Survivors of Nazi Persecution, Refugees, Knowledge Actors : The Cultural Translation of Knowledge in an Effort to Document Nazi Atrocities, 1945-1946
(2024) In History of Intellectual Culture 3. p.25-47- Abstract
- Objects smuggled out of Nazi concentration camps and brought to Sweden by liberated prisoners have been valued museum objects in Sweden for almost 60 years. They and the written testimonies given by survivors represent not only the suffering experienced by the Nazis’ victims and their resistance against dehumanization but also how these aspects of the Second World War and the Holocaust were culturally transferred from the epicenter of Nazi atrocities to a nominally neutral country in the immediate postwar period. What has been overlooked is that the former prisoners who came to Sweden as ‘repatriates’ brought with them more than just objects and stories. They also brought knowledge. They carried this knowledge to Sweden, where it was... (More)
- Objects smuggled out of Nazi concentration camps and brought to Sweden by liberated prisoners have been valued museum objects in Sweden for almost 60 years. They and the written testimonies given by survivors represent not only the suffering experienced by the Nazis’ victims and their resistance against dehumanization but also how these aspects of the Second World War and the Holocaust were culturally transferred from the epicenter of Nazi atrocities to a nominally neutral country in the immediate postwar period. What has been overlooked is that the former prisoners who came to Sweden as ‘repatriates’ brought with them more than just objects and stories. They also brought knowledge. They carried this knowledge to Sweden, where it was culturally translated in a new context. Unlike the objects, however, little consideration has been given to the knowledge carried to Sweden by survivors of Nazi persecution and its significance. This article begins to rectify this by arguing that many of the survivors whose objects and testimonies are now in Swedish museums and archival collections were not merely passive contributors to knowledge of Nazi atrocities but were knowledge actors who carried and culturally translated knowledge that helped to make the collection of this material possible. (Less)
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https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2cf1699e-a8f1-4fb7-a00b-bac14594a5ac
- author
- Martínez, Victoria Van Orden LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- survivors of Nazi persecution, Holocaust documentation, migrant knowledge, cultural translation, knowledge actors, Ravensbrück achive, Polish Research Institute
- host publication
- Experimental Spaces : Knowledge Production and its Environments in the Long Nineteenth Century - Knowledge Production and its Environments in the Long Nineteenth Century
- series title
- History of Intellectual Culture
- editor
- Lerg, Charlotte A. ; Östling, Johan ; Weiß, Jana ; Kwaschik, Anne and Roesch, Claudia
- volume
- 3
- pages
- 25 - 47
- publisher
- De Gruyter Oldenbourg
- ISSN
- 2747-6766
- 2747-677
- ISBN
- 978-3-11-129090-4
- 978-3-11-129138-3
- 978-3-11-129164-2
- DOI
- 10.1515/9783111291383-002
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 2cf1699e-a8f1-4fb7-a00b-bac14594a5ac
- date added to LUP
- 2025-04-11 12:16:20
- date last changed
- 2025-05-07 14:43:03
@inbook{2cf1699e-a8f1-4fb7-a00b-bac14594a5ac,
abstract = {{Objects smuggled out of Nazi concentration camps and brought to Sweden by liberated prisoners have been valued museum objects in Sweden for almost 60 years. They and the written testimonies given by survivors represent not only the suffering experienced by the Nazis’ victims and their resistance against dehumanization but also how these aspects of the Second World War and the Holocaust were culturally transferred from the epicenter of Nazi atrocities to a nominally neutral country in the immediate postwar period. What has been overlooked is that the former prisoners who came to Sweden as ‘repatriates’ brought with them more than just objects and stories. They also brought knowledge. They carried this knowledge to Sweden, where it was culturally translated in a new context. Unlike the objects, however, little consideration has been given to the knowledge carried to Sweden by survivors of Nazi persecution and its significance. This article begins to rectify this by arguing that many of the survivors whose objects and testimonies are now in Swedish museums and archival collections were not merely passive contributors to knowledge of Nazi atrocities but were knowledge actors who carried and culturally translated knowledge that helped to make the collection of this material possible.}},
author = {{Martínez, Victoria Van Orden}},
booktitle = {{Experimental Spaces : Knowledge Production and its Environments in the Long Nineteenth Century}},
editor = {{Lerg, Charlotte A. and Östling, Johan and Weiß, Jana and Kwaschik, Anne and Roesch, Claudia}},
isbn = {{978-3-11-129090-4}},
issn = {{2747-6766}},
keywords = {{survivors of Nazi persecution; Holocaust documentation; migrant knowledge; cultural translation; knowledge actors; Ravensbrück achive; Polish Research Institute}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{25--47}},
publisher = {{De Gruyter Oldenbourg}},
series = {{History of Intellectual Culture}},
title = {{Survivors of Nazi Persecution, Refugees, Knowledge Actors : The Cultural Translation of Knowledge in an Effort to Document Nazi Atrocities, 1945-1946}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783111291383-002}},
doi = {{10.1515/9783111291383-002}},
volume = {{3}},
year = {{2024}},
}