The Americanization of the Holocaust

doi:10.1017/9781108990172.014

12 - The Americanization of the Holocaust

from Part II - Geography

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 May 2025

Hasia R. Diner

Edited by

Laura Jockusch and

Devin O. Pendas

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Laura Jockusch: Affiliation:
Brandeis University, Massachusetts
Devin O. Pendas: Affiliation:
Boston College

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Summary

It is unsurprising that the legacy of the Holocaust was central to postwar Europe, but it is striking that the Holocaust became no less important in postwar America. It can be argued that the Holocaust has been “Americanized.” This phrase was initially deployed as a pejorative by critics who decried what they saw as the commercialization and trivialization of Holocaust memory. In some cases, they even argued that Holocaust memory was instrumentalized in the service of specific political agendas – support for Israel and the consolidation of a specifically Jewish identity in a multicultural America. At the same time, given the size and diversity of the Jewish diaspora in the USA, there was no way the Holocaust could not become central to American-Jewish self-understanding and, therefore, become a core part of American culture more broadly.

Keywords

Holocaust Memory USA Anne Frank United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Elie Wiesel Maus Schindler’s List

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of the Holocaust , pp. 285 - 306

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108990172.014 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

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