Israel's Holocaust and the Politics of NationhoodThe ghost of the Holocaust is ever present in Israel, in the lives and nightmares of the survivors and in the absence of the victims. In this compelling and disturbing analysis, Idith Zertal, a leading member of the new generation of revisionist historians in Israel, considers the ways Israel has used the memory of the Holocaust to define and legitimize its existence and politics. Drawing on a wide range of sources, the author exposes the pivotal role of the Holocaust in Israel's public sphere, in its project of nation building, its politics of power and its perception of the conflict with the Palestinians. She argues that the centrality of the Holocaust has led to a culture of death and victimhood that permeates Israel's society and self-image. For the updated paperback edition of the book, Tony Judt, the world-renowned historian and political commentator, has contributed a foreword in which he writes of Zertal's courage, the originality of her work, and the 'unforgiving honesty with which she looks at the moral condition of her own country'. |
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Amir annihilation Arab Archives assassination Attorney Auschwitz Aviv battle became Ben-Gurion camp catastrophe collective memory court crimes criminal critical cultural Davar Dayan dead death defendant Diaspora Dinur Edelman Eichmann in Jerusalem Eichmann trial Eretz Israel Eshkol establishment European Jewry event Exodus extermination German ghetto fighters ghetto uprisings Greater Israel Guri Ha'aretz Ha'tzair Haganah Haim Hannah Arendt Hebrew heroism Herut Hitler Holocaust Holocaust survivors homeland human Ibid immigration Israeli Israeli society Jabotinsky Jew as Pariah Jewish community Jewish history Jews Judenräte Justice Kastner kibbutz Knesset Knesset Minutes Kovner Labor Party land leaders leadership living Mapai military Moshe movement murder Nathan Alterman Nazi Collaborators Punishment Nazis and Nazi Nekuda organized Palestine Palestinian Palmach political Prime Minister quoted Rabin rebels refugees role Scholem Tel Aviv Tel-Hai territory Trumpeldor victims Warsaw words wrote Yedioth Aharonoth Yigal Yigal Amir Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Tabenkin Yosef Zertal Zionist