Holding On and Holding Out: Jewish Diaries from Wartime France

by Anne Freadman

Overview

Examining the diary as a particular form of expression, Holding On and Holding Out provides unique insight into the experiences of Jews in France during the Second World War. Unlike memoirs and autobiographies that reconstruct particular life stories or events, diaries record daily events without the benefit of retrospect, describing events as they unfold. Holding On and Holding Out assesses how individuals used diaries to record their daily life under persecution, each waiting for some end with a mix of hope and despair. Some used the diary to bear witness not only to the terror of their own lives, but also to the lives and suffering of others. Others used their writing as a memorial to people who were killed. All used their writing to assert: "I live, I will have lived."

Holding On and Holding Out follows the diaries of two specific individuals, Raymond-Raoul Lambert and Benjamin Schatzman, from their first entry to the last one they wrote before they disappeared into the Nazi extermination camps. The author concludes the book by considering how reflections on their experience are informed by the times in which they lived, before the advent of persecution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487536442
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	05/12/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	280
File size:	620 KB

About the Author

Anne Freadman is Honorary Principal Professorial Fellow in the School of Languages and Linguistics at the University of Melbourne.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Preface

Introduction 

1. Narratives of Identity  

Introduction: The Experience of Identification
A Pronoun Tells Its Stories: "We"
Stories of Performance
The Slender Thread of Memory

2. The Place of the Self: Raymond-Raoul Lambert

Introduction
A Jew of France
A Place in Books

3. Making It Last: Benjamin Schatzman  

Introduction
I Am Unrecognisable
Writing
Making It Last

4. Narratives of Time  

Introduction: The Experience of Time
An Adverb Tells Its Stories: "Already"
Stories of Waiting
i. Saül Castro’s Worry Beads
ii. Jean Oppenheimer’s Tartine
iii. The Posthumous Life of Hélène Berr

Coda: The Self in History   
 
Endnote
Appendix
Bibliography

What People are Saying About This

Susan Ashley

"Deftly weaving extensive diary excerpts, Holding On and Holding Out is a gripping read. Freadman's approach of using pieces of the diaries to illuminate reactions to ruptures in time and self is a successful one, while it also adds an appealing literary twist to the rich corpus of works on the Holocaust and on Second World War France."

Robert Weiner

"Employing solid research, excellent analytical skills, and postmodernist critical theory, Anne Freadman arrives at interesting and thought provoking conclusions with respect to the identity formation reached by French Jews, who faced crushing burdens during the Holocaust, in Vichy France, and through the expanded German occupation of their beloved country in 1942. Holding On and Holding Out makes a significant contribution to sociology, history, and applied critical theory."

Editorial Reviews

"Her book is engrossing, emotional, and enlightening."—Ludivine Broch, University of Westminster, Central European History

"Employing solid research, excellent analytical skills, and postmodernist critical theory, Anne Freadman arrives at interesting and thought provoking conclusions with respect to the identity formation reached by French Jews, who faced crushing burdens during the Holocaust, in Vichy France, and through the expanded German occupation of their beloved country in 1942. Holding On and Holding Out makes a significant contribution to sociology, history, and applied critical theory."

—Robert Weiner, Department of History, Lafayette College

"Deftly weaving extensive diary excerpts, Holding On and Holding Out is a gripping read. Freadman’s approach of using pieces of the diaries to illuminate reactions to ruptures in time and self is a successful one, while it also adds an appealing literary twist to the rich corpus of works on the Holocaust and on Second World War France."

—Susan Ashley, Department of History, Colorado College

From the Publisher

"Employing solid research, excellent analytical skills, and postmodernist critical theory, Anne Freadman arrives at interesting and thought provoking conclusions with respect to the identity formation reached by French Jews, who faced crushing burdens during the Holocaust, in Vichy France, and through the expanded German occupation of their beloved country in 1942. Holding On and Holding Out makes a significant contribution to sociology, history, and applied critical theory."

Robert Weiner

“Her book is engrossing, emotional, and enlightening.”

Central European History - Ludivine Broch

"Deftly weaving extensive diary excerpts, Holding On and Holding Out is a gripping read. Freadman's approach of using pieces of the diaries to illuminate reactions to ruptures in time and self is a successful one, while it also adds an appealing literary twist to the rich corpus of works on the Holocaust and on Second World War France."

Susan Ashley