Memories from the Lager: The Value of Witnessing

The Shoah stands as one of the darkest chapters in human history, a time when unspeakable atrocities were committed. This work, which deeply focuses on the value of witnessing the tragedy, is divided into three main chapters. The first one, “Representing the Unspeakable”, starts from trauma studies and their relationship with the Shoah, and then it delves into the different representations of the catastrophe, both visual and literary. Besides the controversy whether the Shoah can be represented through cinema or TV series, both accused of trivializing the scope of the event, the important aspect is to use these means to give meaning to memory. The transmission of these contents is indeed fundamental, especially in schools, through effective didactic practices that may teach the values of respect and tolerance. In Chapter II, "Words and Images from Hell", the floor goes to former inmates. Still nowadays, they keep telling us about the heavy sense of guilt and shame they felt because they survived, paradoxically heavier than their perpetrators’. Beyond the limits of witness, which are often subjectivity and emotionality, this chapter highlights the pivotal role of witnesses against oblivion and denial. In Chapter III, "Night Will Fall: A Look at the Tragedy", I wrote about the discovery of File Number F3080, a British documentary film directed by Bernstein and supervised by Hitchcock, made by British filmmakers soon after the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, that was then revisited by director André Singer and became "Night Will Fall" after seventy years. The content is carefully transposed, and from this the importance of the documentary genre emerges: by combining archive footage with the testimonies of survivors, it conveys the message that if we do not treasure what these images provide us, unfortunately "night will fall".