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Indelible shadows: Film and the Holocaust
452
Book Reviews
Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1970). The solidity of Lloyd's monograph as a dialogue with a great variety of primary sources adds up to an approach that will appeal to the advanced student of economic history; for example, in the analysis of cloth export in the laterfourteenth century by the Hanse, given (with a table) on pp. 75-78, or in the useful appendix 2 (pp. 381-384) on Hanse trade figures in the late-fifteenth century. All through his demanding text the author insists that the rhythm in the relationship between England and the German Hanse was affected not by trade alone but by a political and diplomatic process not always conducted in a manner rational for the interest of the parties. As Lloyd explains, this was due in part to conflicts of policy more apparent from the fourteenth century within the Hanse itself, since its towns were falling more and more into three distinct political groupings: the Rhineland and Westphalian towns headed by Cologne; the North Sea and Baltic coast group with Ltibeck in the lead; and the Prussian towns under the command of the Grand Master oftbe Teutonic Order. At times these groupings might pursue quite independent and even contradictory aims in their relations with England, in spite of the efforts of the intermittent Hanse diets. For its great scholarly effort to relate the realms of political manoeuvre, economic enterprise, and commercial diplomacy into a global explanation for the rise and fall of the Hanse in England, Lloyd's book must be recommended. Benjamin Arnold
University of Reading
Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust, Annette lnsdorf, second edn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), xix + 293 pp., £30.00/$42.50 H.B., £10.95/$16.95 P.B. Elie Wiesel introduces Annette Insdorf's up-dated version of Indelible Shadows by asking whether, if we cannot speak of the horror of the Holocaust, we can nevertheless show i t - - i n film. Is the image ultimately mightier than the word? There is something inevitable about the fact that debate about the greatest Jewish disaster in modem history has come to centre on the ability, or rather inability, of the Word to express truth, the terrible truth of Man's inhumanity to Man. The suggestion made by Insdorf that the image, or rather the cinematic image, might be a better substitute for expressing that truth also has a certain inevitability in the secular, post-religious world in which we live. It is a most interesting question, which gets to the heart of many of the characteristics of the post-Holocaust era. Although Insdorf does not really explore such questions in any great depth, the question of the suitability of film and image over words does act to remind the reader throughout this introductory survey of Holocaust films of the larger issues involved. As an introductory survey this book is admirably comprehensive. It is so comprehensive that some films are included which do not immediately come to mind as Holocaust films. The extensive treatment of The Damned, a film much more about Nazi Germany than the Holocaust, seems to be out of place. The book's approach of grouping fdms loosely into categories, and then offering summaries and commentaries of the films' main themes, is not very innovative, but it is sensible, as are most of the substantive comments about the individual films. Only occasionally does Insdorf commit the sin of the cin~aste and outrageously over-interpret, as in her errant treatment of the child metaphor in SchlOndorff's The Tin Drum (p. 83). Generally this is a sound and often intriguing guide through the astounding number of films which have been made about the horrors of mid-century. What emerges from her accounts of these films is a great preference for films that are
History of European Ideas
Book Reviews
453
not thoughtless 'Hollywood' clichts, but have been agonised over in their structure and 'cinematic language', are spare and not 'nice', sober and not melodramatic, honest and not filled with manipulative music. It is perhaps not too surprising that her favourite films are therefore three documentaries, Alain Resnais' Night and Fog, Marcel Ophuls' The Memory of Justice and Claude Lanzmann's Shoah. The scene she specially cites from Shoah is where the barber, Bomba, recalls a memory so horrible he at first refuses to speak, but then does. Ironically, what makes this scene so powerful is not the imageperse or the words per se, but the shattering combination of both. Does this mean that it is with words andimages, the real language of 'the talkies', that Adorno's language barrier can be overcome7 That is part of the explanation of the problem tackled in this book. Yet the more fascinating aspect which emerges from Insdorfs survey is that the very criteria which she chooses to evaluate the merits of Holocaust films are ones which are deeply woven into the Jewish tradition of the primacy of the Word itself. The Word in traditional Judaism is God's Word, the Word of ethical commitment. The primacy of the Word was thus also the primacy of ethics, in a tradition where the ban on idolatry muted any interest in the aesthetics of images. The entry of Jews into the modern, Western world broke that ban, and disassociated words from ethics. In this modem world it was the aesthetic, amoral nature of the spoken word which held sway, as Adolf Hitler knew only too well, and as Arnold Schoenberg superbly illustrated in Moses and
