The Complete Lives of Camp People: Colonialism, Fascism, Concentrated Modernity
by Rudolf Mrázek
Duke University Press, 2020 eISBN: 978-1-4780-0736-4 | Paper: 978-1-4780-0667-1 | Cloth: 978-1-4780-0577-3 Library of Congress Classification HV8964.B86M739 2019
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK In The Complete Lives of Camp People Rudolf Mrázek presents a sweeping study of the material and cultural lives of twentieth-century concentration camp internees and the multiple ways in which their experiences speak to the fundamental logics of modernity. Mrázek focuses on the minutiae of daily life in two camps: Theresienstadt, a Nazi “ghetto” for Jews near Prague, and the Dutch “isolation camp” Boven Digoel—which was located in a remote part of New Guinea between 1927 and 1943 and held Indonesian rebels who attempted to overthrow the colonial government. Drawing on a mix of interviews with survivors and their descendants, archival accounts, ephemera, and media representations, Mrázek shows how modern life's most mundane tasks—buying clothes, getting haircuts, playing sports—continued on in the camps, which were themselves designed, built, and managed in accordance with modernity's tenets. In this way, Mrázek demonstrates that concentration camps are not exceptional spaces; they are the locus of modernity in its most distilled form.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Rudolf Mrázek is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Michigan and the author of several books, including A Certain Age: Colonial Jakarta through the Memories of its Intellectuals, also published by Duke University Press.
REVIEWS
“The Complete Lives of Camp People is quite simply an extraordinary, provocative, challenging, and brilliant work. Offering an audacious theorization of modernity via modernity's twin forms of violence—colonialism and the camp—Rudolf Mrázek has written perhaps the finest book I have read this decade.”
-- Rosalind C. Morris, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University
“The Complete Lives of Camp People is a stunning collage assembled from witness testimonies, administrative instructions, philosophical reflections, and poetic illuminations. By juxtaposing the stories of two ‘model camps’—Boven Digoel and Theresienstadt—Rudolf Mrázek explores the sensory, material, experiential, and spatial dimensions of twentieth-century internment camps. This is the ‘thickest description’ of camp life yet to appear in print, providing valuable insights into a ubiquitous feature of modernity.”
-- Iris Rachamimov, Tel Aviv University
"A strength of this work is its emphasis on portraying the lives of camp people as they lived them. Mrázek leads his reader through the quotidian activities of the camps, touching on theatre, music, study—even the geography of the camps in their block arrangements. . . . Mrázek has provided the means of developing entirely new analyses of the history of concentration camps."
-- Brenda Melendy International Social Science Review
"This book offers an urgent reminder, and its remarkable range of engagement with thinkers—from Levinas to Isaac Bashevis Singer—gives it the energy of a living conversation. A useful intervention into holocaust and genocide studies, this work should be included in courses on empire and colonization more generally . . . plus chapters could serve as productive additions to a range of classroom conversations."
-- Spencer Dew Religion and Law
"With this book, Mrázek offers readers a rich, complex picture that greatly enhances existing knowledge of concentration camps in the previous century. . . . Supported by rigorous research and the author's lucid writing style, this volume is an interesting read. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty."
-- Q. E. Wang Choice
"This book offers a well-rounded perspective on camp lives that are often overlooked and unimagined. . . . [Mrázek's] portrayal of the internees is also humanizing and compassionate. All in all, this book is recommended for those interested in exploring more on the everyday life in the camps."
-- Amrina Rosyada Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia
"Brilliant, moving and deeply disturbing . . ."
-- Danilyn Rutherford Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia
"This book offers an urgent reminder, and its remarkable range of engagement with thinkers—from Levinas to Isaac Bashevis Singer—gives it the energy of a living conversation. A useful intervention into holocaust and genocide studies, this work should be included in courses on empire and colonization more generally."
