Mailänder Elissa
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780719096020
- eISBN:
- 9781781707876
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719096020.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
Any study of the routine activities of the SS in an extermination camp must consist above all of an analysis of the whole process of day-to-day extermination and its implementation by human beings. ...
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Any study of the routine activities of the SS in an extermination camp must consist above all of an analysis of the whole process of day-to-day extermination and its implementation by human beings. This article deals with the example of Majdanek, a combined concentration and extermination camp situated in the General Government area of Nazi-occupied south-east Poland. In studying the work of SS personnel at Majdanek, this paper seeks to develop our understanding of how destruction constituted the underlying principle of day-to-day work in the camp, and how, in material terms, this work achieved this destruction a process that was highly professionalised, involved a large number of different actors, and was divided into a series of discrete tasks.Less
Any study of the routine activities of the SS in an extermination camp must consist above all of an analysis of the whole process of day-to-day extermination and its implementation by human beings. This article deals with the example of Majdanek, a combined concentration and extermination camp situated in the General Government area of Nazi-occupied south-east Poland. In studying the work of SS personnel at Majdanek, this paper seeks to develop our understanding of how destruction constituted the underlying principle of day-to-day work in the camp, and how, in material terms, this work achieved this destruction a process that was highly professionalised, involved a large number of different actors, and was divided into a series of discrete tasks.
Caroline Sturdy Colls
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781526107381
- eISBN:
- 9781526120694
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526107381.003.0008
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
It is estimated that around 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust. However, compared to the overall number of missing persons, very few searches for the corpses of victims have been ...
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It is estimated that around 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust. However, compared to the overall number of missing persons, very few searches for the corpses of victims have been carried out. In fact, thousands of burials and deposition sites remain unlocated and unmarked and few of the burials found have been examined by specialists. Certainly, very few have been examined using techniques now commonly used in forensic investigation and archaeology in relation to other periods of history.
This paper will address this paradox between the ever-present and physically illusive corpse in relation to the Holocaust. It will consider the circumstances and sensitivities that have impacted upon searches for the remains of Holocaust victims in the past, given the sites’ symbolic and scientific resources for victims and their descendants as well as archaeologists, and as such create sites of conflict between different religious and political authorities within a necro-economy. Ultimately it will argue that, providing the sensitivities surrounding the investigation of this period are accounted for, forensic and archaeological techniques can be utilised in the future to locate previously unmarked sites, characterise burial environments, analyse corpses and shed new light on practices of killing and body disposal.Less
It is estimated that around 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust. However, compared to the overall number of missing persons, very few searches for the corpses of victims have been carried out. In fact, thousands of burials and deposition sites remain unlocated and unmarked and few of the burials found have been examined by specialists. Certainly, very few have been examined using techniques now commonly used in forensic investigation and archaeology in relation to other periods of history.
This paper will address this paradox between the ever-present and physically illusive corpse in relation to the Holocaust. It will consider the circumstances and sensitivities that have impacted upon searches for the remains of Holocaust victims in the past, given the sites’ symbolic and scientific resources for victims and their descendants as well as archaeologists, and as such create sites of conflict between different religious and political authorities within a necro-economy. Ultimately it will argue that, providing the sensitivities surrounding the investigation of this period are accounted for, forensic and archaeological techniques can be utilised in the future to locate previously unmarked sites, characterise burial environments, analyse corpses and shed new light on practices of killing and body disposal.
Élisabeth Anstett and Jean-Marc Dreyfus (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781526107381
- eISBN:
- 9781526120694
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526107381.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This book addresses the practices, treatment and commemoration of victims’ remains in post-genocide and mass violence contexts. Whether reburied, concealed, stored, abandoned or publically displayed, ...
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This book addresses the practices, treatment and commemoration of victims’ remains in post-genocide and mass violence contexts. Whether reburied, concealed, stored, abandoned or publically displayed, human remains raise a vast number of questions regarding their legal, ethical and social uses.
Human Remains in Society will raise these issues by examining when, how and why bodies are hidden or exhibited. Using case studies from multiple continents, each chapter will interrogate their effect on human remains, either desired or unintended, on various political, cultural or religious practices. How, for instance, do issues of confiscation, concealment or the destruction of bodies and body parts in mass crime impact on transitional processes, commemoration or judicial procedures?Less
This book addresses the practices, treatment and commemoration of victims’ remains in post-genocide and mass violence contexts. Whether reburied, concealed, stored, abandoned or publically displayed, human remains raise a vast number of questions regarding their legal, ethical and social uses.
Human Remains in Society will raise these issues by examining when, how and why bodies are hidden or exhibited. Using case studies from multiple continents, each chapter will interrogate their effect on human remains, either desired or unintended, on various political, cultural or religious practices. How, for instance, do issues of confiscation, concealment or the destruction of bodies and body parts in mass crime impact on transitional processes, commemoration or judicial procedures?
