Tolerance Discourse and Young Adult Holocaust literature: Engaging Difference and Identity by Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (review)

In this study, Rachel Dean-Ruzicka offers a literary analysis of the texts making up the canon of young adult Holocaust literature. Reading the texts through a critical lens, she argues that while tolerance is presented as a moral ideal in both literature and social discourse, it sustains inequity and power structures. A better goal for society is to acknowledge, engage, and accept differences. Tolerance labels groups of people as normal and abnormal, and it comes from a place of privilege. The majority (normal) is taught to tolerate the minority "other" (abnormal). Coexistence and tolerance might seem like viable conditions; however, in times of crisis, tolerance quickly fades, and the members of the majority are tempted to see the "other" as subhuman. In contrast, when people engage with the differences of the "other," they recognize their common human dignity. In times of crisis, especially moral crisis, people are more likely to choose a path that sustains that dignity when they have engaged with other cultures. Holocaust literature can open a discussion on engagement with difference because it depicts the tragedy of failed tolerance.

Dean-Ruzicka presents young adult Holocaust literature, both historical fiction and memoir, as a vehicle for adolescents and young adults to engage with cultures and people they may not encounter in real life. Even though this book is focused on literary analysis rather than pedagogy, Dean-Ruzicka acknowledges that young adults often come in contact with Holocaust literature though experiences in schools. In her analysis, she asks the same two questions about each book: 1) Is the book historically accurate? and 2) Does the book engage in depth with cultures and identities of groups who were victims of the Holocaust? She argues that any book with a "no" answer should be read very carefully, especially in an educational context, because historical inaccuracy and stereotypical, shallow depictions of culture lead to a continuance of the binary structure of superiority/inferiority. She contends that true engagement with differences "can encourage a transformative ethics, one leading to goals beyond tolerance" (247).

The book is divided into five chapters, with an introduction and an epilogue. Chapters 1 through 3 feature analyses of books that introduce readers to the victims of the Holocaust. In chapter 1, Dean-Ruzicka gives a critical analysis of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and books related to Frank. Her main criticism is that many books portray Frank in a way that does not highlight her culture as a Dutch Jew. Dean-Ruzicka believes that adolescent readers can develop a desire for social justice through literature. She states that readers of literature create memories through the lives of literary characters. These shared memories allow adolescents and young adults to develop empathy through an imagined engagement with the differences of others. However, in order to have the profound effect of engagement, literature needs to present the details and complexities of European Jewish life and culture during the Second World War.

Chapter 2 examines books about Jews, other than Frank, who were targeted by the Nazis. Here Dean-Ruzicka advocates for narratives that show the complexity of Jewish culture and religion. In chapter 3, she analyzes books treating the subject of the Romani (Gypsy) people, those with disabilities, and homosexuals, who were also persecuted under the Nazi regime. Dean-Ruzicka continually reminds us that young readers need to engage with specific cultural differences in order to tear down the discourse of superiority that merely tolerates minority populations. By the end of chapter 3, it is evident that the author is stuck in a repetitive loop: restatement of the thesis, history, literary analysis, restatement of the thesis. This repetition is intentional, preparing her readers for the hard work of reading and thinking through the second half of the book.

In chapter 4, Dean-Ruzicka asks her readers to engage with "the other" in the form of wartime German citizens. She categorizes them as "good Nazis and...