![]() ![]() In 1994, UNESCO adopted its “Global Strategy”, expanding the definition of heritage to include sites which would reflect a more balanced spectrum of the diversity of the world’s cultural heritage. European and traditionally Christian, with 39 properties already inscribed on the list, how can Germany further contribute to the spectrum of cultural diversity, and in turn, to peace-building in the 21st century? A study carried out by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) concluded that Europe and Christianity were overrepresented on the list and that “living cultures” (from the 20th century onwards) and “traditional cultures” were underrepresented. The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) mission of “building peace in the minds of men and women” can remain relevant by promoting World Heritage sites in countries like Germany. I will introduce the Christian and the Jewish literary compositions pertaining to the pogrom of 1389 and examine their discursive interaction, showing where they conflict or overlap, and what may be deduced from such an interaction. There are many examples of how the two sets of texts mutually interact, whether more indirectly, by employing the conflicting narrative traditions, or more directly, by referring one to another. Rather, they are parts of a single discourse on the nature and purpose of the pogrom violence and strive to contain such a event, traumatic both for the Jews and the Christians. Although the two sets of texts - in Hebrew and in Latin - emerged from distinct, even contradictory narrative traditions, they cannot be perceived as independent or unrelated. The same is true for the compositions in Latin and Czech, particularly for a corpus of five literary texts known as Passio Iudeorum Pragensium, which employs the Christian narrative models. They are anchored in various medieval Hebrew literary traditions, ranging from liturgical poetry (Et kol Ha-Tela of rabbi Avigdor Kara) to genuine historiography (Cemach David of David Ganz), and thus use distinct symbolic languages to describe the trauma of the pogrom. Six of such textual compositions exist in Hebrew and may be compared and contrasted in terms of the treatment of the event. ![]() Its extent can be ascertained also by the fact that this event triggered composition of numerous texts - in Latin, Czech and German, but also in Hebrew - which captured the experience of the pogrom from different perspectives. The Prague pogrom of 1389 is considered the largest outbreak of anti-Jewish violence in Bohemia prior to the World War II. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |