Paper Tombs
Post-Holocaust Memorial Books and Prewar Jewish Life
Published in Association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, this volume explores how post-Holocaust memorial books help to reshape our understanding of Jewish life and death in Eastern Europe
In the aftermath of the Holocaust, Eastern European survivors created yizker bikher—Yiddish for “memorial books”—to honor their towns destroyed and loved ones murdered during the Second World War. Devoted to their fellow community members, these collaboratively-written volumes were one way for survivors to reclaim their lives and memories.
In Paper Tombs, Jennifer Rich argues that yizker bikher demand renewed attention. Often dismissed as nothing more than nostalgic, amateur histories, Rich showcases how these vibrant sources are exceptional accomplishments that reanimate prewar Jewish life, condemn the Germans and their local collaborators, and memorialize the people, places, and ways of life destroyed during the Holocaust.
Paper Tombs makes the case for the importance of post-Holocaust memorial books as a resource for understanding Eastern European Jewish life, reshaping our understanding of Jewish experiences following the Holocaust. Deeply researched and engagingly written, Paper Tombs recovers these largely forgotten volumes and repositions them as critically important sources that reveal the rich diversity of prewar Jewish life, the relentless cruelty wrought by the Nazi occupation of the small towns and large cities of Eastern Europe, and the ways that survivors wanted them to be remembered.
Contributor Bios
Reviews
"A moving testimony to a lost world and a goad to keep its memory alive." ~ Kirkus Reviews
"In this moving, bold, and scholarly work, Jennifer Rich precisely captures the reasons why memorial books are so engaging and important. Not just informative and heartfelt, Paper Tombs functions in the same way as the books Rich so lovingly describes: as a matzeva or substitute gravestone." ~ Dan Stone, Professor of Modern History, Royal Holloway, University of London, and author of The Holocaust: An Unfinished History
"A deeply original, moving and personal study of post-Holocaust memory. Jennifer Rich analyzes how survivor-created memorial books preserved destroyed communities in text, image, and material form, transforming grief into collective remembrance. A powerful new contribution to Holocaust studies, this work reshapes how we understand survival and commemoration." ~ Christine Schmidt, Acting Co-Director, The Wiener Holocaust Library, London
"Beautifully written and extensively researched, Jenny Rich's Paper Tombs takes us on a multi-sensory journey into the lost Jewish worlds captured in yizker bikher and opens our eyes to the lives of the individuals and communities who created them. By moving beyond the analysis of just the written word, Rich helps us understand how and why these repositories of memory were created and how their materiality is also a response to the violent and emotional rupture caused by the Holocaust." ~ Caroline Sturdy Colls, author of Holocaust Archaeologies: Approaches and Future Directions
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