Title: Holocaust icons : symbolizing the Shoah in history and memory /
Authors: Stier, Oren Baruch, 1966-
Year: 2015
Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Historiography; Semiotics Social aspects.; Signs and symbols Social aspects.; Memorialization Social aspects.; Collective memory.
Abstract: Probes the history and memory of four symbolic relics of the Holocaust: the railway cars that carried Jews to their deaths, symbolizing the mechanics of murder; the Arbeit Macht Frei sign at Auschwitz, pointing to the insidious logic of the camp system; the number six million, representing an approximation of the number killed and mass murder generally; and the persona of Anne Frank, associated with victimization. Shows why and how the four symbols have come to stand in for the Holocaust.
Contents: Holocaust symbols: the shapes of memory -- Different trains: Holocaust artifacts and the ideologies of remembrance -- Thresholds of initiation: Arbeit macht frei -- From innocence to experience: an icon comes of age -- Anne Frank as a literary icon ; Anne Frank as visual icon -- The Holocaust as an iconic number: six million -- Looking again at Holocaust icons.