Exhibiting the Holocaust - Brandeis Institutional Repository ...
Exhibiting the Holocaust - Brandeis Institutional Repository ... Exhibiting the Holocaust - Brandeis Institutional Repository ...
As we cherish the ability of material objects and narratives to aid in theprocess of community building, we heed the risk of museums as divisive agents ofhierarchy and institutional/political agendas. It is a risk that museums know fulland well, and debate on an on-going basis: to construct a fixed narrative wherehistorical ownership belongs to the institution or to give room for dissention andaudience agency. How can a museum let everyone voice their opinion? Shouldeveryone be allowed to voice their opinion? What is the museum’s responsibility asan authority figure? And, who should decide the answers?Ultimately, with self-consciousness, sensitivity, and serious investment, wemust seek to remember the Holocaust and the vast histories of the Holocaust in alltheir ambiguity, peculiarity, and contradiction; if not for a comprehensive Holocausteducation, then to recognize these narratives’ importance to a sense ofcontemporary post-Holocaust self.____________________The Holocaust was – and is – massive by every measure. It wasgeographically extensive, narratively complex, innovative in terrifying ways, andhad far-reaching socio-political implications. One can study the event, evenexperience the event and come out feeling lost and overwhelmed. MainstreamHolocaust institutions attempt to alleviate some of these feelings of paralysisthrough highly constructed narrative tours of the museum’s principal exhibitions.These narratives become part of the way knowledge of the Holocaust is made70
accessible and intelligible; and the memory of the Holocaust is transmitted to futuregenerations. But the question must always be asked: “Whose memory of theHolocaust?” Remembrance in and of itself is not enough: we must know whose pastand what parts of it we are remembering. These Holocaust museums are not built ina political or geographical vacuum. There is a deep intersection of historicalmemory (documentation) and political identity (presentation) at play. 165 Theseinstitutions are not simply fiction or non-fiction, but an important and complexinteraction of both. It sounds problematic to call a museum fictitious, especially amuseum about the Holocaust, but its fiction lies in the selected documentation andthe chosen portrayal. Linda Hutcheon writes that history and literature are notseparate categories, and all accounts of history are narrations and therefore notobjective or definitive. 166 Fiction, or more comfortably narrative, in Holocaustmuseums directly reflect how a museum wants to present itself to its patrons.Museum narratives, unlike a traditional historical chronicle or other forms ofhistorical representation, do the “imagination” for its students. The museum’sperspective and selectivity is available in three-dimensions. The tour narratives actas an instrument to disseminate this constructed history. It is for this reason,among others, that the Holocaust museums in this study are more comfortablylabeled “narrative museums” instead of history museums. 167 Narrative museums bytheir very definition are self-serving, but fairness and balance “don’t always apply to165 Dubin, Displays of Power, 8.166 See Linda Hutcheon, “Postmodern Provocation: History and ‘Graphic’ Literature,” La Torre: Revista dela Universidad de Puerto Rico 2, no. 4-5 (1997): 306.167 Weinberg, The Holocaust Museum in Washington, 17.71
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As we cherish <strong>the</strong> ability of material objects and narratives to aid in <strong>the</strong>process of community building, we heed <strong>the</strong> risk of museums as divisive agents ofhierarchy and institutional/political agendas. It is a risk that museums know fulland well, and debate on an on-going basis: to construct a fixed narrative wherehistorical ownership belongs to <strong>the</strong> institution or to give room for dissention andaudience agency. How can a museum let everyone voice <strong>the</strong>ir opinion? Shouldeveryone be allowed to voice <strong>the</strong>ir opinion? What is <strong>the</strong> museum’s responsibility asan authority figure? And, who should decide <strong>the</strong> answers?Ultimately, with self-consciousness, sensitivity, and serious investment, wemust seek to remember <strong>the</strong> <strong>Holocaust</strong> and <strong>the</strong> vast histories of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Holocaust</strong> in all<strong>the</strong>ir ambiguity, peculiarity, and contradiction; if not for a comprehensive <strong>Holocaust</strong>education, <strong>the</strong>n to recognize <strong>the</strong>se narratives’ importance to a sense ofcontemporary post-<strong>Holocaust</strong> self.____________________The <strong>Holocaust</strong> was – and is – massive by every measure. It wasgeographically extensive, narratively complex, innovative in terrifying ways, andhad far-reaching socio-political implications. One can study <strong>the</strong> event, evenexperience <strong>the</strong> event and come out feeling lost and overwhelmed. Mainstream<strong>Holocaust</strong> institutions attempt to alleviate some of <strong>the</strong>se feelings of paralysisthrough highly constructed narrative tours of <strong>the</strong> museum’s principal exhibitions.These narratives become part of <strong>the</strong> way knowledge of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Holocaust</strong> is made70
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