The Topography of Transgression
Non-Jewish testimony to plunder during the Holocaust in the Lithuanian Provinces
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23777/sn.0425/art_vdav01Keywords:
non-Jewish tersimonies, Lithuania, forensic studies, transitional discourse, expropriationAbstract
Transnational campaigns for restitution and the material turn in the humanities have brought the topic of plunder during genocide, and the role of bystanders therein, to the centre of attention. This article analyses the attitudes of non-Jewish witnesses towards the misappropriation of Jewish property and personal belongings during the Holocaust in the provinces of Lithuania, as disclosed in audio-visual recordings from the Lithuania Documentation Project (LDP) that were collected between 1998 and 2010. These interviews, conducted decades after the historical events and choreographed as intimate conversations among individuals of the same culture and language, shed a unique light on the roles and perspectives of social actors engaged in and affected by the process of genocide. While some testimonies are marked by denial, displacement, and dissociation, others manifest an ethical concern with the naming and blaming of perpetrators, together mapping a diverse topography of transgression.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Violeta Davoliūtė
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