It’s
amazing that you were able to
find so much information on “ordinary
people.” It’s such an important
gap to fill, and so crucial to
a sense of our own history. You did a
wonderful job of showing the breadth and
limitations of Holocaust studies as well as
German studies. The move away
from monolithic culture is so
important politically. It strikes
another blow against fascist
worldviews. Which is of course
a great use of history.
I’m tremendously
impressed by your research, and
by your ability to pull together
so much material. It’s fascinating to see
the ways that manual labor became
validated within the Jewish community
before the war, a subject you
deal with beautifully, relating
it so importantly to ideas of
caste. Of course, the Nazis worked very hard to obscure any idea
that Jews were not rich or male. Your own interviews show great sensitivity
on your part, and I’m certain
that the women you interviewed
were grateful to talk to you.
Your
use of the Emma document is just terrific.
I’m so
glad you found it. You make as
much of it as could possibly
be made. I’m sure it wasn't easy to persuade your advisers
that oral histories and personal testimony
could make for great analysis,
but you’ve clearly proved that.
And by using quotes from the
interviews to introduce the topics,
you’ve done honor to the individuals
as well.
As
you show so powerfully in your last chapter,
this particular group that you've interviewed
has really been left out of history
and German Studies, with all
their focus on high culture.
You also make a very good point,
that these people were often
too poor to emigrate, so we don’t know
about them in this country. And
you end wonderfully with the
quote from Rose Lerman, “My life is
a part of history.”
This
is a marvelous thesis, and really deserves to be a book.