Svetlana Pogodina1; 1 University of Latvia, Latvia
Discussion
Oral narratives about the Holocaust can be viewed from different methodological perspectives. The folkloric optic suggests focusing on narrative patterns - the verbal formulae used by the informant to describe the events he or she witnessed (an example of a s.c. memorat), or a third-person description of the events (an example of a s.c. fabulat). As the research shows, these oral narratives are often clichéd and can be presented as stereotypes or folktale types. These stereotypes allow the mass consciousness to describe\explain the events of the Holocaust, verbalise the trauma and fit it into one’s (traditional) worldview. The recorded interviews represent different topics: stories about Jewish life during the Nazi occupation (e.g., ghetto life); stories of mass murder in the city; stories about the rescue of Jews; stories of “divine punishment” of those involved in the murder of Jews; stories of “Jewish gold” and treasure hunts, etc.
The material for the paper is based on the recordings of oral interviews that were conducted on the territory of Latvia during folklore expeditions in the period from 2013 to 2024 in Russian language. Respondents were local dwellers – both Jewish and their non-Jewish neighbors.
