The Routledge Handbook to Auschwitz-Birkenau by Sarah M Cushman

The Routledge Handbook to Auschwitz-Birkenau by Sarah M Cushman

This handbook examines Auschwitz-Birkenau as both a site and a symbol of Nazi genocide. Scholars from a range of disciplinary perspectives consider Auschwitz’s history by engaging with Holocaust historiography and its place in Holocaust memory and representation, illustrating their mutual influence.

The chapters bring new insights to topics that other studies of Auschwitz have explored before, such as the Sonderkommando, the Czech family camp, and literary representations of Auschwitz. Other chapters cover recent developments and more neglected areas, such as the experience and memory of Romani prisoners, the fate of Soviet prisoners of war, and Auschwitz’s presence on social media. The handbook also responds to a number of recent trends and new paradigms in Holocaust Studies, including contributions from the fields of Environmental Studies, Spatial Studies, and Gender Studies.

As a crucial overview of the topic of Auschwitz-Birkenau and an introduction to its most recent and fruitful scholarly approaches, this handbook will be a valuable resource for undergraduates from second year and up, as well as for graduate students and researchers seeking a survey of the field.

Sarah Cushman is Lecturer in History and Director of the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University, USA. She has written several articles about women and the women’s section in Auschwitz-Birkenau and is co-Editor-in-Chief of Holocaust Studies: A Journal of History and Culture.

Joanne Pettitt is Senior Lecturer in Comparative Literature at the University of Kent, UK. She is Secretary of the British and Irish Association for Holocaust Studies and co-Editor-in-Chief of Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History.

Dominic Williams is Assistant Professor in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Northumbria University, UK. He is the co-author and co-editor of Matters of Testimony (2015), The Auschwitz Sonderkommando (2019) and Testimonies of Resistance (2019), and co-editor of The Clinical Witness (2025)