Memory Offended: The Auschwitz Convent Controversy

by Carol Rittner (Editor), John K. Roth (Editor)

Overview

On August 1, 1984, a group of Polish Carmelite nuns, with the approval of both church and government authorities, but apparently without any dialogue with members of the Polish or international Jewish community, moved into a building at the site of Auschwitz I. This establishment of a Roman Catholic convent in what was once a storehouse for the poisonous Zyklon B used in the gas chambers of the Nazi extermination center has sparked intense controversy between Jews and Christians. Memory Offended is as definitive a survey of the Auschwitz convent controversy as could be hoped for. But even more important than its thorough chronological record of events pertinent to the dispute, is the book's use of this particular controversy as a departure for reflection on fundamental issues for Jews and Christians and their relationships with each other. Essays by fourteen distinguished international scholars who represent diverse viewpoints within their Jewish and Christian traditions identify, analyze, and comment on the long-range issues, questions, and implications at the heart of the controversy. A recent interview with the internationally renowned Holocaust authority and survivor, Elie Wiesel, makes an important contribution to the ongoing discussion. The volume merits careful reading by all who seek to learn the lessons this controversy can teach both Christians and Jews.

In their introduction, editors Carol Rittner and John K. Roth define the meaning of the word covenant in both the Jewish and Christian religious traditions. They develop a compelling argument for the notion that the Christian concept of a new covenant between God and humanity, which supposedly superseded Judaism's old covenant, formed the basis for the centuries-old anti-Jewish contempt that led to Auschwitz—the Nazi death camp where 1.6 million human beings, mostly Jews, were exterminated. The editors contend that the existence of a convent at this site offended memory. The vital issue of what constitutes a fitting Auschwitz memorial is addressed throughout the volume's three major divisions in which important thinkers, including Robert McAfee Brown and Richard L. Rubenstein, among others, investigate The History and Politics of Memory, The Psychology of Memory, and The Theology of Memory. Important tools for researchers are a chronology of events pertinent to the Auschwitz convent controversy, 1933-1990 and an appendix that contains many key documents relating to the controversy. Memory Offended will be an important resource in university and public libraries as well as in Holocaust courses, classes on Jewish Studies, twentieth-century history, and those that focus on interreligious issues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275936068
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/19/1991
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

CAROL RITTNER, formerly Director of The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity in New York, is a Roman Catholic Sister of Mercy who has written extensively. Her previous books include The Courage to Care (edited with Sondra Myers, 1986) and Elie Wiesel: Between Memory and Hope (1990).

JOHN K. ROTH is Pitzer Professor of Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, California. In addition to lecturing widely throughout the United States and the world, Roth has published more than 175 articles, reviews, and 17 books. His most recent books are Approaches to Auschwitz: The Holocaust and Its Legacy, The Questions of Philosophy, American Ground: Vistas, Visions, and Revisions and Holocaust: Religious and Philosophical Implications.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Memory Offended by Carol Rittner and John K. Roth
Chronology of Events Pertinent to the Auschwitz Convent Controversy, 1933-1990
The History and Politics of Memory
The Convent at Auschwitz and the Imperatives of Pluralism in the Global Electronic Village by Richard L. Rubenstein
Jews and Poles: Remembering at a Cemetery by Ronald Modras
The Auschwitz Convent Controversy: Mutual Misperceptions by John T. Pawlikowski
Backward and Forward by Gabriel Moran
The Struggle for Civility: The Auschwitz Controversy and the Forces Behind It by Michael Berenbaum
The Psychology of Memory
The Controversy over the Convent at Auschwitz by Hermann Langbein
Auschwitz and Oswiecim: One Location, Two Memories by Emanuel Tanay
An Interview, August 29, 1989 by Elie Wiesel and Carol Rittner
The Controversy over Carmel at Auschwitz: A Personal Polish-Jewish Chronology by Stanislaw Krajewski
The Psychological Point of View by Leo Eitinger
The Theology of Memory
The New Road by Claire Huchet-Bishop
Historical Memories in Conflict by Judith Hershcopf Banki
Auschwitz: Where Only Silence Becomes Prayer by Mary Jo Leddy
Jewish and Christian Suffering in the Post-Auschwitz Period by Albert H. Friedlander
Memory Redeemed? by Robert McAfee Brown
Afterword
Appendix: Key Documents about the Auschwitz Convent Controversy
Selected Bibliography
Index