But as a characterization of modern Jewry, whether in Israel or elsewhere, it is little more than a fancy fabrication of reality. Not only among the nations of the world, but within Israel as well, the memory of the Shoah is being fragmented and then integrated by associating it with particular historical and cultural meanings. Hence, we have to accept the fact that the expanding global awareness of the Holocaust is derived from and linked to the universalization of the Shoah itself. And as such, more than one authentic and exclusive memory of the event will be formed. That difference is crucial.
Victimization is about murder and death, domination and helplessness.
Survival is about coping, living after, going on. Dr. Gulie Ne'eman Arad is professor of history at Tel-Aviv University.