American Public Memory and the Holocaust: Performing Gender, Shifting Orientations

The book explores how next-generation Holocaust survivors use new and old media to engage younger audiences with Holocaust history, challenging traditional memorialization artifacts and promoting a more complex and emotional understanding of the past.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 230 pages
Publication date: 15 March 2022
Publisher: Lexington Books

The recent surge in global antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and American white nationalism poses a grave threat to the preservation of Holocaust public memory on an unprecedented scale. In response to this pressing challenge, this timely book delves into the innovative ways in which next-generation Holocaust survivors are harnessing both traditional and contemporary media to engage and connect with younger generations. Readers have grown accustomed to expecting memorialization artifacts about the Holocaust to primarily take the form of diaries, memoirs, photographs, or documentaries, often lacking representation or attention to gender issues. This book offers a nuanced and profound exploration of the complex process of remembering the past, which has the potential to profoundly transform our attitudes and perspectives toward others.

Through the lens of gender, performance, and rhetoric, Lisa Costello challenges the notion of public memory as gender-neutral, while also demonstrating how emerging forms of memorialization, such as digital archives, YouTube posts, hybrid memoirs, and short films, create deep emotional connections that bring us closer to the events of the past. By exploring these diverse mediums, the book offers a fresh perspective on the ways in which we commemorate and honor the victims of the Holocaust, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of their resilience and humanity.

This book is a valuable resource for educators, students, researchers, and anyone interested in exploring the intersection of gender, memory, and the Holocaust. It provides a wealth of insights and perspectives that challenge our assumptions and encourage us to reimagine how we remember and commemorate this tragic chapter in human history. As we navigate a world increasingly shaped by hate and prejudice, it is more crucial than ever to preserve and promote Holocaust public memory, and this book serves as a crucial contribution to that effort.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781793600172