psychoanalyst following her deportation and who introduced trauma issues into the analytical sphere after Auschwitz . Her writings have been collected in Le Savoir déporté . Camps , histoire , psychanalyse [ Deported Knowledge . Camps , History , Psychoanalysis ] ( Seuil , 2013 ). The choice not to provide evidence through testimony in the Irving v Lipstadt trial is a smart choice . Those who survived generally do not have the necessary knowledge – or direct experience , needless to say , since they survived – to prove the existence of the gas chambers , and denial even sometimes dares to rely on this survival . What ’ s more , as with any witness , especially so long after the events occurred , certain aspects of their testimony may be subject to criticism . On the other hand , in France , the Barbie ( 1987 ), Touvier ( 1994 ) and Papon ( 1998 )
3 trials for crimes against humanity made extensive use of witnesses , not to “ substantiate ” the claims but to make the suffering be felt . It also marks the entry of civil parties in trials that must somehow provide “ reparations ” for the victims . This is now not specific to Holocaust-related trials . The trial surrounding the November 2015 Paris attacks , currently taking place in Paris , is the best example of this .
3 . In L ’ ère du témoin [ The Era of the Witness ] ( Hachette , 1998 ), you have performed a preliminary analysis of the approach , technological evolution and expectations brought about by the collection of testimonies of the Shoah , such as those undertaken at Yale University and the Spielberg Foundation . More than twenty years on , how do you rate these major projects ?
Technological aspects are indeed crucial in this realm . There is an abyss between cameras that are cumbersome and costly , just as film and its processing was , and smartphones . There is also a huge difference between the images seen every week to the news footage that preceded films and television , and what each of us has in terms of footage .
The major collections – the Yale and Spielberg collections in particular – made it possible to archive tens of thousands of survivor testimonies ( in the broad sense of any Jew who lived under Nazi rule ). Today , these women and men are no longer with us , and their testimonies are highly valuable for historians , educators and documentarians . This type of project is used for other events , such as the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda .
3 . A historical analysis of the relationship between testimony and history | Fayard / Pluriel
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Observing Memories Issue 5