After the return from Lager: the literature of Postmemory in Italy

The paper explores the problems related to the idea of intergenerational transfer of memory, using the structure coined by Marianne Hirsch with the word postmemory, and analyzes in particular the case of the translingual author Edith Bruck, a representative of first generation, who experienced the persecutions first hand: born in Hungary from a poor Jewish family, deported to Auschwitz in 1944, when she was only twelve years old, and miraculously survived after losing her parents, she is a direct witness of the events. In particular will be taken into account the book “Signora Auschwitz” (1999), that reflects on the impossibility of overcoming the horror of the lager, despite the act of witnessing, and the last book released “Il pane perduto” (2021). Finally, the paper focuses on the second generation of Jews, trying to show how we can talk also in Italy of a “postmemorian literature” for what concerns the trauma of the Shoah, starting from the case of Helena Janeczek (“Lezioni di tenebra” 1997) up to the latest books written by Lia Tagliacozzo “La generazione del deserto” (2020) and Emanuele Fiano “Il profumo di mio padre” (2021).