Space in Holocaust Memory and Representation

A special issue of Genealogy (ISSN 2313-5778).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2023) | Viewed by 18055

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Humanities, Northumbria University, Newcastle NE1 8ST, UK
Interests: holocaust testimony; holocaust memorialisation; Scrolls of Auschwitz; Auschwitz Sonderkommando

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Guest Editor
Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, University of Texas, Richardson, TX 75080, USA
Interests: holocaust memory; holocaust representation; literature; film; post-1989 Central and Eastern Europe

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Guest Editor
Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK
Interests: holocaust memory; holocaust representation; creative cartography

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Guest Editor
School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Interests: French and Francophone; holocaust memory and representation
School of English, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
Interests: holocaust memory; holocaust representation; testimony; fiction; film

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In this Special Issue, we will explore some of the innovative ways in which scholars of representation and memory are beginning to address questions of Holocaust spatiality.

Spatial and environmental analysis of the Holocaust has tended to be practised by historians and geographers (e.g., Knowles et al., 2014; Cole, 2016), at times positioning themselves explicitly as an alternative to cultural and memory studies (Małczyński et al., 2020). However, questions of memory and representation both illuminate and are illuminated by issues of space.

Space is fundamental to representation in not only visual but also aural and verbal forms. Memory is often associated with and enabled by particular spaces; spaces are shaped by memory and in themselves can constitute a form of memory. While there exists an extensive tradition of work on these questions (e.g., Heath, 1976; Schama, 1995), it has had limited uptake in the historiography of the Holocaust. In contrast, this Special Issue takes as its starting point the recognition that questions of space, memory and representation are closely intertwined and must thus be explored in conjunction rather than separately.

How have the spaces and places of the Holocaust been represented? How does memory take spatial forms? In what ways can we see space as integral to the representation and memory of the Holocaust, even if (seemingly) only in implicit or un-foregrounded ways? What new insights do methods developed within the humanities offer the ‘spatial turn’ in Holocaust studies?

We invite proposals for papers on topics related to our theme. Areas can include, but are not limited to:

  • Journeys;
  • Linguistic and geographical displacement;
  • Layered and palimpsestic images;
  • Cyberspace;
  • Location film footage;
  • Fantasy and escapism;
  • Repurposed sites and buildings

We look forward to receiving your contributions. Please contact the editors in advance if you are interested in submitting a paper.

For authors submitting to this special issue, the journal will not charge the APCs.

Cole, T. (2016) Holocaust Landscapes. London: Bloomsbury.

Heath, S. (1976) ‘Narrative Space’, Screen, 17(3), pp. 68–112.

Knowles, A., Cole, T. and Giordano A. (2014) Geographies of the Holocaust. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Małczyński, J., Domańska, E., Smykowski M. and Kłos, A. (2020) ‘The Environmental History of the Holocaust’, Journal of Genocide Research, 22(2), pp. 183–196.

Schama, S. (1995) Landscape and Memory. London: HarperCollins.

Dr. Dominic Williams
Dr. Emily-Rose Baker
Dr. Michael Holden
Dr. Diane Otosaka
Prof. Sue Vice
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genealogy is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • holocaust
  • space
  • memory
  • representation
  • humanities

