Between perception and deep memory: Ralph Aron’s Holocaust memoirs of 1945 and 1995

Abstract

ABSTRACT On 16th June 1945 Ralph Aron, an eighteen-year-old German Jew from Recklinghausen, left Theresienstadt and returned home. Before he had even thought about his own future, he decided to record what had happened to him during the Holocaust. In 1995, two years before his death, Aron again recorded his experiences - this time with more reflection and a developed sense of having processed his experiences and survival. My paper compares these two memoirs by my late father, investigating the differences between his perceptions in 1945 and his deep memories of 1995.