Canadian Journal of Sociology Online September-October 2006
Alena Heitlinger examines identity construction among Czech and Slovak Jews since 1945. The author focuses on a generation of Jews she describes as "second" or postwar generation, that is, individuals who grew up under Czechoslovak communism and who reached adulthood during the de-Stalinization period of 1962-1968. In particular, she explores the "inter- and intra- generational differences and similarities, and ... the changing historical and political circumstances of Czechoslovak state socialism/communism that have shaped an individual's consciousness and identity as a Jew, an assimilated Czech, Slovak, or Czechoslovak and, where relevant, as an émigré or an immigrant" (p. 1). Carefully examining the social and political events that eventually led to the disintegration of Czechoslovakia, the cultural milieu of secularization, assimilation and modernity, Heitlinger retells the lived experiences of Czech and Slovak Jews by placing them into the context of the sociological theorization of identity construction. As the title of her book attests, Heitlinger shows that Czech and Slovak Jews found themselves in the midst of the social and political upheavals that came to characterize the post-Holocaust era, communism and post-communism. She employs a number of sociological concepts such as habitus (as per sociologist Pierre Bourdieu), and collective memory (as per sociologist Maurice Halbwachs), but relies mostly on sociologist Herbert Gans's notion of symbolic ethnicity/religiosity to help explain the lived experiences of Czech and Slovak Jewry and their future trajectory. Rather than casting an all too familiar picture of European Jews and their communities as being on the brink of disintegration, Heitlinger concludes, in a passage reminiscent of Gans, that "as long as there are enthusiastic activists engaged in pluralistic institutions ... the future of Jewish communities in Czech and Slovak Republics and in Europe as a whole is assured for several generations to come" (p. 214).
Heitlinger's text begins by discussing the social and political contexts in which the collective memories of Czech and Slovak Jews have been shaped and renegotiated. The aftermath of the Holocaust, the Stalinist, reform and post-1968 'normalization' periods of Czechoslovak communism are the central themes in which she situates her study community. These collective memories are further explored in subsequent chapters, providing detail about how the Holocaust is remembered and, as Heitlinger poignantly puts it, expressly not-remembered. Moving to discuss the experiences of the "first" or parental generation of Holocaust survivors and their descendents — the "second" and "third" generations — she points out that the first generation adopted a number of strategies, including the non-transmission of Shoah experiences, Judaism, and, at times, the concealing of their Jewishness, all of which have impacted the identities of the descending generations.
She describes the postwar generation as having come to terms with the legacies of their parents and grandparents, and learning mostly about being Jewish by adopting symbolic ethnicity/religiosity. Heitlinger then turns to an exploration of the lives of Jewish "youth," whom she regards as those who reached adolescence in the 1960s; those who reached adolescence after 1968; and Jews of Slovak and Czech background. Notwithstanding the differences between these groups, Heitlinger concludes that "Czech-Slovak Jewish identity is still important for those of the postwar generation" (p. 121). Emigration and the evasive notion of home and community are the topics of chapter seven, leaving the last three chapters for a discussion of the effects of the collapse of Czechoslovakia and the reconstruction of Jewish community life after communism.
These and a host of other topics lead Heitlinger to probe some very difficult questions about how Jewish identities are shaped and redefined in a particular time and place. For example, she asks "How have Czech and Slovak Jews of the postwar generation defined Jewishness? Who in their view is a Jew?" (p.189); and "How did the young members of the second generation come to terms with their Jewishness, which for so many of them was an unknown yet stigmatized symbolic ethnicity?" (p. 93).
In the end, Heitlinger revisits the generational differences and similarities between Czech and Slovak Jews. She points out that the commonality and heterogeneity among the groups are due to a number of social, political as well as incidental (year of birth) circumstances. She concludes that despite these differences, the postwar generation of Jews relies for the most part on symbolic ethnicity/religiosity for sustaining their Jewish identities — a condition, she argues, which might be interpreted demographically, and in the first instance, as exemplifying the vanishing Jewish diaspora, but, which "seems to have leveled off, and in some cases has been reversed" (p. 214). Heitlinger argues convincingly that this is due in large part to the transnational networks of Czech and Slovak Jews, which sustain their communities well beyond the geopolitical boundaries in which they co-exist.
The text is methodologically very rich. Heitlinger has chosen to employ original and secondary sources — qualitative as well as statistical and archival data collection — in order to support her analysis. Heitlinger's wide-ranging approach shows how history, generational and individual biographies intertwine in the negotiation of Jewish identity. The vast compellation of demographic data, interviews and questionnaires, archival data collection, personal memories and web-based information account for the support of Jewish identity viewed through the lens of symbolic ethnicity/religiosity and collective memory.
Reaching outside of the geopolitical context in which Czech and Slovak Jewishness is situated, In the Shadows of the Holocaust and Communism explores the formation of such cultural identities by examining the ways in which local Jewish identities intersect with, and depart from, the experiences of Jews in neighboring countries, other former communist countries, and vibrant virtual communities.
Overall, this work is well-suited to engaging a variety of audiences, including sociologists, historians, students, and anyone interested in Jewish-themed topics. It makes a valuable contribution to the theorization of Jewish social life in Eastern Europe, as well as to studies which address the post-Holocaust era. More importantly, by taking the position that not all European Jews are succumbing to the radical assimilation of their Jewishness, Heitlinger joins a growing movement of social scientists and other scholars working in the post-communist world who argue that many European Jews continue to derive meaning from identifying Jewishly by employing symbolic ethnicity/religiosity.
Nila Ginger Hofman
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
DePaul Universit, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
http://www.cjsonline.ca/reviews/shadows.html
October 2006
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