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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14 pages, 269 KiB  
Article
“To Show in a Frozen Moment”: Camp Models and Dioramas as Forms of Holocaust Representation and Memory
by Jamie Lee Wraight
Genealogy 2023, 7(2), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy7020034 - 10 May 2023
Viewed by 2064
Abstract
This article seeks to investigate the design and creation of several models and dioramas of Holocaust death camps as spatial and historical representations of Holocaust memory. It broadly discusses their use as pedagogical tools, forms of art, testimonial expression and memorialization. It also [...] Read more.
This article seeks to investigate the design and creation of several models and dioramas of Holocaust death camps as spatial and historical representations of Holocaust memory. It broadly discusses their use as pedagogical tools, forms of art, testimonial expression and memorialization. It also addresses questions concerning the intention of their designers and creators, as well as the ethical considerations of recreating these spaces. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space in Holocaust Memory and Representation)
7 pages, 224 KiB  
Article
More than an Afterimage: Music as Holocaust Spatial Representation and Legacy
by Kellie D. Brown
Genealogy 2023, 7(2), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy7020024 - 30 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1964
Abstract
Music occupies a unique and multi-faceted role in spatial representation of the Holocaust, both in terms of documenting its horrors and in cultivating legacy. This uniqueness derives from music’s dual temporal and physical essence as it is represented by written scores that serve [...] Read more.
Music occupies a unique and multi-faceted role in spatial representation of the Holocaust, both in terms of documenting its horrors and in cultivating legacy. This uniqueness derives from music’s dual temporal and physical essence as it is represented by written scores that serve as a blueprint, as sonic events that fill both time and space, and as musical instruments that operate as conduits for both. String instruments, in particular, have occupied a vital place in Jewish culture and, consequently, during the Holocaust. In the most tragic sense, some of these instruments even became actual containers of genocidal evidence as with violins played outside concentration camp crematoria that filled with the human ash that fell. This article will demonstrate that, when played, these instruments transform into living artifacts and musical witnesses, with voices that can speak for those who have been silenced, and that the resulting music that resonates from the printed page fills a sonic space that serves as a powerful medium for memory and representation. The phrase “bearing witness” often refers to representing the stories of people, places, and experiences through words, either written or spoken. But material culture also has a role to play in representation. While objects, art, and architecture certainly support language-based witness, they also provide their own unique lens and conduit for testimony. This seems especially true for music, which has the ability to exist as and cross between both words and objects. Nevertheless, music as material witness remains a complex and often understudied aspect of historical testimony. As a result, this paper will explore through an interdisciplinary approach the divergent nature of music as an aural form, as a creative art, and as a cultural artifact and will offer examples of how music can enhance, elucidate, and complicate Holocaust representation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space in Holocaust Memory and Representation)
13 pages, 293 KiB  
Article
Drancy–La Muette: Concentrationary Urbanism and Psychogeographical Memory in Alexandre Lacroix’s La Muette (2017)
by Diane Minami Otosaka
Genealogy 2023, 7(1), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy7010023 - 20 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1871
Abstract
That the Drancy transit and internment camp—the main camp from which Jews were deported from France—is currently inhabited, having reverted to its pre-war name ‘La Muette’ and initial function as a housing estate at the end of the 1940s, remains little-known. As a [...] Read more.
That the Drancy transit and internment camp—the main camp from which Jews were deported from France—is currently inhabited, having reverted to its pre-war name ‘La Muette’ and initial function as a housing estate at the end of the 1940s, remains little-known. As a result of this multi-layered history, the site is deeply ambivalent, being both haunted and inhabited. Through a theoretical framework informed by psychogeography, this article brings to light the concentrationary presence that is layered onto the space of everyday life at the site of Drancy–La Muette and investigates the possibility of resisting the resulting spatial politics of dehumanisation. Through a close reading of Alexandre Lacroix’s novel La Muette (2017) and its spatial poetics, this article argues that it is by elaborating new ways of seeing, whereby the interpenetration of past and present, the visible and the invisible, comes to the fore, that the traumatic space of Drancy–La Muette may open up. This, in turn, allows for the circulation of affective resonances between the built environment and the individual, which resist the concentrationary logic. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space in Holocaust Memory and Representation)
24 pages, 6905 KiB  
Article
Outlining the Victims of the Holocaust and the Argentinian Dictatorship: Jerzy Skąpski’s Każdy Dzień Oświęcimia and Rodolfo Aguerreberry, Julio Flores, and Guillermo Kexel’s “El Siluetazo”
by Jessica Paola Marino
Genealogy 2023, 7(1), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy7010021 - 15 Mar 2023
Viewed by 2006
Abstract
In this article, I examine two case studies of spatial representation of atrocity and trauma: Jerzy Skąpski’s poster Każdy Dzień Oświęcimia (Every Day at Auschwitz) (1974), published in the October 1978 edition of The Unesco Courier, and the aesthetic/activist action [...] Read more.
In this article, I examine two case studies of spatial representation of atrocity and trauma: Jerzy Skąpski’s poster Każdy Dzień Oświęcimia (Every Day at Auschwitz) (1974), published in the October 1978 edition of The Unesco Courier, and the aesthetic/activist action known as “El Siluetazo” (1983), which was created by Rodolfo Aguerreberry, Julio Flores, and Guillermo Kexel, and carried out as a memory-activist intervention by the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and the Argentinian public on 21–22 September 1983. To examine the interconnections of Holocaust memory within these two case studies, I follow Michael Rothberg’s notion of multidirectional memory and Astrid Erll’s conceptualization of transcultural and travelling memory. In particular, I analyze how Skąpski’s use of silhouettes to spatially depict the victims of Auschwitz is adopted and transformed by the Argentinian artists and public to denounce the disappearance of 30,000 of their compatriots. I argue that in outlining the figures of the victims of the Holocaust and the Argentinian dictatorship, respectively, these creative works exemplify the transcultural use of silhouettes originating in Holocaust memory and the multidirectional influence, derived from their organic connection, of spatial visualizations of absent bodies as they commemorate and make present the victims of these traumatic histories. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space in Holocaust Memory and Representation)
