Remaking Holocaust Memory: Documentary Cinema by Third-Generation Survivors in Israel

Since the late 1990s in Israel, third-generation Holocaust survivors have become the new custodians of cultural memory, and the documentary films they produce play a major role in shaping a societal consensus of commemoration. In Remaking Holocaust Memory, a pioneering analysis of third-generation Holocaust documentaries in Israel, Liat Steir-Livny, co-recipient of the 2019 Young Scholar Award given jointly by the Association of Israel Studies and the Israel Institute, investigates compelling films that have been screened in Israel, Europe, and the United States, appeared in numerous international film festivals, and won international awards, but have yet to receive significant academic attention.

Steir-Livny's comprehensive investigation reveals how the absolute truths that appeared in the majority of second-generation films are deconstructed and disputed in the newer films, which do not dismiss their cinematic parents' approach but rather rethink fixed notions, extend the debates, and pose questions where previously there had been exclamation marks. Steir-Livny also explores the ways in which the third-generation's perspectives on Holocaust memory govern cinematic trends and aesthetic choices, and how
these might impact the moral recollection of the past.

Finally, Remaking Holocaust Memory serves as an excellent reference tool, as it helpfully lists all of the second- and third-generation films available, as well as the festival screenings and awards they have garnered.

Author: Liat Steir-Livny
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 04/18/2019
Pages: 376
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.00h x 8.60w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780815636502

Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2020

About the Author
Liat Steir-Livny is an Associate Professor in the Department of Culture at Sapir Academic College in Israel and a tutor and course coordinator at The Open University of Israel. She is a co-recipient of the 2019 Young Scholar Award given jointly by the Association of Israel Studies and the Israel Institute.