The construction of the Memory of the Shoah (Yad Vashem, museology)

From the immediate postwar period, survivors, communities, and states undertook to document and commemorate the extermination of the Jews of Europe. In Israel, the institution of Yad Vashem was established by a law of 1953 to preserve the Memory of the victims, gather testimonies and archives, and honor the "Righteous Among the Nations." Numerous memorials and museums came into being around the world, including the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris and, later, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. The museology of the Shoah raises debates about forms of representation, the use of testimony, and transmission to generations who did not experience the events. The question of the universalization of Memory and its articulation with other genocides remains a central issue in this field.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan
• Jewish Virtual Library ↗