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17 pages, 3260 KiB  
Article
Blurred Edges: Representation of Space in Transgenerational Memory of the Nazi Euthanasia Program
by Erika Silvestri
Genealogy 2023, 7(1), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy7010019 - 10 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1833
Abstract
Maria Fenski was born on 14 August 1905, in Papenburg. At the age of seventeen, she was diagnosed with “dementia” and hospitalized at the Provinzial-Heil-und Pflegeanstalt Osnabrück, where she remained until 16 January 1923. After a marriage, three children, some happy family years, [...] Read more.
Maria Fenski was born on 14 August 1905, in Papenburg. At the age of seventeen, she was diagnosed with “dementia” and hospitalized at the Provinzial-Heil-und Pflegeanstalt Osnabrück, where she remained until 16 January 1923. After a marriage, three children, some happy family years, and various commitments to different clinics, she was killed in Neuruppin State Institution in Brandenburg in 1942, as one of the people murdered in the Nazi Euthanasia Program. Her granddaughter, Hannah, produced a series of sixteen paintings dedicated to her grandmother’s story. There are almost no people in Hannah’s artwork, but empty, lonely, symbolic spaces able to create a bond between past and present. The lack of human figures, the use of cold colors and the blurred edges contribute to creating a suspended atmosphere that seems to be full of painful silences and negations. Hannah transferred onto the canvas an echo of the feelings the victims could have felt, living in conditions they could not understand, separated from the world before they were each made to face a solitary death, far from any contact with their families. Analyzing her work, I reflect on the importance of the concept of “Space” in this specific transgenerational transmission of “Aktion T4” family memory. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space in Holocaust Memory and Representation)
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16 pages, 312 KiB  
Article
Real and Imagined Places in the Diary of Gabriella Trebits
by Heléna Huhák and András Szécsényi
Genealogy 2023, 7(1), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy7010016 - 27 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1742
Abstract
Gabriella Trebits was a prisoner of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp between November 1944 and April 1945. The spaces present in her diary include both the places of the camp and her typhoid hallucinations. Gabriella described venues through their sensuous dimensions. Since the sensory [...] Read more.
Gabriella Trebits was a prisoner of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp between November 1944 and April 1945. The spaces present in her diary include both the places of the camp and her typhoid hallucinations. Gabriella described venues through their sensuous dimensions. Since the sensory experiences of everyday life mingled with her visions, her diary became a “textual journey” between real and imagined places. Her narratives helped her to express the difficulties caused by her physical environment and the confusion caused by her hallucinations. As a result, the references to changes in her sensory impressions created a discursive space for the diarist to express her feelings. Since her narrative depicts a suffering and painful condition, we use Joanna Bourke’s concept of pain talk in our analysis. Moreover, the diary demonstrates that it was possible for typhoid patients to connect with their environment despite their isolated situation. Even on the periphery of the camp space, social life persisted. This exploration will not only uncover the narrative strategy of one diarist but also contribute to a deeper understanding of the ways in which tens of thousands died of starvation and diseases―without mass executions or gas chambers―in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the spring of 1945. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space in Holocaust Memory and Representation)
13 pages, 786 KiB  
Article
A Stereometry of Non-Memory: Mapping a Lost Past in W.G. Sebald’s Austerlitz
by Michael Holden
Genealogy 2023, 7(1), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy7010015 - 27 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1828
Abstract
This article presents a consideration of W.G. Sebald’s 2001 work Austerlitz—his final novel—according to a variety of spatial and cartographic concepts, including ‘fluid cartography,’ and the notion of countermapping. Particularly, the article will explore the eponymous protagonist’s sense that ‘time [does] not [...] Read more.
This article presents a consideration of W.G. Sebald’s 2001 work Austerlitz—his final novel—according to a variety of spatial and cartographic concepts, including ‘fluid cartography,’ and the notion of countermapping. Particularly, the article will explore the eponymous protagonist’s sense that ‘time [does] not exist at all, only various spaces interlocking according to the rules of a higher form of stereometry,’ and will demonstrate how this subjective experience of time is a consequence of the absence of memory experienced by the protagonist in relation to his origins as a Kindertransport survivor of the Holocaust. Similarly, the article will explore how spaces—particularly buildings—and material artefacts come to act as an (insufficient) surrogate for memory within the text. All of the above will be framed according to a reading of the fundamental spatiality of Sebald’s works, and particularly their map-like quality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space in Holocaust Memory and Representation)
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13 pages, 314 KiB  
Article
A City in Dérive: Bucharest in Mihail Sebastian’s Journal 1935–1944: The Fascist Years
by Carmen Levick
Genealogy 2023, 7(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy7010014 - 23 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1807
Abstract
Mihail Sebastian’s Journal 1935–1944 accurately reflects the changing historical realities in Romania in general and in the capital city of Bucharest in particular, before and during the Second World War. As a Jewish Romanian writer, Sebastian records a landscape of ideological change that [...] Read more.
Mihail Sebastian’s Journal 1935–1944 accurately reflects the changing historical realities in Romania in general and in the capital city of Bucharest in particular, before and during the Second World War. As a Jewish Romanian writer, Sebastian records a landscape of ideological change that has a clear impact on him as a lawyer, an intellectual and a member of the city’s literary high society. This article proposes a new reading and analysis of Sebastian’s work, by focusing on the close relationship between the writer and the city as a vibrant, organic space. My work introduces a new critical vocabulary to the literary analysis of Sebastian’s Journal, through the use of terminology commonly employed by performance studies. The Situationist practices of walking and drifting, further conceptualised by performance studies scholar Carl Lavery, will be utilised as methods of exploring the visual and emotional richness of Sebastian’s work. The intimate relationship between the writer and the city will be constantly framed by the historical and political realities of the time, ensuring a balanced discussion of both literary achievement and historical witnessing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space in Holocaust Memory and Representation)

