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| You are here: 2000 / Workshops, Panels and Seminars / Workshops on Remembrance and Representation / Workshop 2 on Remembrance, "The Role of Museums: Achieving a Balance between Documentation and Remembrance" / Report from Workshop 2 on Remembrance: "the Role of Museums: Achieving a Balance Between Documentation and Remembrance" | |||||||||
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Participants Countries and organizations Conference documentation Conference programme 
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Report from Workshop 2 on Remembrance: "the Role of Museums: Achieving a Balance Between Documentation and Remembrance" Presentation by Mrs. Yehudit Inbar Presentation by Dr. Brewster Chamberlin Presentation by Professor Bill Williams Report from Workshop 2 on Remembrance: "the Role of Museums: Achieving a Balance Between Documentation and Remembrance" Report from Workshop 2 on Remembrance and Representation Moderator: Ms. Yehudit Inbar
Is there a contradiction in the conception of a Holocaust museum, between documentation, in its broadest meaning, and remembrance? The moderator, herself Director of Yad Vashem Museum Division, means that no balance is needed while defining memory of the Holocaust as a goal and documentation as a tool to achieve memory. Presenters: Mr. Bill Williams Mr. Jacques Fredj Mr. David G. Marwell Bill Williams, Fellow of the Center for Jewish Studies, Manchester University and Chairman of the Shoah Center, is about to start a Shoah Center in Manchester, complementary to the already existing museums of London and Nottinghamshire. The new center will not present Jews in an ”eternal victim” view. A ”non totalitarian” approach is chosen, showing the lives of 20 particular Jews to the public. By this the new museum hopes to bring history from the people below instead of post facto naratif, in which so often the perpetrators point of view prevails. The new center will also be unique in its architectural concept, which reflects the fragmented and uncertain reality of the Holocaust. A labyrinth will allow the presented lives to cross and to be linked. This museum has no ambition to tell one historical truth, but to reflect how common people lived the Holocaust. At he end the Manchester museum will link the ”Jewish experience” to other human and contemporary tragedies. M.A. in History Jacques Fredj, Director Jewish Contemporary Documentation Center, Paris, warns against the classical concept of museums and points at the difference between museums ”in situ” and created ”ex- nihilo”, demanding a different museographical approach. He states that the Shoah falls outside of all normal experience and of all linear and structured explanations. The Paris project follows a threefold objective: Inform through transmission of historical facts; arouse feelings and emotional reaction and incite visitors to reflect on the past. For this it is indispensable that historians be associated with the building of the museum to keep it in touch with the latest results of research and in order to safeguard against manipulation and ideological drifts. When it comes to scenography he firmly rejects simulated situations trying to reproduce reality. A reproduced reality may help commemorate events but it obstructs the historical approach whose objective is to spread comprehension. A Learning Center, designed by USHMM, will complete his institution together whit a very performing archive center and library, designed to transmit knowledge and encourage visitors to find out more. Ph.D. David G. Marwell, Associate Director for Museum Programs, USHMM, reads a message of Ph.D. Brewster S.Chamberlin, Associate Director of International Programs USHMM, retained by snow in the USA. Mr. Chamberlin looks upon the problem in the perspective of decreasing budgets, sharpening discussions of priorities to be supported or not. He states that the priority for holocaust museums to be given to remembrance and documentation, including research. Remembrance without documentation and scholarship can only construct a static memorial. This is not what we are concerned about. A museum can contain a memorial, but a history museum, by its nature, should be based on solid research and factually based analysis. Whit a subject, whose veracity as an historical event is questioned in certain circles, only accessible historical record can insure the survival of the remembrance itself. Mr. Chamberlin has a word of warning about he longer future of Holocaust museums not situated on the ”killing grounds”, f.e. those situated in the UK or USA. These museums, while continuing to maintain the centrality of the Jewish experience in Europe, will be forced to expend resources on the continued investigation of the Holocaust as such, but also on the broader historical context which surrounds the event and on other forms of genicidal behaviour. Ms. Inbar stimulates debate by pointing to several problems revealed in the presentations and out of her experience in Yad Vashem. ·Several items are discussed following the questions and remarks of the audience: ·How should museums deal with ”tourist”, looking for entertainment, and structured educational visits. ·Is a Holocaust museum needed: Italy has not a Holocaust museum as such, but a performing documentation center. (Mr. Shalev, President Yad Vashem, present in the audience, answers that the contrary happens as well: people going to a research center after visiting a museum.) ·How do museums in general, and the Manchester museum in particular, assumes responsibility, for the ”stories” used to tell history? ·What is the place for survivors in the museums? ·Do curators do not count too much and too often on a supposed knowledge whit the subject? After a vivid and interesting discussion, bringing up more questions than answers, Ms. Ibar concluded: ”A Holocaust museum bears a heavy burden. It is not enough to be good on a professional level, it has to express spiritual values and to transmit a message. This is a very ambitious undertaking. There are historical and sociological explanations for the Holocaust, but no moral ones. Furthermore the means of historical documentation are scare and often unsuitable to a museum. The role of a museum is to bridge the gap between an historical event and the public’s understanding of it. In the case of the Holocaust, the gap is twice as wide and often beyond human understanding. Can museum professionals, by telling the Holocaust story, to shape memory and transmit the universal message that stems from it?” Ward Adriaens, Curator Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance, Belgium-Mechelen >> Back to top |
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Introduction Opening Session: Messages and speeches Plenary Sessions: Messages and speeches Workshops, Panels and Seminars
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| For information about this production and the Stockholm International Forum Conference Series please go to www.humanrights.gov.se or contact Information Rosenbad, SE-103 33 Stockholm, Sweden | |||||||||