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> (_Young Moshe's Diary: The Spritual Torment > of a Jewish Boy in Nazi Europe_ [Jerusalem: > Yad Vashem, 1979], p. 122 [ellipses in the > original].) > > This from a young man who had been marked for death along with the other > Jews in Europe! And yet *he* felt "responsible for every single pain." > Moshe Flinker gives new meaning to the ancient teaching _melamed shekol I read this book because I found it in a local synagogue library. As suspected, it moved me deeply. I want to inject a few, brief thoughts about the latest Anne Frank article in the New Yorker... I understand, completely, the thrust of the argument and appreciate what I've learned from this list about the complexities of human 'responses' to the Holocaust. Much better put: I am much more hesistant and careful in talking about "inspiration" and "hope" when referring to Holocaust era writing -- particularly when it comes to the writing of young people who were actually murdered. Etty Hillesum, Anne Frank and Moshe Flinker of course come to mind. But in the rush to AGREE with the Anne Frank article and to brush the popular, sentimental "response" to her voice by young people all over the world as all so much fluff and superficiality, I would caution us to remember this. As one of those "swept up" young people (when I first read the Diary about fifteen years ago) I can vouch for the seriousness that young people are capable of absorbing and working out ideas with. It's not all about adolescent angst. That's so unfair and judgmental. I hope anyone who is actually in the position of TEACHING young people about the Holocaust will take the Anne Frank article with a grain of salt in that specific regard. I read Moshe's diary only this year. My response to it and understanding of it is very different from what it would have been had I read it at 13 or 15. But that doesn't mean that I wouldn't have grasped powerful aspects of it then. It just means that I would have had 15 more years of reflecting on the crime committed in the snuffing of his life. *********************** Suzanna Hicks (Secretary) U of Florida / Psychology afn06474@afn.org (home) hicks@psych.ufl.edu (work)
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