the Holocaust. By then memory might return imperfectly, sometimes in bits and
pieces. It could take years for survivors to fit them back together and understand
them well enough to relate.

The late appearance of survivors' accounts has raised questions about their re-
liability. Although no memory is ever likely to be perfect, even in the short term,
it must be conceded that accuracy diminishes with time. A vast literature on the
psychology of remembering has documented the fallibility of long-term mem-
ory and its vulnerability to a broad range of interfering stimuli. The vividness of
remote memories depends heavily on rehearsal, i.e., thinking and talking about
them; and yet studies have shown that the more frequently they are reproduced,
the less accurate they become. Unpleasant facts may be forgotten or repressed.
New information can interfere with memory, modifying and distorting it. Once
incorporated into the original memory, it cannot be distinguished from what is
actually reconstructed, especially after much time has elapsed. ^3. One of the most
eloquent and insightful Holocaust survivors, Primo Levi, came to accept this as
a sad truth. Although he once celebrated the reliability of his own recollection
of events, ^4. in his last book he conceded the frailty of memory and noted that he
and other survivors had "ever more blurred and stylized memories, often, unbe-
knownst to them, influenced by information gained from later readings or the
stories of others." ^5. It should be emphasized that there is no suggestion here of
deliberate fabrication. Blurred remembrance is rather "the predictable result of
many years of conscious and unconscious refashioning of the past little by little,
including assimilating the roles of other actors who have since died." ^6. Nor should
this be interpreted as an attack on memoirs and interviews recently set down.
Their importance is incontestable, and they will naturally be held up to the histo-
rian's usual critical scrutiny. The point here is to underline the special value of the
few survivors' accounts rendered shortly after the Holocaust ended. ^7.

The interviews with Holocaust survivors that make up this volume were

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