Abstract

The end of Benjamin Fondane's iconic poem, the ‘Préface en prose’, is inscribed at the entrance of Yad Vashem's Hall of Names. The quote is a resonant call to recognize the humanity of all victims in the poet's human countenance. This reference, among many other elements in this poem, prompts a comparison to Emmanuel Levinas's philosophy. The poem's speaker specifically resembles Levinas's ‘Other’. Contrary to Levinas, it is maintained that written discourse, and not just the face-to-face encounter, involves an ethical summons, implying a responsibility on the part of the reader: the responsibility to commemorate, in this case to commemorate the innocent humanity murdered in the Shoah.