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11 pages, 213 KiB  
Essay
The Kindertransport Everyday: The Complexities of Domestic Space for Child Refugees
by Hannah Louise Coombs
Genealogy 2023, 7(2), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy7020025 - 11 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1586
Abstract
Analysis of refugee experiences often stands in the context of broad and visible experiences, despite the accounts of child refugees consistently recalling their experiences through domestic, everyday experience. Over 80 years since the Kindertransport, the autobiographical literature bears witness to the lived realities [...] Read more.
Analysis of refugee experiences often stands in the context of broad and visible experiences, despite the accounts of child refugees consistently recalling their experiences through domestic, everyday experience. Over 80 years since the Kindertransport, the autobiographical literature bears witness to the lived realities of Kindertransport refugees, standing as memorials to their alternative experiences of the Holocaust. This paper addresses accounts shared through autobiographical texts, arguing that the Kinder constantly negotiated their identity performance in response to new ‘home’ spaces, creating new relationships with space in the homes of others. This article discusses spatial theory and identity performance to analyse the ways in which domestic spaces were a defining factor in the Kinder’s experiences and identity development, and likewise, how the Kinder’s experiences shaped their perceptions of domestic space. Everyday experiences exert affective impacts through repetitive encounters, and the Kindertransport saw children immersed in new everyday norms. Entering new, shared spaces during childhood, the Kinder experienced long-lasting impacts on identity development as they became distanced from familiar norms and suddenly immersed in new alternatives. Kinder found themselves with limited privacy in seemingly private homes as they entered into already-inhabited domestic environments. Blurred boundaries between public and private within these spaces contributed to an unusual constancy of performance as the Kinder were constantly before an audience. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space in Holocaust Memory and Representation)
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