The Lure of Vicarious Traumatization: Binjamin Wilkomirski’s Bruchstücke and the Construction of False Identity

Abstract

This essay examines the construction of identity in Binjamin Wilkomirski’s Bruchstücke: Aus einer Kindheit 1939-1948 (Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood). Initially highly praised, this story of childhood survival in Nazi concentration camps and of coming to terms with traumatic memories was later unmasked as fiction, written by the Swiss citizen Bruno Dössekker. Situating Fragments in its context of a rising interest in trauma studies in general and autobiographical trauma narratives in particular, Martin Modlinger argues that Wilkomirski’s text can be regarded as a near-perfect example of what the turn to trauma set out to address. Fragments engages with the common tropes of autobiographical trauma literature, especially Holocaust literature, such as the catastrophic rupture of narrative possibility and survivor guilt. Regardless of its status as fiction, the text and its reception provide insights into dangerous trends in trauma studies, ranging from claims to co-ownership of trauma to the lure of vicarious traumatization.