'In My Country of Origin, There Was No Space for My Hopes and Dreams': Elisa Springer and Dora Klein's Rejection of Homeland and Migration to Italy.
Why did some survivors reject their homelands after liberation from the concentration camps, even when return was possible? This article examines the cases of Viennese survivor Elisa Springer and Polish survivor Dora Klein, both of whom settled permanently in Italy after the war. Drawing on their me...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Holocaust Research Vol. 40; no. 2; pp. 160 - 176 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Apr2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=196034887&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 196034887 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 25785648 K614 jtl: Journal of Holocaust Research issn: 25785648 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Apr2026 vid: 40 iid: 2 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 196034887 10.1080/25785648.2026.2684105 ppf: 160 ppct: 16 formats: tig: atl: 'In My Country of Origin, There Was No Space for My Hopes and Dreams': Elisa Springer and Dora Klein's Rejection of Homeland and Migration to Italy. aug: au: Brooks, Adelaide affil: Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics, University of Cambridge (Clare College), Cambridge, UK su: Nostalgia Social belonging Italian history Postwar reconstruction Mass migrations Country of origin (Immigrants) Antisemitism Holocaust survivors Vienna (Austria) Italy Poland sug: subj: Vienna (Austria) Italy Poland Nostalgia Social belonging Italian history Postwar reconstruction Mass migrations Country of origin (Immigrants) Antisemitism Holocaust survivors keyword: belonging brava gente myth Italian Jewish survivors non-native language ab: Why did some survivors reject their homelands after liberation from the concentration camps, even when return was possible? This article examines the cases of Viennese survivor Elisa Springer and Polish survivor Dora Klein, both of whom settled permanently in Italy after the war. Drawing on their memoirs and oral testimonies, it argues that pre-Holocaust experiences of belonging and exclusion profoundly shaped their postwar conceptions of home, revealed through the presence – or absence – of nostalgia in their testimonies. Building on the work of Svetlana Boym and Sara Horowitz, this paper reconceptualizes nostalgia not as attachment to territory but as longing for community – the social world that renders a place meaningful. Springer, who recalled an integrated and secure childhood in Vienna, initially returned there after liberation, driven in part by nostalgia, only to discover that the community she mourned had been irretrievably destroyed. Klein, by contrast, experienced sustained antisemitic exclusion in interwar Poland and alienation from her family's Yiddish-speaking milieu, developing little attachment to her homeland and exhibiting no discernible nostalgia for it once she left. She therefore returned directly to Italy after her time in the Lager. Despite Italy's complicity in Fascist racial persecution, both women ultimately located belonging there, reinforcing and complicating the Italian brava gente ('good people') narrative. By tracing their divergent trajectories, this study demonstrates how nostalgia – understood as attachment to community rather than place – illuminates survivors' postwar migrations and redefinitions of home. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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