'Holocaust literature' as the problem of generations (Germany)

This essay, devoted to "Holocaust-Literature" as an inter-generational prob lem, focusses on works of Jean Amery, Imre Kertesz, Cordelia Edvardson and Ruth Kluger under the perspective of narrative structures. The examples sho w that abstract terms like those of "Gedachtniskultur" or "Erinnerungskultu r" are not really adequate ways of describing the specific quality of liter ary works which deal with the individual and very personal experiences of a "Konzentrationslager." Thus "Holocaust-literature" is neither a monument o f history in general like Peter Eisenman's planned "Holocaust-Mahnmal" in B erlin nor a part of contemporary "Kulturalismus" (G. Hartman). It is a kind of generation-oriented historical work linked to the demands of literary f orm.