Holding on and holding out

Résumé éditeur

"Examining the diary as a particular form of expression, 'Holding On and Holding Out' provides unique insights into the experiences of Jews in France during the Second World War. Unlike memoirs and autobiographies, which reconstruct life stories, diaries record daily occurrences without the benefit of retrospect, describing events as they unfold. In 'Holding On and Holding Out', Anne Freadman explores themes of identity and time, considering as well how the pre-persecution lives of diarists shaped the way they viewed their wartime experiences. 'Holding On and Holding Out' closely follows two individuals, Raymond-Raoul Lambert and Benjamin Schatzman, from the first entries in their diaries to the final ones written before each man disappeared into Nazi extermination camps. Through an investigation of these and other select diaries, Freadman assesses how individuals used their diaries to record their daily lives under Nazi persecution, waiting for the end of the war with a mixture of hope and despair. Some diarists used their writing to bear witness not only to the terror of their own lives but also to the lives and suffering of others. Some used their writing to memorialize those who had been killed. All used their writing as a way to leave behind traces of themselves, to assert, "I live ; I will have lived."--taken from page before title page