Study On Individual Memories Of Chinese Jews In The 1930s And 1940s

For as long as 40 years after the end of World War II,the individual memory of the former Chinese Jews was almost suspended,and it did not start to receive attention until the last two decades of the 20^th century.The reasons for it lie not only in the ethical turn in social memory research,but also in the upsurge of witness literature such as survivors’memoirs and trauma novels in the 1980s and 1990s,as well as the joint efforts of the post-memory generation to construct the memory of Chinese Jews.All these have contributed to the emergence of individual memories of Chinese Jews.The recalled individual memory not only became the text for interpretation and analysis of Chinese Jewish memories in the new era,as well as constituting a new historical interpretation and proof.Since the 1990s,Chinese Jewish memoirs have been published in succession,and the identity of Chinese Jews as Holocaust Survivors has been constructed through narrative forms.In the process,the post-memory generation plays a leading role.While bearing the traumatic memory of their parents’exile,they also have a strong identification with the Holocaust trauma,and therefore have a traumatic emotional identity that other people in their contemporaries do not have.This is very important for their construction of survivor trauma narratives.It is not difficult to find that the establishment of Holocaust Survivor identity is of extraordinary significance to the two generations of Chinese Jews.The key to constructing trauma narratives is to establish the identity of victims and the nature of suffering,and it points to the double trauma suffered in the process of flight and diaspora in the narrative of Chinese Jews.Unlike the concentration camp survivors,disposal and even missing Nazi persecution memories makes Chinese Jews impossible to make trauma claims like them;therefore,as a side of constructed Chinese Jewish memory,humiliation memory is vividly reproduced in the diaspora narrative,constituting the inner trauma of Chinese Jews,with the purpose of trauma claims.Secondly,there are also deep wounds underlying the narrative,such as identity trauma,moral trauma,and violence trauma.They constitute the main content and important basis of the trauma claims of Chinese Jews in the context of the Holocaust.In addition,constructed trauma is also presented from three dimensions:identity,morality and violence,which together constitute the important basis for the trauma claim of Chinese Jews in the context of the Holocaust cultural trauma.On the other hand,behind the trauma construction,there is a strong Jewish national identity,which is presented through the construction of community and family memory.The construction of community memory not only highlights the hardship of survival,but also emphasizes the“amazing achievements”.The strong contrast between the two reflects the importance of Jewish ethical traditions for the survival and development of the community.The construction of family memory not only carries the traumatic memory of intergeneration,but also realizes the emotional connection between individuals,families,and the Jewish national history.The construction of community and family memory,on one hand closely links Jewish trauma with national identity,constituting the basis and background of national emotion and connection;on the other hand,identity and emotional connection in turn make trauma practical significant.From the Jewish national perspective,the memory construction of Chinese Jews points to three dimensions:self-identity,Jewish collective identity and national history.From the perspective of Chinese people,its memory construction has certain rationality,but to a large extent with political color.In a sense,its memory construction can bring some inspiration and reflection to the construction of contemporary Chinese collective memory.We also try to further enrich our understanding and interpretation of Chinese Jews through a new perspective of Chinese Jewish individual memories,and reveal another side of Jewish history co-existing with the Chinese salvation ark.