Bøger af Otto Dov Kulka

These essays, written in the course of half a century of research and thought on German and Jewish history, deal with the uniqueness of a phenomenon in its historical and philosophical context. Applying the "classical" empirical tools to this unprecedented historical chapter, Kulka strives to incorporate it into the continuum of Jewish and universal history. At the same time he endeavors to fathom the meaning of the ideologically motivated mass murder and incalculable suffering. The author presents a multifaceted, integrative history, encompassing the German society, its attitudes toward the Jews and toward the anti-Jewish policy of the Nazi regime; as well as the Jewish society, its self-perception and its leadership.

In a life dedicated to studying and writing about Nazism and the Holocaust, Kulka has set to one side his experiences as a child inmate at Auschwitz. Breaking years of silence, he brings together the personal and historical account of the concentration camps and the private mythology he constructed.

Otto Dov Kulka's memoir of a childhood spent in Auschwitz is a literary feat of astounding emotional power, exploring the permanent and indelible marks left by the HolocaustWinner of the JEWISH QUARTERLY-WINGATE PRIZE 2014As a child, the distinguished historian Otto Dov Kulka was sent first to the ghetto of Theresienstadt and then to Auschwitz. As one of the few survivors he has spent much of his life studying Nazism and the Holocaust, but always as a discipline requiring the greatest coldness and objectivity, with his personal story set to one side. But he has remained haunted by specific memories and images, thoughts he has been unable to shake off.Translated by Ralph Mandel.'The greatest book on Auschwitz since Primo Levi ... Kulka has achieved the impossible' - the panel of Judges, Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize

Som 10-årig blev Otto Dov Kulka sendt først til ghettoen i Theresienstadt og derfra til Auschwitz. Som en af de få overlevende har han brugt hovedparten af sit liv på at studere nazismen og holocaust, men altid har han som historiker holdt den største professionelle distance og objektivitet og pakket sin personlige historie langt væk. Ikke desto mindre har han været plaget og forfulgt af erindringsglimt, billeder og tanker, som han ikke har kunnet ryste af sig, og i begyndelsen af 1990’erne begyndte han at indtale sine erindringer, efterhånden som de vældede frem. Med udgangspunkt i disse lydoptagelser forener Otto Dov Kulka i Landskaber fra Dødens metropol for første gang det personlige og det historiske i et forsøg på at få erindringerne til at give me­ning. Resultatet er en rystende, til tider poetisk beretning om koncentrationslejrene og om den private mytologi, som han byggede op omkring sine forfærdelige oplevelser. Og midt i al døden og grufuldheden finder Kulka alligevel øjeblikke af uforglem­melig og næsten ubærlig skønhed.