Abstract
This chapter presents an original interview by Larissa Allwork with David Cesarani, which was recorded while he was researching at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in 2009. This is the first time that all of this interview has been made public. It is significant in showing Cesarani's depth and breadth of knowledge and experience in relation to post-1945 Holocaust-era issues. Subjects discussed during the interview included: Nazi war crimes; the Holocaust Exhibition at the Imperial War Museum (IWM) in London; reparations and restitution; the Stockholm International Forum (2000); Holocaust research and commemoration in Latvia and the reception of UK Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD).
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Notes
- 1.
David held this Fellowship from September 1, 2008–May 30, 2009.
- 2.
Larissa Allwork, Holocaust Remembrance between the National and the Transnational: A Case Study of the Stockholm International Forum and the First Decade of the ITF (London; New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), 67, 97 and 104.
- 3.
Dan Stone, “On neighbours and those knocking at the door: Holocaust Memory and Europe’s Refugee Crisis,” Patterns of Prejudice, 52, 2–3 (2018): 232.
- 4.
Abby Phillip, “Trump’s statement marking Holocaust remembrance leaves out mention of Jews,” The Washington Post, January 27, 2017, accessed December 10, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-statement-marking-holocaust-remembrance-leaves-out-mention-of-jews/2017/01/27/0886d3c2-e4bd-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.546cae04b21e.
- 5.
Jens Rydgren, ed., The Oxford Handbook of the Radical Right (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2018).
- 6.
Pippa Crerar, “Timeline: Labour, Jeremy Corbyn and the antisemitism row,” The Guardian, accessed November 16, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/01/timeline-labour-jeremy-corbyn-antisemitism.
- 7.
David supervised my PhD during my supervisor, Zoë Waxman’s maternity leave (September 2009–September 2010).
- 8.
David was a Professor in the History Department at Royal Holloway between 2004 and 2015.
- 9.
At the time, Greville Janner was MP for Leicester West (1974–1997). He had been President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews (1979–1985) and in 1997 was made The Lord Janner of Braunstone QC.
- 10.
Jim Allen, Perdition (London: Pluto Press, 1987). For an article on the controversy surrounding the play’s cancellation at the Royal Court, including a quote from Cesarani see: Ed Lion, “Jewish Group Hails Plays Cancellation,” January 22, 1987, United Press International, accessed December 6, 2018, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/01/22/Jewish-group-hails-play-cancellation/9759538290000/.
- 11.
All Party Parliamentary War Crimes Group, Report on the Entry of Nazi War Criminals and Collaborators into the UK, 1945–1950 (London: House of Commons, 1988).
- 12.
David Cesarani, Justice Delayed: How Britain Became a Refuge for Nazi War Criminals (London: Heinemann, 1992).
- 13.
See Suzanne Bardgett’s account in this volume of the role played by David in the development of the Imperial War Museum’s Holocaust exhibition. Since 2011, the institution’s five branches have been referred to as Imperial War Museums. One of these branches is IWM London. In addition, The Wiener Library Institute of Contemporary History has undergone a number of name changes, including The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, and since 2019, The Wiener Holocaust Library.
- 14.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Nazi Gold: The London Conference, 2–4 December 1997 (London: The Stationary Office, 1998).
- 15.
Stuart E. Eizenstat, William Slang and Greg Bradsher, U.S. and Allied Efforts to Recover and Restore Gold and Other Assets Stolen or Hidden by Germany during World War II (Washington: US Department of State, 1997).
- 16.
Eva Fried, ed., Beyond the ‘Never Agains’ (Stockholm: Swedish Government, 2005).
- 17.
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga was the President of Latvia between 1999 and 2007. In 2012, the ITF changed its name to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
- 18.
Stuart E. Eizenstat, Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor and the Unfinished Business of World War II (New York: Public Affairs, 2004).
- 19.
Andrew Ezergailis, The Holocaust in Latvia, 1941–1944: The Missing Centre (Riga: Historical Institute of Latvia; Washington D.C.: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1996).
- 20.
In 1995, Stephen D. Smith and James Smith co-founded the Beth Shalom Holocaust Memorial Centre in Nottinghamshire and in 2000 they set-up the Aegis Trust. In 2009, Stephen D. Smith became Executive Director of the USC Shoah Foundation. Since October 2013, he has also served as the UNESCO Chair on Genocide Education. For more information about the establishment of Beth Shalom see: Stephen Smith, Making Memory: The Story of the Holocaust Centre (Newark: Quill, 1999).
- 21.
For an alternative account of New Labour’s Holocaust politics and what came after, see Andy Pearce, “In The Thick of It: ‘high politics’ and the Holocaust in millennial Britain,” Patterns of Prejudice, 53, 1 (2019): 98–100. For an essay on how Brexit supporting politicians have politically appropriated the history of the Second World War, see Richard J. Evans, “How the Brexiteers broke history,” November 14, 2018, New Statesman, accessed September 10, 2019, https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2018/11/how-brexiteers-broke-history.
