Vous consultezLa longue fréquentation des morts

In the lasting company of the dead: On Browning, Kershaw, Friedländer–and Hilberg
During the last few years, three major books on the Holocaust have been published: The Origins of the Final Solution by Christopher Browning, The Years of Extermination by Saul Friedländer and Hitler, the Germans and the Final Solution by Ian Kershaw. This coincidence opens up the opportunity to have a fresh look at the evolution of these three historians whose works have played a leading role in the historiography of the genocide of the Jews. What was the initial impulse that has pushed them to launch into such a research endeavor that would last for decades (although they could not foresee it)? What was the influence of their initial intuitions in shaping the overall design of their work? What is the relevance of these intuitions thirty years later? Thus, this article is devoted to the inner dynamics of historical practice. Yet another question is to be addressed: How is it possible to spend thirty years on such a topic? Does it change the historian’s self? In this case, the answer will be searched in Raul Hilberg’s life and work.