Reporting on the Holocaust in South Africa: An Examination of Press Coverage and Memorialization in the Aftermath of World War II

dc.contributor.advisorMendelsohn, Adam
dc.contributor.authorAbrahams, Dmitri
dc.date.accessioned2025-06-25T11:40:41Z
dc.date.available2025-06-25T11:40:41Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.date.updated2025-06-25T11:34:27Z
dc.description.abstractUntil recently, little scholarly work has focused on the development of Holocaust memory in South Africa, particularly regarding the extent to which the Holocaust has been ‘domesticated' – refracted through a local lens – in this country. This dissertation seeks to add to a broader scholarly effort to explain how a country with its own fraught racial politics engaged with the Nazi past. This study provides a detailed analysis of how different newspapers in South Africa reacted, transmitted, and engaged with the news of the liberation of the Nazi Concentration camps, the subsequent Belsen Trial, and the International Military Tribunal. It also uncovers how the Jewish community established commemorative practices and disseminated knowledge of the Holocaust between 1945 and 1960. This is achieved by examining the most widely circulated newspapers marketed towards different segments of South African society, as well as Jewish community records, and archival material. Newspaper coverage of the Holocaust in South Africa reflected the ethos of each publication and their stance on the war. How these publications reacted to and reported on the Holocaust greatly influenced how they engaged with and understood the Belsen Trial and the International Military Tribunal. Early Jewish commemoration of the Shoah reflected the community's need to rebuild its communal identity in the wake of social and political upheaval both locally and abroad.
dc.identifier.apacitationAbrahams, D. (2025). <i>Reporting on the Holocaust in South Africa: An Examination of Press Coverage and Memorialization in the Aftermath of World War II</i>. (). University of Cape town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Historical Studies. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41482en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationAbrahams, Dmitri. <i>"Reporting on the Holocaust in South Africa: An Examination of Press Coverage and Memorialization in the Aftermath of World War II."</i> ., University of Cape town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Historical Studies, 2025. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41482en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationAbrahams, D. 2025. Reporting on the Holocaust in South Africa: An Examination of Press Coverage and Memorialization in the Aftermath of World War II. . University of Cape town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Historical Studies. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41482en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Abrahams, Dmitri AB - Until recently, little scholarly work has focused on the development of Holocaust memory in South Africa, particularly regarding the extent to which the Holocaust has been ‘domesticated' – refracted through a local lens – in this country. This dissertation seeks to add to a broader scholarly effort to explain how a country with its own fraught racial politics engaged with the Nazi past. This study provides a detailed analysis of how different newspapers in South Africa reacted, transmitted, and engaged with the news of the liberation of the Nazi Concentration camps, the subsequent Belsen Trial, and the International Military Tribunal. It also uncovers how the Jewish community established commemorative practices and disseminated knowledge of the Holocaust between 1945 and 1960. This is achieved by examining the most widely circulated newspapers marketed towards different segments of South African society, as well as Jewish community records, and archival material. Newspaper coverage of the Holocaust in South Africa reflected the ethos of each publication and their stance on the war. How these publications reacted to and reported on the Holocaust greatly influenced how they engaged with and understood the Belsen Trial and the International Military Tribunal. Early Jewish commemoration of the Shoah reflected the community's need to rebuild its communal identity in the wake of social and political upheaval both locally and abroad. DA - 2025 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - Historical Studies LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape town PY - 2025 T1 - Reporting on the Holocaust in South Africa: An Examination of Press Coverage and Memorialization in the Aftermath of World War II TI - Reporting on the Holocaust in South Africa: An Examination of Press Coverage and Memorialization in the Aftermath of World War II UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41482 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/41482
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationAbrahams D. Reporting on the Holocaust in South Africa: An Examination of Press Coverage and Memorialization in the Aftermath of World War II. []. University of Cape town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Historical Studies, 2025 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41482en_ZA
dc.language.rfc3066Eng
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Historical Studies
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanities
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape town
dc.subjectHistorical Studies
dc.titleReporting on the Holocaust in South Africa: An Examination of Press Coverage and Memorialization in the Aftermath of World War II
dc.typeThesis / Dissertation
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
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