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