Harry Cargas was een Amerikaanse academicus en auteur, vooral bekend om zijn geschriften en onderzoek naar de Holocaust, joods-katholieke betrekkingen en de Amerikaanse literatuur. Zijn werk ging vaak dieper in op de ethische en filosofische vragen die uit deze onderwerpen voortvloeien, en onderzocht de impact van de geschiedenis op de menselijke psyche. Cargas' benadering van schrijven was diep empathisch, en zijn teksten werden gekenmerkt door een verlangen naar begrip en dialoog tussen verschillende groepen. Zijn literaire nalatenschap ligt in zijn vermogen om kritisch denken te stimuleren en medeleven te bevorderen in het aangezicht van tragische gebeurtenissen.
This is an intense and moving dialogue rising out of the Holocaust and extending to the crucial issues of the present. Noted author and teacher Harry James Cargas probes the existence and meaning of good and evil, love and hatred, bigotry and openness with Nobel Laureate, writer, and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel. The result is an in-depth and fascinating look into the religious, literary, and private views of one of the major religious figures of our time.
If you had a chance to speak to the Pope, what would you say? This is the question that 13 noted Holocaust scholars―Christians of various denominations and Jews (including some Holocaust survivors)―address in this volume. The Holocaust was a Christian as well as a Jewish tragedy; nonetheless, the Roman Catholic hierarchy has offered very little official discourse on the Church's role in it. These essays provide solid constructive criticism and make a major contribution to both Holocaust and Christian studies.
In Problems Unique to the Holocaust, today's leading Holocaust scholars examine the difficult questions surrounding this terrible chapter in world history. Is it ever legitimate to betray others to save yourself? If a group of Jews is hiding behind a wall and a baby begins to cry, should an adult smother the child to protect the safety of the others? Should the men and women who took their own lives in the face of the Nazi onslaught be considered suicide or murder victims? How guilty are the bystanders who saw what was happening but did nothing to aid the victims of persecution?
V knize amerického autora Cargasse Witnesses of Catastrophe (Svědkové katastrofy) o židovském holocaustu byl zveřejněn také rozhovor s českým spisovatelem Arnoštem Lustigem, jehož překlad obsahuje tato kniha. Spolu s tímto rozhovorem je zde publikován rovněž poprvé Lustigův esej o Auschwitz- Birkenau.