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Research Paper On Jacques Austerlitz

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A sense of place and belonging is central to Austerlitz’s identity. Jacques Austerlitz, an architectural historian, studies and preserves histories that are not his own. He compensates for his personal absence of history by obsessing over buildings such as train stations, fortresses, libraries and observatories, “I had constantly been preoccupied by that accumulation of knowledge which I had pursued for decades, and which served as a substitute or compensatory memory” (197). This defense mechanism can be further analyzed through the specific places he studies. For example, fortresses, large and imposing protect, libraries are full of knowledge of the past, and train stations that connect him with his painful memories of the kindertransport.

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