The Holocaust’s Ghost grew out of a conference held at the University of Alberta in 1997. DeCoste and Schwartz have brought together scholars from the fields of history, art, English, Judaic studies, law, music, political science, and theology to produce the 35 essays in the book: 17 covering “Art and Politics” and 18 on “Law and Education.” The sum is an imposing 600 pages, which DeCoste hopes in the introduction “will forge vigilance, a moral and political watchfulness for holocaust.”
Essay subjects range from the persecution of the Gypsies, and of German-Jewish musicians, to the nature of memory and the limits of truth in fictionalizing the Holocaust. This creates an uneven quality in the collection, as some essays are straightforward chronological accounts, while others are more academic philosophical musings. One unifying theme, however, is the idea that the Holocaust stands apart from the rest of history, unique in human experience, and that this demands that we remember it in a different way. For example, Zygmunt Bauman’s essay, “The Holocaust’s Life as Ghost,” points out that prior to the Second World War we could not imagine the Holocaust. Now we cannot imagine a world in which it is impossible.
The essays on Holocaust education and the problems with how the subject is currently taught in schools and universities are fascinating. There is a relatively high level of Canadian content – one essay even deals specifically with anti-racism education in Canada. This section would be of tremendous value to a teacher contemplating covering this subject, since it includes primers on how to structure study courses on the Holocaust and how to deal with hate on the Internet.
The Holocaust’s Ghost is a weighty book in both senses of the word. Yet it is an important contribution toward our comprehension of an event so horrific that it stands alone in our culture and memory. It is not a book for everyone. However, the reader who is prepared to make the effort will come away a richer person.
The Holocaust’s Ghost: Writings on Art, Politics, Law and Education