“Nur ich bin im Lager […] I’m ... I’m a survivor”. Verbalised memories of camps in the Israelkorpus

Abstract

This paper examines how one of the interviewees of the Israelkorpus, Abraham Goldberg, describes the different camps he had to experience directly or indirectly. It emerges that these places are very precisely located, both geographically and chronologically, and that they function as concrete points of reference for memories and emotions which are often revived through the narrative. This narrative, too, expresses how difficult it is for the victims of National Socialist persecution to verbalize their traumatic experiences. A precise technical analysis reveals the emotions and the strategies to handle these emotions during the narration.