Aaron. Given this background, Insdorfs conclusions point to a remarkable development in our post-Holocaust sensibilities. For what she does essentially is apply ethical criteria, of honesty, sobriety and spareness, and reject aesthetic criteria such as harmony, prettiness or 'niceness'. Image (film) has thus been ethiciscd, one might almost say 'judaised', in the best meaning of that term. The effect of the Holocaust has been to create a new synthesis of the Word-Image and Ethics-Aesthetics dialectic of the modern Jewish experience, to create an ethical aesthetic of the image, so that 'cinematic language is pushed and prodded into expressing complex truths, disorienting, stinging, and enlightening the viewer' (pp. 254-255). The ultimate effect of the Holocaust, ironically, has been to transform the language of aesthetics into one in which Jews can feel at home, for it is the language of responsibility and observance, of memory and remembrance, the ethical language of the Jewish tradition itself. Despite its introductory nature, Insdorfs book does point to a central truth of the post-Holocaust age. Steven Belier
Alexandria, VA
PoliUe$ and Chum in Milaa, 1881-1901, Louise A. Tilly (New York-K)xford: Oxford University Press, 1992), xii + 355 pp., $49.95 cloth. This book is characterised by a global approach, which combines economic, demographic, social and political history to shed light upon the problems of the formation of the working-class and working-class movements. The study is focused on Lombardy and its capital, but it never loses sight of the general Italian context, in particular, insofar as regards its political relevance for the local scene (repressive national state and lack of political rights). Why speak of a region instead of the whole country? First of all, scholars do not even agree that in Italy, between the end of the 18th century and the First World War, a significant transformation in the economic structure, that is, an industrialization, took place.
Volume 21, No. 3, May, 1995
Book Reviews
Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1970). The solidity of Lloyd's monograph as a dialogue with a great variety of primary sources adds up to an approach that will appeal to the advanced student of economic history; for example, in the analysis of cloth export in the laterfourteenth century by the Hanse, given (with a table) on pp. 75-78, or in the useful appendix 2 (pp. 381-384) on Hanse trade figures in the late-fifteenth century. All through his demanding text the author insists that the rhythm in the relationship between England and the German Hanse was affected not by trade alone but by a political and diplomatic process not always conducted in a manner rational for the interest of the parties. As Lloyd explains, this was due in part to conflicts of policy more apparent from the fourteenth century within the Hanse itself, since its towns were falling more and more into three distinct political groupings: the Rhineland and Westphalian towns headed by Cologne; the North Sea and Baltic coast group with Ltibeck in the lead; and the Prussian towns under the command of the Grand Master oftbe Teutonic Order. At times these groupings might pursue quite independent and even contradictory aims in their relations with England, in spite of the efforts of the intermittent Hanse diets. For its great scholarly effort to relate the realms of political manoeuvre, economic enterprise, and commercial diplomacy into a global explanation for the rise and fall of the Hanse in England, Lloyd's book must be recommended. Benjamin Arnold
University of Reading
Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust, Annette lnsdorf, second edn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), xix + 293 pp., £30.00/$42.50 H.B., £10.95/$16.95 P.B. Elie Wiesel introduces Annette Insdorf's up-dated version of Indelible Shadows by asking whether, if we cannot speak of the horror of the Holocaust, we can nevertheless show i t - - i n film. Is the image ultimately mightier than the word? There is something inevitable about the fact that debate about the greatest Jewish disaster in modem history has come to centre on the ability, or rather inability, of the Word to express truth, the terrible truth of Man's inhumanity to Man. The suggestion made by Insdorf that the image, or rather the cinematic image, might be a better substitute for expressing that truth also has a certain inevitability in the secular, post-religious world in