Abstract

‘Holocaust consciousness’ has become a confused, monolithic, hortatory mix that can be better disaggregated, this essay suggests, by engaging in a series of moves: first by recasting what we mean by theory; second by drawing on both Tönnies and on family history to meld the analytic and personal perspectives more seamlessly together; and third by successively peeling away historical layers with a series of questions about how German and American society have recently coped with the legacy of the Holocaust, and then how my father and grandfather coped with their situations