Subject Area
Humanities
Abstract
In the years after the Holocaust, there was concern that to write poetry after Auschwitz was, in the word of the philosopher Theodor Adorno, “barbaric,” that the lyrical aspects of poetry were not appropriate for the horror witnessed in the death camps. Despite Adorno’s warning, Holocaust poetry flourished out of the needs of poets to recount and honor a past that was passing out of survivors’ personal reflections into the twenty-first century. Holocaust poetry liberates the poet’s testimony as a message an empathetic reader can carry to fight dehumanization. This thesis discusses many of these poems in light of the poet’s experience as either witness or proxy-witness. These poems, as the poets’ stylized representations of the experience, serve as appropriate warnings to ward off attempts at stereotyping, marginalization, and victimization. When we allow the Holocaust poets and their poems to “speak” and move us to action, we keep their memory and message alive and deny Hitler a posthumous victory.
Degree Date
Spring 5-10-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.L.S.
Department
The Simmons School of Education and Human Development
Advisor
Professor Rick Halperin
Second Advisor
Professor Lori Ann Stephens
Third Advisor
Professor Janet Harris
Acknowledgements
In December 2019, I traveled to Poland and Ukraine with Southern Methodist University’s Human Rights Program. Thirty-eight of us—students, professors, and other interested individuals—visited Holocaust labor camps, extermination centers, villages and towns for two weeks under the guidance of the Program Director, Dr. Rick Halperin. At one site, when a memorial candle was lighted, a poem was recited that pointed to the collusion of so many in that atrocity. That memorial and the message of that poem have continued to inhabit my thoughts. I’ve launched this thesis to add Holocaust poetry to other efforts in the fight against victimization. I’m grateful to my Co-advisors, Dr. Rick Halperin and Dr. Lori Ann Stephens, for the many hours they spent guiding me through the Master of Liberal Studies Program as well as their nurturing advice and counseling during the preparation of this thesis. Dr. Janet Harris, as the Third Reader for this thesis, gave me the same supportive advice she had offered during my previous class and Independent Study with her. I’m very thankful to Dr. Kate Montgomery, Department Chair of SMU’s Graduate Liberal Studies and Dispute Resolution Programs, who gave me countless hours of sage advice from the moment I expressed interest in graduate courses. Lastly, I’m grateful to my wife, Ricki, who has been a constant source of support throughout all my endeavors. She’s read my drafts, helped me to focus on the main themes, and occasionally let me out of doing the dishes.
Format
.docx
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Shapiro, Gabriel, "To The Dark Boundary: Holocaust Poetry as Testimony and Message" (2024). Graduate Liberal Studies Theses and Dissertations. 15.
https://scholar.smu.edu/simmons_gls_etds/15
Included in
European Languages and Societies Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, Nonfiction Commons, Poetry Commons