The Construction of European Holocaust Memory

Reflects on the Europeanization of Holocaust memory, i.e. the formation of a common European memory of the Holocaust, using six films as a case study: the German-French-Polish co-production "Europa, Europa" by Agnieszka Holland; the German films "Aimée and Jaguar" by Max Färberböck and "Jew-Boy Levi" by Didi Danquart; and the Polish films "Far Away from the Window" and "Burial of a Potato", both by Jan Kolski, and "Just beyond This Forest" by Jan Łomnicki. Argues that despite differences in the representation of the Holocaust in the Polish and German films, and differences in their reception, the process of formation of a transnational memory is going on in post-communist Europe. Both nations are ready to critically assess their collective roles in the Holocaust, while this traumatic chapter in European history has come into ever sharper focus. In both countries, it is the common men and women who are the focus of the films, and the films posit questions on their share of responsibility and on the vague line dividing bystanders from perpetrators.