Obligations of the secondary witness to testimonies of historical trauma in European literature

Abstract

ESAANZ ESSAY PRIZE WINNER

The role of the reader as a “secondary witness” to testimonies of historical trauma must be carefully considered. Adopting the position of the secondary witness entails a particular responsibility: to understand authorial intent while resisting preconceived imaginings of our role as the secondary witness. As non-witnesses, we are compelled to read historical trauma, such as the experience of the concentration camp in Europe. This compulsion should be mediated by deliberate and considered positioning as the secondary witness, by heeding the tacit demands of the author, which are woven into the fabric of their testimony. This article proposes that there are innumerous roles (plural) that the author of historical trauma may require of us. Drawing on three examples of European testimonies of historical trauma, this essay hopes to guide how we can identify our roles as secondary witnesses.