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History, Fiction, and the Holocaust: Narrative Perspective and Ethical Responsibility

Abstract:In this article Jeremy Hawthorn argues that fictional accounts of the Holocaust that include historical characters and events face special ethical challenges. In particular, the presentation of the inner lives of characters representing real people (such as their private thoughts and emotions, their inner speech) is seen to be especially problematic, especially in the case of victims. The article focuses on three fictional accounts of an actual event that took place in the Auschwitz death camp: the shooting of an SS officer named Josef Schillinger by a female prisoner awaiting gassing. These accounts are “The Death of Schillinger” by Tadeusz Borowski (first published in Polish 1959 and in English translation in 1967, but written shortly after Borowski’s release from Auschwitz in 1945 and before his suicide in 1951), “Revenge of a Dancer” by Sara Nomberg-Przytyk (which came out in English translation from the unpublished Polish manuscript in 1985, but was written before 1967 when publication in Poland was denied), and A Prayer for Katerina Horovitzova by Arnošt Lustig (published in Czech in 1964 and in English translation in 1973). While Lustig’s novel presents the reader with the female victim’s thoughts and feelings, the two shorter works do not, and the article explores the ethical ramifications of this difference.