Overview
On August 1, 1984, a group of Polish Carmelite nuns, with the approval of both church and government authorities, but apparently without any dialogue with members of the Polish or international Jewish community, moved into a building at the site of Auschwitz I. This establishment of a Roman Catholic convent in what was once a storehouse for the poisonous Zyklon B used in the gas chambers of the Nazi extermination center has sparked intense controversy between Jews and Christians. Memory Offended is as definitive a survey of the Auschwitz convent controversy as could be hoped for. But even more important than its thorough chronological record of events pertinent to the dispute, is the book's use of this particular controversy as a departure for reflection on fundamental issues for Jews and Christians and their relationships with each other. Essays by fourteen distinguished international scholars who represent diverse viewpoints within their Jewish and Christian traditions identify, analyze, and comment on the long-range issues, questions, and implications at the heart of the controversy. A recent interview with the internationally renowned Holocaust authority and survivor, Elie Wiesel, makes an important contribution to the ongoing discussion. The volume merits careful reading by all who seek to learn the lessons this controversy can teach both Christians and Jews. In their introduction, editors Carol Rittner and John K. Roth define the meaning of the word covenant in both the Jewish and Christian religious traditions. They develop a compelling argument for the notion that the Christian concept of a new covenant between God and humanity, which supposedly superseded Judaism's old covenant, formed the basis for the centuries-old anti-Jewish contempt that led to Auschwitz--the Nazi death camp where 1.6 million human beings, mostly Jews, were exterminated. The editors contend that the existence of a convent at this site offended memory. The vital issue of what constitutes a fitting Auschwitz memorial is addressed throughout the volume's three major divisions in which important thinkers, including Robert McAfee Brown and Richard L. Rubenstein, among others, investigate The History and Politics of Memory, The Psychology of Memory, and The Theology of Memory. Important tools for researchers are a chronology of events pertinent to the Auschwitz convent controversy, 1933-1990 and an appendix that contains many key documents relating to the controversy. Memory Offended will be an important resource in university and public libraries as well as in Holocaust courses, classes on Jewish Studies, twentieth-century history, and those that focus on interreligious issues.
Full Product Details
Author: Carol Rittner ,
John K. Roth
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint: Praeger Publishers Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 1.90cm
, Length: 23.40cm
Weight: 0.609kg
ISBN: 9780275936068
ISBN 10: 0275936066
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 19 June 1991
Recommended Age: From 7 to 17 years
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
This is a book of extraordinary power. The essays are written by eminent Christian, Jewish, and gentile scholars and thinkers....[A]nyone conversant with the Christian/Jewish dialogue knows that even twenty-five years ago such a book could not have been written or published. The dialogue has moved beyond civil conversation and mutual commiseration. Fundamental feelings are being expressed in the confidence that no offence will be taken, and basic convictions are being affirmed in trust that the other party will make an honest effort to understand and interpret fairly. The essays are excellent, the documentaries are indispensable to the student of a landmark event, and the editors are due a rousing vote of gratitude. -Franklin H. Littell President, The Philadelphia Center on the Holocaust
An important collection of essays by leading scholars engaged in Christian-Jewish dialogue that share, from their perspectives, the meaning of the controversy surrounding the building of a Carmelite convent at the site of the Auschwitz camp. The editors posed three questions to the contributors. First, how does the Auschwitz convent controversy and its seeming resolution reflect and affect the most important issues in Jewish-Christian relations? Second, in both the Jewish and Christian traditions, what obstacle(s) most need to be overcome and what strengths are needed to address the issues in ways that might improve those relationships? Third, are there lessons Jews and Christians can learn as a result of this controversy? The editors, in raising these questions, work on the thesis that the Christian claim of the new covenant superseding Judaism's old covenant helped make the Holocaust happen by inciting anti-Jewish contempt in which Nazism would later flourish. That flourishing implicates Christianity in a twisted road that led to Auschwitz, which, in turn, made the Carmelite convent problematic and controversial. The volume also includes an interesting interview with Elie Wiesel. The essay's should be read along with Wladyslaw T. Bartoszewski's The Convent at Auschwitz (1991). For graduate and undergraduate libraries. -Choice ?An important collection of essays by leading scholars engaged in Christian-Jewish dialogue that share, from their perspectives, the meaning of the controversy surrounding the building of a Carmelite convent at the site of the Auschwitz camp. The editors posed three questions to the contributors. First, how does the Auschwitz convent controversy and its seeming resolution reflect and affect the most important issues in Jewish-Christian relations? Second, in both the Jewish and Christian traditions, what obstacle(s) most need to be overcome and what strengths are needed to address the issues in ways that might improve those relationships? Third, are there lessons Jews and Christians can learn as a result of this controversy? The editors, in raising these questions, work on the thesis that the Christian claim of the new covenant superseding Judaism's old covenant helped make the Holocaust happen by inciting anti-Jewish contempt in which Nazism would later flourish. That flourishing implicates Christianity in a twisted road that led to Auschwitz, which, in turn, made the Carmelite convent problematic and controversial. The volume also includes an interesting interview with Elie Wiesel. The essay's should be read along with Wladyslaw T. Bartoszewski's The Convent at Auschwitz (1991). For graduate and undergraduate libraries.?-Choice This is a book of extraordinary power. The essays are written by eminent Christian, Jewish, and gentile scholars and thinkers....[A]nyone conversant with the Christian/Jewish dialogue knows that even twenty-five years ago such a book could not have been written or published. The dialogue has moved beyond civil conversation and mutual commiseration. Fundamental feelings are being expressed in the confidence that no offence will be taken, and basic convictions are being affirmed in trust that the other party will make an honest effort to understand and interpret fairly. The essays are excellent, the documentaries are indispensable to the student of a landmark event, and the editors are due a rousing vote of gratitude. -Franklin H. Littell President, The Philadelphia Center on the Holocaust The Auschwitz convent controversy put postwar Christianity and Judaism and all their attempts at reconciliation to the test. This book sheds light on this conflict which is one of the most painful, indeed agonizing, public religious controversies of recent years. The book is marked by candor and integrity. The essays are consistently full of insights and self-revelation with very little special pleading. The key documents are included. This book deserves wide reading. - Irving Greenberg, President The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership
Author Information
CAROL RITTNER, formerly Director of The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity in New York, is a Roman Catholic Sister of Mercy who has written extensively. Her previous books include The Courage to Care (edited with Sondra Myers, 1986) and Elie Wiesel: Between Memory and Hope (1990). JOHN K. ROTH is Pitzer Professor of Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, California. In addition to lecturing widely throughout the United States and the world, Roth has published more than 175 articles, reviews, and 17 books. His most recent books are Approaches to Auschwitz: The Holocaust and Its Legacy, The Questions of Philosophy, American Ground: Vistas, Visions, and Revisions and Holocaust: Religious and Philosophical Implications.
