Animated documentaries dealing with the Holocaust, Holocaust survivors, and their descendants constitute a new phenomenon and inaugurate a new field of Holocaust commemoration. This book is the first comprehensive analysis of animated Holocaust documentaries. It explores movies produced in the USA, Canada, Australia, Europe, and Israel.
Based on theories developed in the fields of animated documentary, Holocaust studies, cinema studies, trauma studies, and memory studies, this volume discusses the ways in which animated Holocaust documentaries create a new layer of Holocaust microhistory, their advantages, and their disadvantages. It shows how these movies visualise subject matter that previously eluded live-action documentaries such as the unfilmed past and people's inner worlds.
The book shows that Holocaust animated documentaries also have specific shortcomings and have generated a new set of problems relating to Holocaust memory and representation. For example, the vast majority marginalize the horrors and instead focus on bravery, resilience, and hope.
By:
Liat Steir-Livny (Associate Professor)
Imprint: Edinburgh University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781399524001
ISBN 10: 1399524003
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 01 February 2026
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface Introduction Part I ""Unimating"" the Holocaust Chapter 1: Standing up to the Nazis Chapter 2: Resourcefulness Chapter 3: Ghettos and Camps Chapter 4: The Exceptional – Representing the Horrors Part II: The Life After Chapter 5: The Face of Post-Trauma Part III: Secondary Trauma, Postmemory, and Wishful Postmemory Chapter 6: Struggling with the Parents’ Memories Chapter 7: The Memories Don’t Let Go Conclusion References Filmography Index
Liat Steir-Livny, Associate Professor, Sapir Academic College and the Open University of Israel.
Reviews for Holocaust Representations in Animated Documentaries: The Contours of Commemoration
Analysing movies produced in the USA, Canada, Australia, Europe and Israel, Steir-Livny opens a window to a new phenomenon of Holocaust commemoration. In this significant book, she thoroughly explores animated Holocaust documentaries' merits and downfalls providing a complex outlook on the present and future of Holocaust memory.--Nurith Gertz, Open University of Israel
