ABSTRACT
The article explores the process I underwent while writing a book that integrated my father’s Holocaust testimony into a historical monograph. It emphasises the complexities I faced as a historian and a second-generation Holocaust survivor. It discusses how I navigated historiographical challenges such as truth, reliability, authenticity, transference, and representation through the historian’s key functions: research, narrative construction, and writing. It examines the ethical considerations, stylistic choices, and emotional resonance involved in engaging with survivor testimonies. The article delves into the advantages and pitfalls of using one subjective testimony as the core of an atypical narrative that blurs the lines between autobiography and historical analysis. Furthermore, it considers the reasons why the book is narrated in an unconventional language style, as I chose to make the survivor the narrator, creating a biography written in the first person. The article portrays how, by blurring the boundaries between the intimate and the academic aspects, a balance is found between the emotional authenticity of personal testimony and the scholarly rigour required in historiography. This sheds light on the process of ‘working through’ historical traumatic events.
