This book charts the performative dimension of the Holocaust memorialization culture through a selection of representative artistic, educational, and memorial projects. Performative practice refers to the participatory and performance-like aspects of the Holocaust memorial culture, the transformative potential of such practice, and its impact upon visitors. At its core, performative practice seeks to transform individuals from passive spectators into socially and morally responsible agents. This edited volume explores how performative practices came into being, what impact they exert upon audiences, and how researchers can conceptualise and understand their relevance. In doing so, the contributors to this volume innovatively draw upon existing philosophical considerations of performativity, understandings of performance in relation to performativity, and upon critical insights emerging from visual and participatory arts. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History.

This volume locates and explores historical and contemporary sites of contested meanings of Holocaust memory across a range of geographical, geo-political, and disciplinary contexts, identifying and critically engaging with the nature and expression of these meanings within their relevant contexts, elucidating the political, social, and cultural underpinnings and consequences of these meanings, and offering interventions in the contemporary debates of Holocaust memory that suggest ways forward for the future.

Abstract: Holocaust commemoration is a vast, multifaceted enterprise. Diverse styles and forms have continued to emerge, and a chronology of types has evolved throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Holocaust remembrance began with narratives, communicated as oral histories and sermons, published in books, journals, newspapers, and magazines, and presented in dramatic performances. In the 1960s and '70s many Holocaust groups sought something more substantial to represent the horror that the Holocaust wrought. Synagogues, community centers, and Jewish businesses installed plaques, stained glass windows, and displays containing Holocaust relics to commemorate the Shoah. Cemeteries became the appropriate location to dedicate larger structures, since Holocaust monuments would serve as tombstones for victims denied proper burial. The 1980s and '90s brought another transformation--suddenly, memorialization caught public attention. Not only had the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum opened in 1993, but that same year, the award-winning movie Schindler's List was released. Another major museum opened in 1997--the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. Interest grew on a local level as well. Large memorials were erected in public parks, creating physical spaces for commemoration and inviting community gatherings. This surge of remembrance activity directly parallels Jewish Americans' socio-economic change. Jews in the United States had become affluent and powerful over the course of the twentieth century, and they now had the ability to commemorate on a larger scale. The chronology of memorialization has progressed into the twenty-first century, with educational programs implemented in conjunction with the built environment. The purpose of this research is to analyze the evolution of Shoah commemoration and the emergence of physical structures--monuments, memorials, and museums. This is illustrated through the exploration of several case studies in the Southeastern United States. Basic investigations revealed each project's development, organization, leadership, and community involvement. Additional information was gained through personal interviews, phone conversations, and electronic communication with engaged participants. Memorials will outlast eyewitnesses, and they have the potential to exist longer than original Holocaust structures. Through their preservation and the production of didactic tools, the Shoah will be remembered.

Offering a cross-media exploration of Israeli media on Holocaust Remembrance Day, one of Israel's most sacred national rituals, over the past six decades, this fascinating book investigates the way in which variables such as medium, structure of ownership, genre and targeted audiences shape the collective recollection of traumatic memories.

This book explores the diverse range of practical and theoretical challenges and possibilities that digital technologies and platforms pose for Holocaust memory, education and research. From social media to virtual reality, 360-degree imaging to machine learning, there can be no doubt that digital media penetrate practice in these fields. As the Holocaust moves beyond living memory towards solely mediated memory, it is imperative that we pay critical attention to the way digital technologies are shaping public memory and education and research. Bringing together the voices of heritage and educational professionals, and academics from the arts and humanities and the social sciences, this interdisciplinary collection explores the practicalities of creating digital Holocaust projects, the educational value of such initiatives, and considers the extent to which digital technologies change the way we remember, learn about and research the Holocaust, thinking through issues such as ethics, embodiment, agency, community, and immersion. At its core, this volume interrogates the extent to which digital interventions in these fields mark an epochal shift in Holocaust memory, education and research, or whether they continue to be shaped by long-standing debates and guidelines developed in the broadcast era.

Visitor Experience at Holocaust Memorials and Museums is the first volume to offer comprehensive insights into visitor reactions to a wide range of museum exhibitions, memorials, and memory sites. Drawing exclusively upon empirical research, chapters within the book offer critical insights about visitor experience at museums and memory sites in the United States, Poland, Austria, Germany, France, the UK, Norway, Hungary, Australia, and Israel. The contributions to the volume explore visitor experience in all its complexity and argue that visitors are more than just "learners". Approaching visitor experience as a multidimensional phenomenon, the book positions visitor experience within a diverse national, ethnic, cultural, social, and generational context. It also considers the impact of museums’ curatorial and design choices, visitor motivations and expectations, and the crucial role emotions play in shaping understanding of historical events and subjects. By approaching visitors as active interpreters of memory spaces and museum exhibitions, Popescu and the contributing authors provide a much-needed insight into the different ways in which members of the public act as "agents of memory", endowing this history with personal and collective meaning and relevance. Visitor Experience at Holocaust Memorials and Museums offers significant insights into audience motivation, expectation, and behaviour. It is essential reading for academics, postgraduate students and practitioners with an interest in museums and heritage, visitor studies, Holocaust and genocide studies, and tourism.