Silenced Memories and Network Dynamics in Holocaust Testimonies: The Matalon Family and the Case of Greece
Abstract
During World War Two, many Jewish survivors witnessed how their parents, spouses and children were being taken away to Nazi camps, and some even saw them suffering until the end. Those who came back were hoping to find a tranquil haven and to finally live peacefully with at least some of their family members.
Their ties, however, were irrevocably disturbed. This article focuses on one Jewish family from Thessaloniki, within which many members from three generations survived by hiding in Greece, while others were deported to Ausch-witz.
This created traumatic layers in the family memory, each of them for different reasons, and which were often suppressed for decades to come. Dwelling on a rich archive of per-sonal testimonies, I will shed light on these silenced memories within the traumatised fam-ily network, memories that stem not only from the tragedy of the Holocaust, but also inter-play with family dynamics.