- 22.
Elazar Barkan, The Guilt of Nations: Restitution and Negotiating Historical Injustices (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2000).
- 23.
See Olivia Marks-Woldman and Rachel Century’s chapter in this edited collection. For a recent analysis of British television and radio coverage of Holocaust Memorial Day between 2002 and 2016, see: John E. Richardson ‘“Broadcast to mark Holocaust Memorial Day’: Mass-mediated Holocaust commemoration on British television and radio,” European Journal of Communication, 33, 5 (2018): 505–521.
- 24.
Schindler’s List, Dir. Steven Spielberg (California, USA: Amblin Entertainment, 1993).
- 25.
Iqbal Sacranie, “Holocaust Memorial Day Is Too Exclusive,” The Guardian, September 20, 2005.
- 26.
David Cesarani, “A Way Out of This Dead End,” The Guardian, September 16, 2005.
- 27.
Ed Husain, “Let us remember together,” The Guardian, January 27, 2009.
- 28.
United Nations, “The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme: Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on the Holocaust Remembrance (A/RES/60/7, 1 November 2005),” accessed December 10, 2018, http://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/docs/res607.shtml.
References
All Party Parliamentary War Crimes Group. Report on the Entry of Nazi War Criminals and Collaborators into the UK, 1945–1950. London: House of Commons, 1988.
Allen, Jim. Perdition. London: Pluto Press, 1987.
Allwork, Larissa. Holocaust Remembrance between the National and the Transnational: A Case Study of the Stockholm International Forum and the First Decade of the ITF. London; New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.
Barkan, Elazar. The Guilt of Nations: Restitution and Negotiating Historical Injustices. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2000.
Cesarani, David. Justice Delayed: How Britain Became a Refuge for Nazi War Criminals. London: Heinemann, 1992.
Cesarani, David. “A Way Out of This Dead End.” The Guardian, September 16, 2005.
Crerar, Pippa. “Timeline: Labour, Jeremy Corbyn and the antisemitism row.” The Guardian. Accessed November 16, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/01/timeline-labour-jeremy-corbyn-antisemitism.
Eizenstat, Stuart E. Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor and the Unfinished Business of World War II. New York: Public Affairs, 2004.
Eizenstat, Stuart E., William Slang, and Greg Bradsher. U.S. and Allied Efforts to Recover and Restore Gold and Other Assets Stolen or Hidden by Germany during World War II. Washington: US Department of State, 1997.
Ezergailis, Andrew. The Holocaust in Latvia, 1941–1944: The Missing Centre. Riga: Historical Institute of Latvia; Washington D.C.: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1996.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Nazi Gold: The London Conference, 2–4 December 1997. London: The Stationary Office, 1998.
Fried, Eva, ed. Beyond the ‘Never Agains.’ Stockholm: Swedish Government, 2005.
Husain, ed. “Let us remember together.” The Guardian, January 27, 2009.
Lion, Ed. “Jewish Group Hails Plays Cancellation.” January 22, 1987. United Press International. Accessed December 6, 2018. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/01/22/Jewish-group-hails-play-cancellation/9759538290000/.
Pearce, Andy. “In The Thick of It: ‘high politics’ and the Holocaust in millennial Britain.” Patterns of Prejudice, 53, 1 (2019): 98-100.
Phillip, Abby. “Trump’s statement marking Holocaust remembrance leaves out mention of Jews.” The Washington Post. January 27, 2017. Accessed December 10, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-statement-marking-holocaust-remembrance-leaves-out-mention-of-jews/2017/01/27/0886d3c2-e4bd-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.546cae04b21e.
Richardson, John E. “‘Broadcast to mark Holocaust Memorial Day’: Mass-mediated Holocaust commemoration on British television and radio.” European Journal of Communication, 33, 5 (2018): 505–521.
Rydgren, Jens, ed. The Oxford Handbook of the Radical Right. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Sacranie, Iqbal. “Holocaust Memorial Day Is Too Exclusive.” The Guardian, September 20, 2005.
Schindler’s List. Dir. Steven Spielberg. California: Amblin Entertainment, 1993.
Smith, Stephen. Making Memory: The Story of the Holocaust Centre. Newark: Quill, 1999.
Stone, Dan. “On neighbours and those knocking at the door: Holocaust Memory and Europe’s Refugee Crisis.” Patterns of Prejudice, 52, 2–3 (2018): 231–243.
United Nations. “The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme: Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on the Holocaust Remembrance (A/RES/60/7, 1 November 2005).” Accessed December, 10 2018. http://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/docs/res607.shtml.
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Allwork, L. (2019). After the Holocaust: Facing the Nazi Past in British and International Perspective—An Interview with David Cesarani. In: Allwork, L., Pistol, R. (eds) The Jews, the Holocaust, and the Public. The Holocaust and its Contexts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28675-0_16
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