-- Spencer Dew Religious Studies Review
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 1 Part I. Fashion 1. Clothes 11 2. Beauty Spots 27 3. Pink Bodies 43 4. Sport 72 Part II. Sound 5. Noise 83 6. Voice 91 7. Music 104 8. Radio 119 Part III. Light 9. Clearing 143 10. Enlightenment 169 11. Limelight 189 Part IV. City 12. Blocks 211 13. Streets 239 14. Suburbs 265 Part V. Scattering 15. Nausea 297 16. Escape 319 17. Dust, or Memory 349 Notes 379 Bibliography 451 Index
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If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
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Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
The Complete Lives of Camp People: Colonialism, Fascism, Concentrated Modernity
by Rudolf Mrázek
Duke University Press, 2020 eISBN: 978-1-4780-0736-4 Paper: 978-1-4780-0667-1 Cloth: 978-1-4780-0577-3
In The Complete Lives of Camp People Rudolf Mrázek presents a sweeping study of the material and cultural lives of twentieth-century concentration camp internees and the multiple ways in which their experiences speak to the fundamental logics of modernity. Mrázek focuses on the minutiae of daily life in two camps: Theresienstadt, a Nazi “ghetto” for Jews near Prague, and the Dutch “isolation camp” Boven Digoel—which was located in a remote part of New Guinea between 1927 and 1943 and held Indonesian rebels who attempted to overthrow the colonial government. Drawing on a mix of interviews with survivors and their descendants, archival accounts, ephemera, and media representations, Mrázek shows how modern life's most mundane tasks—buying clothes, getting haircuts, playing sports—continued on in the camps, which were themselves designed, built, and managed in accordance with modernity's tenets. In this way, Mrázek demonstrates that concentration camps are not exceptional spaces; they are the locus of modernity in its most distilled form.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Rudolf Mrázek is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Michigan and the author of several books, including A Certain Age: Colonial Jakarta through the Memories of its Intellectuals, also published by Duke University Press.
REVIEWS
“The Complete Lives of Camp People is quite simply an extraordinary, provocative, challenging, and brilliant work. Offering an audacious theorization of modernity via modernity's twin forms of violence—colonialism and the camp—Rudolf Mrázek has written perhaps the finest book I have read this decade.”
-- Rosalind C. Morris, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University
“The Complete Lives of Camp People is a stunning collage assembled from witness testimonies, administrative instructions, philosophical reflections, and poetic illuminations. By juxtaposing the stories of two ‘model camps’—Boven Digoel and Theresienstadt—Rudolf Mrázek explores the sensory, material, experiential, and spatial dimensions of twentieth-century internment camps. This is the ‘thickest description’ of camp life yet to appear in print, providing valuable insights into a ubiquitous feature of modernity.”
-- Iris Rachamimov, Tel Aviv University
"A strength of this work is its emphasis on portraying the lives of camp people as they lived them. Mrázek leads his reader through the quotidian activities of the camps, touching on theatre, music, study—even the geography of the camps in their block arrangements. . . . Mrázek has provided the means of developing entirely new analyses of the history of concentration camps."
-- Brenda Melendy International Social Science Review
"This book offers an urgent reminder, and its remarkable range of engagement with thinkers—from Levinas to Isaac Bashevis Singer—gives it the energy of a living conversation. A useful intervention into holocaust and genocide studies, this work should be included in courses on empire and colonization more generally . . . plus chapters could serve as productive additions to a range of classroom conversations."
-- Spencer Dew Religion and Law
"With this book, Mrázek offers readers a rich, complex picture that greatly enhances existing knowledge of concentration camps in the previous century. . . . Supported by rigorous research and the author's lucid writing style, this volume is an interesting read. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty."
-- Q. E. Wang Choice
"This book offers a well-rounded perspective on camp lives that are often overlooked and unimagined. . . . [Mrázek's] portrayal of the internees is also humanizing and compassionate. All in all, this book is recommended for those interested in exploring more on the everyday life in the camps."
-- Amrina Rosyada Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia
"Brilliant, moving and deeply disturbing . . ."
-- Danilyn Rutherford Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia
"This book offers an urgent reminder, and its remarkable range of engagement with thinkers—from Levinas to Isaac Bashevis Singer—gives it the energy of a living conversation. A useful intervention into holocaust and genocide studies, this work should be included in courses on empire and colonization more generally."
-- Spencer Dew Religious Studies Review
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 1 Part I. Fashion 1. Clothes 11 2. Beauty Spots 27 3. Pink Bodies 43 4. Sport 72 Part II. Sound 5. Noise 83 6. Voice 91 7. Music 104 8. Radio 119 Part III. Light 9. Clearing 143 10. Enlightenment 169 11. Limelight 189 Part IV. City 12. Blocks 211 13. Streets 239 14. Suburbs 265 Part V. Scattering 15. Nausea 297 16. Escape 319 17. Dust, or Memory 349 Notes 379 Bibliography 451 Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE