Above the Death Pits, Beneath the Flag
Youth Voyages to Poland and the Construction of Israeli National Identity

Israeli youth voyages to Poland are popular and influential forms of transmission of Holocaust memory in Israeli society. This work demonstrates how the State shapes Poland into a living deathscape of Diaspora Jewry. In the course of the voyage, they are transformed into victims, victorious survivors and finally witnesses of the witnesses.

This study adds a measured and compassionate ethical voice to ideological debates surrounding educational and cultural forms of encountering the past in contemporary Israel, while raising further questions on the representation of the Holocaust after the demise of the last living witnesses.

List of illustrations List of tables Acknowledgements
Preface: Seeking a personal past in the deathscapes of Poland
Chapter 1. Introduction and Methodology The Shoah, Jewish-Israeli identity and the voyages to Poland
Identifying the voyage as a rite of pilgrimage
The voyage as model and mirror Commemoration and collective memory
Jewish memory paradigms and their Zionist transformations
Territorializing Jewish history in Zionist practice
Israeli social research on Shoah memory
From personal trauma to social constructivism
Previous research on the Poland voyages
From process to product: The ethnography of the voyage Context, Structure, and Performance in the Voyages to Poland
Organization of the Book
Chapter 2. The historical and social context of Iraeli Shoah commemoration
The history of Shoah memory in Israel
Early reactions to the Shoah
From the Six Day War to the Yom Kippur
War Begin's rise to power: The use and abuse of Shoah memory
Generational time, the search for roots, and Israeli ethnicity
The Shoah in Israeli education - school textbooks and curricula
Spaces and times of Israeli Shoah Commemoration
Yad Vashem: monument and memory
Holocaust Memorial Day: calendar and commemoration
Chapter 3. The structure of the Poland voyages Origins, history, and proclaimed aim of the voyage
The title of the voyage: seeking my brothers - the masa to Poland
The voyage group as substitute family
The Poland voyage as a masa Administration and voyage staff
Voyage staff
The delegation leader
The guides
The accompanying teachers
The doctor and nurse
The Polish guide and driver
The survivor - witnesses
Security personnel Logistic arrangements: Food, clothing, and flags
The preparatory program Selection of participants
The content of the preparatory program
The itinerary and its implicit messages
Exterior and interior space
Classification of places in "exterior space": death, life, and Polish "ventilation" sites
Allotment of time at sites
The rhythms of time in the voyage itinerary
Student expectations, Polish landscape, and guiding narratives
Guides' narrative techniques From structure to performance
Chapter 4. Performing the Poland voyages On the road: Walking through the Poland Voyage
Recruitment and voyage preparations at Sulam High School
The threshold of Poland - day one
The road to Treblinka - day two
"This is Treblinka Station"
Tykocin: Synagogues of the past and the survivor as sheriff "See, there are no birds in this forest"
Evening discussion: when do we get to the Shoah?
Bus travel, ventilation and prayer - day three
Kabbalat Shabbat: Orthodox Judaism as safe Zionist heritage
Shabbat rest, Shabbat shopping - day four
Slouching through Cracow
(Non-)encounter with a Polish school
Singing for home After Midnight: the staff meeting
The heart of the Shoah: Auschwitz-Birkenau - day five
Auschwitz I - Approaching the contested site of memory
Manifesting Israel at Auschwitz
Visiting the exhibition in Auschwitz I Birkenau - the Heart of the Death Camp
"Honoring" the Righteous Gentile and the witnesses
Ventilazia: on the road again - day six
Touching the icons of death: Majdanek - day seven
The visit to Majdanek Entering the site
The gas chambers Shoes as relics: odour and authenticity
"We're the same children who were there at the end"
Closing the circle: the final evening discussion
Going home: From Warsaw to Tel Aviv - day eight
Confronting the not-yet-dead Diaspora
The route of victory Final ceremony: the little guy sends us on our way!
Chapter 5. The ceremonies of the Poland voyages Introduction: What makes ceremonies different?
Contexts of voyage ceremonies School ceremonies in Poland and Israel
Sites, times, and configurations of ceremonies
Representative examples of ceremony types
Delegation-wide ceremonies
Above the death pits, beneath the flag of Israel: the ceremony at Birkenau
Warsaw: a ceremony that failed Bus-group ceremonies: "Every person has a name"
Individual ritual acts
"Honoring" ceremonies for Righteous Gentiles and witnesses
Religious texts and the commemorative ceremonies
The close of the ceremony: Hatikvah and the flag
Ceremonies as "triggers": group crying and consolation
The ceremonies: Conclusions
Chapter 6. Homecoming - the transmission of Holocaust memory and Jewish-Israeli Identity
Becoming a witness - the aftermath of the voyage
Transmitting the voyage experience
Talking about the voyage: Conversations with classmates, family, and survivors
Presentations: Albums, videos, ceremonies, and the future of "witnessing"
Subsequent effects of the voyage on participants
Changes in attitudes towards Jewish tradition and the Diaspora
The voyage and Polish others
The voyage and dedication to the nation
Dedication to the flag and students' political opinions
Survival by proxy and service in the Israeli army
The future of the Israeli voyages to Poland
Chapter 7. Holocaust memory, national identity, and transformative ritual
Conclusions: Poland voyages as national pilgrimages
Cosmopolitan and nationalist memories of the Shoah in the ages of representations
The Poland voyages and modern state ritual: An event that models promoted by a bureaucracy
Models and mirrors, bodies and texts
The risks of transformatory events in bureaucracies
Afterword
Appendix: The orthodox delegations to Poland
Bibliography
Index