- ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
BRITISH
HOLOCAUST
POETRY: SONGS
OF EXPERIENCE
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••claire m. tylee
In the twentieth century, the mass, indiscriminate slaughter facilitated by indus-
trialized warfare provoked a crisis in representation: obscene terrains of filthy,
traumatized humans living with the moribund amongst the putrescent remains
of unsanctified corpses challenged the basic decorum of civilization. Artistic con-
ventions and discourses cultivated to transmit civilized values were themselves
tainted and incapacitated for dealing with such abject areas of experience. As the
American-Israeli historian Omer Bartov has expressed it, such places resist even
the appellation ‘hellish’. Hell is conceived of in the Western tradition as ruled
by strict laws and divine logic to be a punishment for sinners: ‘The landscapes of
World War One and the Holocaust, on the other hand, are the domain of the
innocent, inhabited by souls who never expected to end up in them, and conform-
ing to no rational plan or logic decipherable by their victims.’^1 The problem of
(^1) Omer Bartov, ‘The European Imagination in the Age of Total War’, inMurder in Our Midst:
The Holocaust, Industrial Killing, and Representation(New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 33.
Confirming the continuity that Bartov identifies between the First World War and the Holocaust,
the historian Jay Winter argues that ‘what the 1914–18 war did was to make [those] crimes against
humanity possible...the war opened a doorway to brutality’ through which men such as the
commandant of Auschwitz ‘willingly passed’ (Winter,The Great War and the Shaping of the Twentieth
Century(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1996), 399).