Historical Distance and the Holocaust

What happens when Holocaust historians leave their academic bubble and start interacting with laypeople? This book investigates practices and discourses of historical distance and their effects on vernacular understandings of the Holocaust among white, middle-class Europeans. In five chapters, Histo...

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Hlavní autor: Van de Putte, Thomas
Médium: Online
Jazyk:angličtina
Vydáno: Central European University Press 2026
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On-line přístup:ONIX_20260621T103019_9789048577552_4
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author Van de Putte, Thomas
author_browse Van de Putte, Thomas
author_facet Van de Putte, Thomas
author_sort Van de Putte, Thomas
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description What happens when Holocaust historians leave their academic bubble and start interacting with laypeople? This book investigates practices and discourses of historical distance and their effects on vernacular understandings of the Holocaust among white, middle-class Europeans. In five chapters, Historical Distance and the Holocaust describes and explains how historians, in interactions with laypeople, strip the Holocaust of its moral meaning and emotional load, narrate it as a ‘system’, and use sick Holocaust humour as distancing strategy. A detailed interactional analysis and thick ethnographic description demonstrate how the temporal, moral and emotional distancing practices reenforce the lay moralities and political subjectivities of the white middle-class. This comes with (mostly unintended) consequences. Distanced approaches to the Holocaust in non-academic environments reduce empathy for victims and survivors, normalize violence, disconnect the meaning of the Holocaust from contemporary conflict, and re-activate stereotypes about groups who employ more ‘close’ approaches to the Holocaust.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1777702026-06-22T05:08:38Z Historical Distance and the Holocaust Van de Putte, Thomas Cultural memory Collective memory Memory education Ethnography Public debates thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCC Cultural studies::JBCC8 Cultural policies and debates thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTZ Genocide and ethnic cleansing::NHTZ1 The Holocaust What happens when Holocaust historians leave their academic bubble and start interacting with laypeople? This book investigates practices and discourses of historical distance and their effects on vernacular understandings of the Holocaust among white, middle-class Europeans. In five chapters, Historical Distance and the Holocaust describes and explains how historians, in interactions with laypeople, strip the Holocaust of its moral meaning and emotional load, narrate it as a ‘system’, and use sick Holocaust humour as distancing strategy. A detailed interactional analysis and thick ethnographic description demonstrate how the temporal, moral and emotional distancing practices reenforce the lay moralities and political subjectivities of the white middle-class. This comes with (mostly unintended) consequences. Distanced approaches to the Holocaust in non-academic environments reduce empathy for victims and survivors, normalize violence, disconnect the meaning of the Holocaust from contemporary conflict, and re-activate stereotypes about groups who employ more ‘close’ approaches to the Holocaust. 2026-06-22T05:08:36Z 2026-06-22T05:08:36Z 2026-06-21T08:53:13Z 2026 book book ONIX_20260621T103019_9789048577552_4 https://ceupress.com/ https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/114117 9789048577552 9789048577545 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/177770 eng open access Central European University Press Central European University Press 10.5117/9789048573219 10.5117/9789048573219 49dd7c40-8e8d-4f66-b9e6-2895b535a0e0 9789048577552 9789048577545 Central European University Press 180 open access
spellingShingle Cultural memory
Collective memory
Memory education
Ethnography
Public debates
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCC Cultural studies::JBCC8 Cultural policies and debates
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTZ Genocide and ethnic cleansing::NHTZ1 The Holocaust
Van de Putte, Thomas
Historical Distance and the Holocaust
title Historical Distance and the Holocaust
title_full Historical Distance and the Holocaust
title_fullStr Historical Distance and the Holocaust
title_full_unstemmed Historical Distance and the Holocaust
title_short Historical Distance and the Holocaust
title_sort historical distance and the holocaust
topic Cultural memory
Collective memory
Memory education
Ethnography
Public debates
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCC Cultural studies::JBCC8 Cultural policies and debates
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTZ Genocide and ethnic cleansing::NHTZ1 The Holocaust
topic_facet Cultural memory
Collective memory
Memory education
Ethnography
Public debates
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCC Cultural studies::JBCC8 Cultural policies and debates
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTZ Genocide and ethnic cleansing::NHTZ1 The Holocaust
url ONIX_20260621T103019_9789048577552_4
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