Book:

Zeugenschaft im Bild. Strategien der Sichtbarmachung der Shoah im polnischen Dokumentar- und Kunstfilm nach 1989

The central aim of the thesis is to reflect on testimony as a visual strategy. In comparison to the assumption of the non-representability of the Shoah, the notion of visualization is used in order to describe processes and effects of images in connection with witnessing and testimony. The initial point of the discussion is based on the assumption that visual testimony constitutes an antipole to the standard visualization practices; that is the historical visual material recorded by the Allies and the National Socialists during World War II. Expounding the problems of the historical images, the thesis contracts the historical footage shot during the war period with the visual testimonies given by eyewitnesses and survivors of the Shoah. In particular, two central strategies are pointed out, which show a critical approach to the historical material: the critical examination of the archival footage within the film (Harun Farockis AUFSCHUB, 2007) and the refusal to show archival material shot during World War II (Claude Lanzmanns SHOAH, 1985).