which we live. It is a most interesting question, which gets to the heart of many of the characteristics of the post-Holocaust era. Although Insdorf does not really explore such questions in any great depth, the question of the suitability of film and image over words does act to remind the reader throughout this introductory survey of Holocaust films of the larger issues involved. As an introductory survey this book is admirably comprehensive. It is so comprehensive that some films are included which do not immediately come to mind as Holocaust films. The extensive treatment of The Damned, a film much more about Nazi Germany than the Holocaust, seems to be out of place. The book's approach of grouping fdms loosely into categories, and then offering summaries and commentaries of the films' main themes, is not very innovative, but it is sensible, as are most of the substantive comments about the individual films. Only occasionally does Insdorf commit the sin of the cin~aste and outrageously over-interpret, as in her errant treatment of the child metaphor in SchlOndorff's The Tin Drum (p. 83). Generally this is a sound and often intriguing guide through the astounding number of films which have been made about the horrors of mid-century. What emerges from her accounts of these films is a great preference for films that are
History of European Ideas
Book Reviews
453
not thoughtless 'Hollywood' clichts, but have been agonised over in their structure and 'cinematic language', are spare and not 'nice', sober and not melodramatic, honest and not filled with manipulative music. It is perhaps not too surprising that her favourite films are therefore three documentaries, Alain Resnais' Night and Fog, Marcel Ophuls' The Memory of Justice and Claude Lanzmann's Shoah. The scene she specially cites from Shoah is where the barber, Bomba, recalls a memory so horrible he at first refuses to speak, but then does. Ironically, what makes this scene so powerful is not the imageperse or the words per se, but the shattering combination of both. Does this mean that it is with words andimages, the real language of 'the talkies', that Adorno's language barrier can be overcome7 That is part of the explanation of the problem tackled in this book. Yet the more fascinating aspect which emerges from Insdorfs survey is that the very criteria which she chooses to evaluate the merits of Holocaust films are ones which are deeply woven into the Jewish tradition of the primacy of the Word itself. The Word in traditional Judaism is God's Word, the Word of ethical commitment. The primacy of the Word was thus also the primacy of ethics, in a tradition where the ban on idolatry muted any interest in the aesthetics of images. The entry of Jews into the modern, Western world broke that ban, and disassociated words from ethics. In this modem world it was the aesthetic, amoral nature of the spoken word which held sway, as Adolf Hitler knew only too well, and as Arnold Schoenberg superbly illustrated in Moses and
Aaron. Given this background, Insdorfs conclusions point to a remarkable development in our post-Holocaust sensibilities. For what she does essentially is apply ethical criteria, of honesty, sobriety and spareness, and reject aesthetic criteria such as harmony, prettiness or 'niceness'. Image (film) has thus been ethiciscd, one might almost say 'judaised', in the best meaning of that term. The effect of the Holocaust has been to create a new synthesis of the Word-Image and Ethics-Aesthetics dialectic of the modern Jewish experience, to create an ethical aesthetic of the image, so that 'cinematic language is pushed and prodded into expressing complex truths, disorienting, stinging, and enlightening the viewer' (pp. 254-255). The ultimate effect of the Holocaust, ironically, has been to transform the language of aesthetics into one in which Jews can feel at home, for it is the language of responsibility and observance, of memory and remembrance, the ethical language of the Jewish tradition itself. Despite its introductory nature, Insdorfs book does point to a central truth of the post-Holocaust age. Steven Belier
Alexandria, VA
PoliUe$ and Chum in Milaa, 1881-1901, Louise A. Tilly (New York-K)xford: Oxford University Press, 1992), xii + 355 pp., $49.95 cloth. This book is characterised by a global approach, which combines economic, demographic, social and political history to shed light upon the problems of the formation of the working-class and working-class movements. The study is focused on Lombardy and its capital, but it never loses sight of the general Italian context, in particular, insofar as regards its political relevance for the local scene (repressive national state and lack of political rights). Why speak of a region instead of the whole country? First of all, scholars do not even agree that in Italy, between the end of the 18th century and the First World War, a significant transformation in the economic structure, that is, an industrialization, took place.
Volume 21, No. 3, May, 1995