Holocaust memorials and museums face a difficult task as their staffs strive to commemorate and document horror. On the one hand; the events museums represent are beyond most people’s experiences. At the same time they are often portrayed by theologians; artists; and philosophers in ways that are already known by the public. Museum administrators and curators have the challenging role of finding a creative way to present Holocaust exhibits to avoid clichéd or dehumanizing portrayals of victims and their suffering.In Holocaust Memory Reframed; Jennifer Hansen-Glucklich examines representations in three museums: Israel’s Yad Vashem in Jerusalem; Germany’s Jewish Museum in Berlin; and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington; D.C. She describes a variety of visually striking media; including architecture; photography exhibits; artifact displays; and video installations in order to explain the aesthetic techniques that the museums employ. As she interprets the exhibits; Hansen-Glucklich clarifies how museums communicate Holocaust narratives within the historical and cultural contexts specific to Germany; Israel; and the United States. In Yad Vashem; architect Moshe Safdie developed a narrative suited for Israel; rooted in a redemptive; Zionist story of homecoming to a place of mythic geography and renewal; in contrast to death and suffering in exile. In the Jewish Museum in Berlin; Daniel Libeskind’s architecture; broken lines; and voids emphasize absence. Here exhibits communicate a conflicted ideology; torn between the loss of a Jewish past and the country’s current multicultural ethos. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum presents yet another lens; conveying through its exhibits a sense of sacrifice that is part of the civil values of American democracy; and trying to overcome geographic and temporal distance. One well-know example; the pile of thousands of shoes plundered from concentration camp victims encourages the visitor to bridge the gap between viewer and victim. Hansen-Glucklich explores how each museum’s concept of the sacred shapes the design and choreography of visitors’ experiences within museum spaces. These spaces are sites of pilgrimage that can in turn lead to rites of passage.
#701977 in Books 2015-01-27 2015-01-27Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .64 x 6.00l; .0 #File Name: 0813347890288 pages
Review
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful. A work that is at once erudite and personalBy George DeakDisclosure: I am not related to Istvan Deak; though I share his surname (it being quite a common Hungarian and; in both of our cases; Jewish-Hungarian name). I was also a student of his long ago (in the 1970s) at Columbia University. Although I did not follow Professor Deak into the profession of history; I have followed his publications and scintillating book reviews in the New York Review of Books; The New Republic and other journals.Istvan Deak is a master historian. He brings a lifetime of study and teaching experience to explore some problems of World War II history that he has been considering since his own traumatic coming of age in wartime Budapest. Thus; the book is at once erudite and personal. The moral judgments; one feels; are hinged on the question of what would he have done in the position of the actors under study; or; in hindsight; what could and should have been done. One is reminded of the many cases in which simple human compassion was missing; but also of odd cases in which it was displayed where least expected; as in Denmark; where all Danish Jews were allowed to escape to Sweden with the connivance of German occupiers.The book presents three complexly interrelated modes of behavior that the war and its aftermath elicited from Europeans: collaboration and resistance during the war; and retribution as it ended. As Deak points out; these were not exhaustive or exclusive. Most people in fact; just tried to survive and accommodate themselves to the situation. Then there were the most severely targeted victims; such as the Jews and Poles; who in most cases were unable to choose collaboration or even accommodation; and chose resistance (in my opinion) perhaps too rarely. But the fate and actions of these victims is covered in many other works. The originality of this work is its exploration of the temporal trajectories and interactions; motivations; ironies; inhumanities and often moral dilemmas of the three other modes that appear in its title.The coverage is broad but balanced. All of Nazi-occupied and Nazi-allied Europe is surveyed and one gets a sense of the different possibilities; dilemmas; and relative intensities of conflict faced in each country. Even the collaboration of neutral Spain in the war against the Soviet Union is mentioned; making this reader want to learn more.In considering collaboration; the ambiguities are many. Was a Dane or a Czech who worked in an industry that served the German war effort a collaborator? As Deak points out; people often had more choices than they allowed themselves to make. Or could Marshal Petain; head of government of Vichy France; legitimately claim; as he did at his trial; that he shielded France from a harsher German occupation? Probably not! For; as we learn; Petain's France took anti-Jewish measures in anticipation of German requests. Collaborators generally had self-seeking goals of their own.As for the resistance; were attacks on German targets always worth their costs? After Mussolini's dismissal but while there were still Germans in Rome; the Italian resisters exploded a device in a narrow street through which a column of German soldiers passed every day. Thirty three German soldiers were killed but the reprisals took the lives of 335 innocent Italians. Despite such costs; and considering our own experience in Iraq; Deak makes a good case for rejecting the judgment of military historians that the resistance was of little significance in hastening the defeat of Germany.The part on retributions is also quite a sad tale; in that it points out how often the guilty got off; partly in deference to the perceived needs of the Cold War; and how often the innocent were punished; mostly in the form of massive ethnic cleansing that took place in much of Eastern Europe.Deak's keen eye for the bizarre and the ironic is also evident throughout this work. For example; in May; 1945; a German unit that was captured by the British after the general surrender borrowed British rifles so that they could carry out death sentences on German soldiers who had been earlier condemned for desertion.Sad as most of the stories are; the wealth of anecdotes and their master retelling will fascinate most history buffs. The Epilogue even leaves one hopeful.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Not even supposed heroes pass the test!By CustomerIn Deak's view; it is hard to find innocent people in Europe; not even in Denmark or Great Brittain. Few would not agree. Revealing stories of national accomodation; lack of resistance and opportunism. In situations where always one's life was at stake; Deak seems to demand personal sacrifices and heroism and a clear vision of future only a blend of a kamikaze and a whizzard could afford. Balanced analysis of collaboration and resistance. Underlaying political and historical analysis is missing or extremely simplistic.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Deak is objective in his assessment and shows a good grasp of historyBy EnikoA very comprehensive review of the complicated situation in Europe as countries struggled to chose between the Nazis and the Communists. This was especially crucial in Hungary where the situation was complicated by Hitler playing Hungary off against the successor states of Czechoslovakia; Yugoslavia and Romania which had profited from the land grab at the end of World War I. In an effort to regain at least the areas inhabited by a Hungarian majority; Hungary was drawn into Hitler's sphere of influence. Deak is objective in his assessment and shows a good grasp of history. He is sensitive to the Jewish issue; and maybe less so to the nationality issue; but he does not neglect this either. All in all; a very good assessment of the choices faced by millions in the Second World War.
