Holocaust Representations in Animated Documentaries

Short animated documentaries dealing with the Holocaust began appearing in the late 1990s. Holocaust Representations in Animated Documentaries provides the first comprehensive analysis of movies produced in the USA, Canada, Australia, Europe and Israel. The selected Holocaust animated documentaries analysed in this book epitomise the aesthetic and thematic features of Holocaust animated documentaries in the Western World. Applying theories developed in the fields of animated documentary, Holocaust studies, trauma studies, film studies and memory studies, Steir-Livny analyses how animated Holocaust documentaries create a new layer of Holocaust commemoration. It clarifies the ways in which animated documentaries can broaden and deepen the range of representations by visualising subject matter that previously eluded live-action documentaries, but also points to the dangers inherent to filmmakers' deliberate choices to marginalise the horrors. This extensive analysis of animated Holocaust documentaries constitutes an in-depth outlook on this new layer of contemporary Holocaust memory. Liat Steir-Livny is an Associate Professor at Sapir Academic College and the Open University of Israel.