Memorialising the Holocaust in Human Rights Museums

Katrin Antweiler

Published by De Gruyter 2023

Memorialising the Holocaust in Human Rights Museums

Katrin Antweiler

Volume 37 in the series Media and Cultural Memory

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110788044

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book provides an analysis of the forms and functions of Holocaust memorialisation in human rights museums by asking about the impact of global memory politics on how we imagine the present and the future. It compares three human rights museums and their respective emplotment of the Holocaust and seeks to illuminate how, in this specific setting, memory politics simultaneously function as future politics because they delineate a normative ideal of the citizen-subject, its set of values and aspirations for the future: that of the historically aware human rights advocate. More than an ethical practice, engaging with the Holocaust is used as a means of asserting one’s standing on "the right side of history"; the memorialisation of the Holocaust has thus become a means of governmentality, a way of governing contemporary citizen-subjects. The linking of public memory of the Holocaust with the human rights project is often presented as highly beneficial for all members of what is often called the "global community". Yet this book argues that this specific constellation of memory also has the ability to function as an exercise of power, and thus runs the risk of reinforcing structural oppression. With its novel theoretical approach this book not only contributes to Memory Studies but also connects Holocaust memory to Studies of Global Governmentality and the debate on decolonising memory politics.

Author / Editor information

Katrin Antweiler, Universität Bremen.

Reviews

This book is a tour de force critique of the ways in which in today’s world memory has been institutionalized, instrumentalized, and optimized to neo-liberal effects. Antweiler clearly demonstrates that memory has emerged as a key technique of power and governance. Anyone in doubt about how our dominant cultural patterns of remembrance and commemoration produce political rationalities, shape norms of conduct, and influence cultural policy, should reach for this brilliant and masterful text.
(Magdalena Zolkos, University of Jyväskylä)

***

Memorialising the Holocaust in Human Rights Museums offers an original view on the relationship between memory and politics by introducing the Foucauldian concept of governmentality to the field of memory studies. Through the study of three museums in Germany, Canada and South Africa, Katrin Antweiler redefines the nexus between Human Rights and memory as a technology of the self and, in so doing, opens a new path for understanding the nature of the impact of the transmission of violent pasts in contemporary societies.
(Sarah Gensburger, French National Center for Scientific Research)

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Endorsement Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
1 Of Memorialisation and Citizenship Ideals: Introduction to a Constellation of Contemporary Memory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 Theorising a Constellation of Contemporary Memory: Governmentality, Coloniality and Public Memorialisation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
3 The Emergence of the Holocaust-Human Rights Nexus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
4 The Interplay of Holocaust Memory and Human Rights Museology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
5 The Memorium Nuremberg Trials: Promoting the Rule of Law Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	92
6 The Canadian Museum for Human Rights: Prescribing Benevolence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
7 The South African Holocaust & Genocide Centre: Safeguarding Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
8 Memory as a Means of Government Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
9 The Museum of Doubt: A Thought Experiment Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
10 Towards Pluriversal Memory: A Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
11 Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	214
Index of Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	240

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars of Memory Studies, Holocaust Studies, Cultural Studies, Museum Studies, human rights scholars, memory activists,
Pages
- Front matter: 10
- Main content: 242
Keywords: Global citizenship; democracy education; future politics; mnemonic disobedience; global governmentality

eBook

Published: April 27, 2023
ISBN: 9783110788044

Hardcover

Published: April 27, 2023
ISBN: 9783110787979