Ideological Ramifications of Survivor Guilt in the Work of Ka-Tzetnik, Primo Levi, and Elie Wiesel

The article discusses some of the reasons for – and literary shapes of – survivor guilt in the works of Ka-Tzetnik, Primo Levi, and Elie Wiesel. The comparative analysis takes into account their treatment of the crisis of theodicy in the face of the Holocaust – in particular, the representations of the notion of hester panim (God hiding his face) as accounting for the suffering of the innocent along with the guilty. The theme of exile in the works of these writers is variously associated with their having been deported from their native European towns; their different attitudes to the issue of return are a matter of their ideological self-inscription into the history of the Jewish people.