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Commentary

Making a Case for a Deaf Holocaust Memorial

Author
  • Mark Zaurov (University of Hamburg)

Abstract

A discussion on the need for a memorial for Deaf Jews murdered in the Holocaust and an exploration of Deaf Jews in the arts, politics and the sciences between the 18th and 20th century. Research shows that Deaf Jews possess hybrid identities and constitute a transnational imagined community. Their intersection with Deaf culture sets them off from hearing Jews with respect to communication practices, colonization experiences and world view. The term Deaf Holocaust is coined. Since Deaf Jews are still being overlooked in current Holocaust and Genocide Studies, a plethora of misconceptions reign mainstream as well as academic discourse. Deaf Jews are viewed as disabled Jews instead of members of a transnational cultural linguistic minority. As a result, they are conflated with “T4” in Berlin. The author argues that a memorial dedicated to the Deaf experiences of the Holocaust would express the lived diversity of Deaf Jews in the past. Moreover it would give today’s Deaf Jewish communities, Deaf and Jewish communities, and the hearing mainstream a much needed symbolic site of reference for mutual storytelling.

Authors

  • Mark Zaurov (Deaf Studies, University of Hamburg)

Keywords: Deaf Holocaust , Deaf Nazis , Forced and Voluntary Sterlization , Deaf Jews in Nazi-Europe , Memorial for Deaf Jews , Misconception

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REFERENCES:

Zaurov, Mark (2019): A Milestone in Deaf Studies: The Berlin Digital Memorial Board for Deaf Jewish Life Destroyed Under the Nazi Regime. In: Eldredge Bryan K. et. al. (eds.): Waypoints. Proceedings of the Sixt Biennial Deaf Studies Today! Conference at Utah Valley University. April 9-12, 2014, Orem, UT: Utah Valley University Press, 77–79.

Zaurov, Mark (2016). ‘Deaf Holocaust’: Deaf Jews and Their ‘True’ Communication in Nazi Concentration Camps. In: Michaela Wolf (Ed.), Interpreting in Nazi Concentration Camps, New York: Bloomsbury, 135-145.

Zaurov, Mark (2015): Deaf Jewish Space and "Deaf-same": The International Conferences of Deaf Jews in the Twentieth Century. In: Kusters, Annelies & Michelle Friedner (Eds.): “It’s a Small World”: International Deaf Spaces and Encounters, Washington D.C.: Gallaudet University Press, 34-36.

Zaurov, Mark (2015): Applying Postcolonial Theory as an Investigation of Deaf Jews as a Cultural Minority. In: Eldredge Bryan, K. et. al., Engaging Theory and Action. Proceedings of the Fourth Biennial Deaf Studies Today! Conference at Utah Valley University. April 8-10, 2010, Orem, UT: Utah Valley University Press, 273–283.

Zaurov, Mark (2014): The Deaf Gain of Wladislav Zeitlin (1907-1942): Jewish Scientist and Inventor from Germany. In: Baumann, H-Dirksen and Joseph J. Murray. ’Deaf Gain. Raising the Stakes for Human Diversity’, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 255-268. https://muse.jhu.edu/books/9781452942032https://muse.jhu.edu/books/9781452942032

Zaurov Mark (2012): Against Audism in Interviews with Deaf Holocaust Survivors, ILOHA – The Israel Oral History Association No. 9, The Oral History Division, The Hebrew University Jerusalem, December 2012, 16-21. http://www.ehri-project.eu/drupal/against-audismhttp://www.ehri-project.eu/drupal/against-audism

Zaurov Mark (2012): The Current Situation of Human Rights for Deaf People with Respect to the Deaf Holocaust. International Graduate Students’ conference on Holocaust and Genocide Studies Papers, Paper 9. http://commons.clarku.edu/chgs_papers/9http://commons.clarku.edu/chgs_papers/9

Zaurov, Mark (2011): The Application of Postcolonial Theories to Deaf History Studies, exemplified by a Double Cultural Minority: Deaf Jews, 7th Deaf History International Conference (DHI) in Stockholm 2009, edited by “Swedish Deaf History”, Stockholm, 173-179.

Zaurov, Mark (2010): Interviews about Deaf Holocaust, Forced Sterilization and Deaf Hitler Youth (6. Deaf History International Conference). Films in International Signs, Israel Sign Language and German Sign Language (in turns) [DVD], Hamburg: Interessengemeinschaft Gehörloser jüdischer Abstammung in Deutschland e.V. (IGJAD).

Zaurov, Mark/Günther, Klaus-B. (Eds.) (2009): Overcoming the Past, Determining its Consequences and Finding Solutions for the Present. A contribution to Deaf Studies, Holocaust Studies and Sign Language Education. Proceedings of the 6th Deaf History International Conference July 31 – August 04, 2006 Humboldt University, Berlin. Seedorf: Signum Verlag.

Zaurov, Mark (2009): Deaf Holokaust. In: Zaurov, Mark/Günther, Klaus-B. (Eds.): Overcoming the Past, Determining its Consequences and Finding Solutions for the Present. A contribution to Deaf studies, Holocaust Studies and Sign Language Education. Proceedings of the 6th Deaf History International Conference July 31 – August 04, 2006 Humboldt University, Berlin. Seedorf: Signum Verlag, 173-197.

Published on
01 Sep 2012

Publication details

  • Article Number: 10

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