Homecomings: The Post-War Fates of Holocaust Survivors

The cultural and historical memory of returning Holocaust survivors is a topic that links individual experiences and the broader geopolitical context. This roundtable will focus on the stories of those who faced the challenges of repatriation, reconstruction of identity and social acceptance in the post-war period. The differences between returns to Greece and Czechoslovakia will be discussed on the basis of the books Homecoming: Holocaust Survivors and Greece, 1941-1946 by Kateřina Králová and Rozpolcená doba, rozptýlené životy (Divided Times, Scattered Lives) by Daniela Groll-Spenser. The authors will discuss their motivations and methodology and key issues, such as the plurality of Holocaust experiences and the importance of historical memory for the present day.