Memory and Identity Several Jewish Experiences from the End of the War (1944-1945)

Memory and Identity: Several Jewish Experiences from the End of the War (1944-1945) The study highlights the relevance of "diaristic" sources memoirs, in general for the study of important moments in history, also trying to determine to what extent one's personal life and experiences can communicate or convey a collective drama, a tragedy. While memoirs or diaries cannot replace historical reconstruction proper and cannot supplant other types of sources, which are considered to be more objective, they do manage, in many cases, to bring back a sense of humanity as it existed in the past. Therefore, the present study looks at what the diaries and memoirs of three Jewish men reveal about their own situation and that of their communities in the periods that preceded and followed the turning point of 23 August 1944, the date when Romania left Germany's camp and joined the Allied Forces. The three men in question are Arnold Schwefelberg, one of the leaders of the Jewish community in Romania, writer and publicist Mihail Sebastian, and Serge (Strul Hers, in the school records of the time) Moscovici, who later became one of the leading social psychologists in Europe.