The Holocaust Today
By Symi Rom-Rymer
January 27th marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp by Soviet troops. In 2005, 60 years after the liberation, the United Nations General Assembly designated that date International Holocaust Remembrance Day. As many have said before, the Holocaust is almost impossible to comprehend, let alone recreate in such a way so that others might understand. Nevertheless, every year a new crop of novelists, memoirists, and academics pour their emotions, research and analysis into works that aim to shed new light on the well-worn subject.
In commemoration of this day, I have compiled a short list of recent books about the Holocaust that I have found particularly compelling. These works, both fiction and nonfiction, successfully face the daunting task of retelling or challenging our views on the history that seems so...