Have “Many Lies Accumulated in History Books”? The Holocaust in Ashkenazi Haredi Historical Consciousness in Israel
Since the Second World War, after the magnitude of the mass murder of European Jewry became known, Haredi society has been producing numerous publications on the Holocaust. This is a varied literature, including history books, fiction, children’s literature, memoirs, articles in the Haredi press, lectures and sermons. In general it is a popular phenomenon, meant for the average person. Notwithstanding the differences between them, Menachem Friedman and Dina Porat have argued persuasively that the vast majority of this literature is pre-occupied with blaming Zionism, the Zionist movement, and the leaders of the Yishuv in Palestine for the Shoah. This article suggests that contemporary Haredi historiography on the Holocaust has various foci, and, at times, the Zionist issue is marginal. By analyzing different forms of popular culture and the internal discourse about one of the most sensitive issues in this society, we can shed additional light on Haredi historical consciousness of the Holocaust.
