‘We tried to become normal’: Social class and memory in oral histories with Montreal Holocaust survivors

This article argues for social class and socioeconomic inequality as neglected forms of analysis when studying the memories and narratives of Holocaust survivors. Based primarily in oral histories conducted with Holocaust survivors in Montreal, this argument is elaborated in two ways. First, the author demonstrates stories that have been left out of Holocaust narratives, such as multicultural socializing that took place in the early post-war years as class solidarity provided more kinship than ethnic solidarity. Second, the author examines the various barriers to survivors publicly recounting their experiences, and how the ability to speak seemed to accompany socioeconomic assimilation into broader Jewish and Canadian culture. This compels us to also ask who was never able to publicly recount or remember, as they did not manage to achieve this kind of stability.