Transforming the Holocaust into an adventure in videotestimony: an unexpected form of discourse

Abstract

Typically Holocaust survivors are characterised as unable to express their experiences within a coherent discourse because what they endured is believed to be beyond words. What is termed their exceptionalist  discourse is particularly applicable in the case of accounts of camps, most notably Auschwitz. None the less, a sub-group of videotestimonies provided for the Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia, presents an alternative type of Holocaust discourse which is framed by the narrative genre of adventure, rather than extreme trauma. Such adventure discourses are cohesive, reflect a clear sense of agency and are performed, as much as told. Their emphasis is on tales of escape and resistance which took place outside of camp settings. Hybrid  accounts by camp survivors who experienced both adventures and the extremes of Holocaust persecution in death camps highlight the difference between adventure  and normal Holocaust discourse.