Not forgotten past: Memory narratives of Jewish struggles in Daniel Finkelstein’s Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad

Retrieving vivid memories from the past depends on the emotional intensity and attention given to the memories. The retrieval of memories from an individual recollects the past, and the retrieval of multiple memories from different people. The memory of genocide is often used for political gain, but the memories are not considered narratives that are retrieved vividly based on the traumas the Jewish people have undergone. In the book Hitler, Stalin, Mum, and Dad, Daniel Finkelstein recalls the grim story of Jewish struggles through the memory of his parents, Mirjam and Ludwick Finkelstein. By learning about the Jewish struggles, this paper explores the relationship between trauma and memory and how traumatic experiences can impact the storage of memories. The paper also connects the concepts of historical consciousness and collective memory, where memories of major historical events narrated by a collective people are retrieved and transmitted through generations.