"Holocaust survivor testimonies are complex not only in their nature but also in their function and public perception. This notion is complicated even more as survivor testimonies and their function have significantly changed over time. In the immediate postwar years, Holocaust survivor testimonies served a strictly documentary purpose in order to document the Nazis' crimes. Over the course of different legal proceedings, such as the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials, in the early to mid-1960s, testimonies were utilized to legally convict several Nazis of murder. Today, survivor testimonies can be found in more literary forms, giving voice to individual and personal experiences. Furthermore, scholars and the public perception have a crucial function in the formation of testimonies as well. The broader context that frames this thesis is the idea that the past is not only defined by events that already took place but that it is also shaped by the present. To elucidate this context, this thesis will be diachronic and comparative in nature, analyzing the function, motivation, perception, and reception of survivor testimonies. It explores the idea that it is the nature of the questions we direct at survivors concerning their testimonies that possibly make the difference between talking about and talking with survivors. In particular, this thesis will show that a more nuanced understanding of Holocaust testimony is only possible if we are aware that it is not only the survivor who gives shape to his testimony but that we as listeners, including our expectations, questions, and reactions, to a certain degree, shape the form and content of testimony as well."--Abstract.
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