An analysis of the unique ways in which oral testimony of survivors contributes to our understanding of the Holocaust; sheds light on the forms and functions of memory as victims relive devastating experiences of pain, humiliation, and loss.

"Analyzes the theories concerning why certain people survived the Nazi concentration camps and examines the writings of survivors."

"Lawrence L. Langer, perhaps the most important literary critic of the Holocaust, here explores the use of Holocaust themes in literature, memoirs, film, and painting." "Langer focuses his attention on a variety of controversial issues: the attempt of a number of commentators to appropriate the subject of the Holocaust for private moral agendas; the ordeal of women in the concentration camps; the conflicting claims of individual and community survival...