life,
Rutgers University, NJ; Winter 2002 - Fellow of the Humanities Council
and the History Department, Princeton University; Spring 2003 - Visiting
Professor, The Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Northeastern
University, with responsibilities at the School of Journalism and
The Department of History; Spring 2007 - Diller Visiting Professor
at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the Graduate School
of Journalism, U.C. Berkeley.
Soldiers
of Evil – The Commanders of Nazi Concentration Camps (Hebrew,
English, German); 1949 The First Israelis (Hebrew, English, French,
Arabic); The Seventh Million – The Israelis and the Holocaust
(Hebrew, English, French, German, Italian); One Palestine, Complete
- Jews and Arabs under the British Mandate (Hebrew, English, German;
a New York Times editors' choice best book, 2000); Elvis in Jerusalem – Post-Zionism
and the Americanization of Israel (Hebrew, English, German, Japanese);
1967 - Israel's Second Genesis (Working title) Hebrew (to be published
in the USA, GB, Germany and France 2007).
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