The Holocaust and History: Some Disconnections in the Postmodern Era

This article explores the question of whether the Holocaust and the massive body of research on it have had a significant impact on the discipline of history. I argue that although their impact is felt in a few areas within the discipline (for example, genocide studies and collective memory), they seem not to have influenced its deep structure. The article focuses on two postmodern theoretical discussions that took place withing the discipline, and examines their impact. The first discussion dealt with issues of representation of the Holocaust, epitomized with the publication of the canonical book Probing the Limits of Representation (1992), edited by Saul Friedländer. I argue that although this discussion was groundbreaking in terms of theory, it had very little impact on the practice of historical writing. The second discussion dealt with issues of meaning production in history and contributed to the emergence of the field of cultural history, which fundamentally changed the discipline of history. However, this field, so it seems, was not influenced by Holocaust research.

In the second part of the article, I consider Saul Friedländer’s recent book, The Years of Extermination: 1939–1945, (2007) as an attempt to integrate the theoretical insights of the representation discussion with historical writing. The result, I contend, is aesthetically impressive but has very limited theoretical significance.