The Holocaust Memory Project
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1. PROJECT SUMMARY
1.1 Project title: Research on Transgenerational Holocaust-memory in Central Europe
1.2 Focus area/objective: Culture and Common Identity, Reflecting on common historical and cultural heritage by joint research and knowledge-sharing activities
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 21/05/2022–01/10/2023
Short description of the project:
The goal of our research is to be able to interpret both the generational changes and further inher-ited processes of Holocaust memory in three localities per country by examining three generations. The three selected settlements include the capital, towns, and rural localities of each country. All this provides an opportunity for a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between Holocaust memory in the capital and in the countryside.
The documentaries by György Csepeli, Richárd Kiss, András Surányi and Richárd Papp is a visual documentation of a social science research based on focus group interviews.
2. PROJECT RELEVANCE AND CONTEXT
2.1 What is the main issue that your project would like to focus on? What is the current situation that you wish to change?
Nearly eighty years have passed since the tragedy of the Holocaust. The living, communicative memory of a generation of victims and witnesses is slowly being transformed into patterns of cultural memory. Meanwhile, in Central Europe, there has been no collective confrontation in recent decades, no public and comprehensive open social discourse on the memory of the tragedy. The problems of forgetting and silence range from the persistence of anti-Semitism, hatred of ethnic, cultural, and sexual minorities, political hatred of refugees, to Holocaust denial, and are still present in Central European societies today. In the three decades since the political regime changes, more detailed Holocaust education has been introduced into school history curricula, and commemorative monuments, museums, archives, books, and films have been created to help remember the Holocaust. However, the ques-tion arises as to how all this contributes to the perpetuation of Holocaust remembrance. What meanings does Holocaust remembrance have today among different generations? There has been a lot of excellent historical and quantitative sociological research on this so far. However, this research fails to explore and analyse the local and personal empirical depths of the patterns of memory that are constructed and reconstructed in personal narratives. Thus, the aim of our research is to process and interpret recent meanings of Holocaust memory using qualitative social science methods in Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland.
2.2 What should be done to address this issue/problem? How does your project contribute to the solution?
The aim of our research is to gain an in-depth empirical understanding and interpretation of the contemporary meanings of Holocaust memory. We believe that an indispensable way of doing this is to explore transgenerational and translocal differences and contexts in Central Europe. A necessary corollary of this is meticulous, up-close and person-focused research. The intensive empirical case studies of our research can enable a detailed understanding of the personal narratives of Holocaust memory. We consider it essential to understand the narratives of the present-day bearers of Holocaust memory, in addition to the victims who lived through the horrors of the Holocaust. Only by doing so can we face up to the current state of holcaust memory in Central Europe and its challenges.
2.3. What added value does your project bring to the already existing practices? What is the innovative element in your proposal?
The novelty of the research is that it also includes the meanings of non-Jewish transgenerational memory patterns, the hitherto less explored aspect of the Central European Holocaust memory. This does not mean, of course, that Jewish memory patterns are not covered. Wherever possible, research will also examine the differences and similarities between Jewish and non-Jewish meanings of local Holocaust memory. The research will also address the local memory of non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Thus, our research examines the issues mentioned above in three locations per country. At each site, through focus group interviews, we examine the local aspects of Holocaust-memory across three generations:(1) 70+ years; (2) 40-70 years; (3) 18-30 years generation. The interview questions comprehensively examine the historical and current processes, changes, and socio-cultural contexts of memory. The focus group interviews are also recorded visually and filmed. The recorded interviews can thus be used as sources of further analysis as well as exhibition products. The interviews will be preceded by one week of fieldwork in each locality. The fieldwork will include the examination of local history and socioeconomics, analysis of local memory spaces, possible commemorative symbols, and visits to the focus group interview partners. Our research therefore specifies the localities of the fieldworks and interviews: - Budapest, Miskolc, Körösladány (Hungary) - Bratislava, Krupina, Čaňa (Slovakia) - Prague, Kolín, Kosova Hora (Czech Republic) - Warsaw, Tarnów, Wąsosz (Poland)
2.4 What is the regional relevance of your proposal?
Our research plan and further plans can be used in museum exhibitions related to the Holocaust memory (film recordings, interviews) or in the repertoire of programs planned in addition to the exhibitions (organization of socio-drama events using research results and experiences, discussions related to the visual documentation of the research and other sensitizing films, organization of clubs). In addition to the above, the research results could contribute to the studies of social memory in the social science courses and research programs of Central European universities. Our research plan’s long-term goal is to compare, through as many examples as possible, the recurring features, transgenerational and translocal meanings of Holocaust memory in Central Europe. Our present application is the first, introductory phase of this project. If our application is successful, we will reapply for researching in three additional localities per country after the completion of the research undertaken in the application.
3. TARGET GROUPS
Target group |
Method of selection |
No. of people |
Academics |
We invite two prominent social scientists from each country who are experts in our field of research to discuss our findings in an online workshop. |
8 |
Film, museum, and education experts |
Four more online workshops will be organised to prepare the applicability of our research results to museum exhibitions and education. |
24 |
Students |
We plan to present an edited version of the visual documentation to students. After showing the film, we will discuss with the students the further use of the research findings in the field of education, socio-drama, and exhibitions on Holocaust remembrance. Students will be selected and invited from the universities of the research partners. This event will be organised at all four universities. |
60 |
General public |
The project's results will eventually reach the region's museums and exhibits and organizations (educational or other) dealing with the memory of the Holocaust. |
500 |
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Specific result |
Contribution to the project's overall goal |
Publication of research results in a Special Journal Issue |
As mentioned in section 2.2 and in the brief introduction to the research, our research adopts a novel approach to the study of Holocaust memory. This, together with the methodology and results of our research, can contribute to the discussion and rethinking of the Holocaust memory's recent significances in Central Europe. |
Visual documentation and a shortened, edited version |
As mentioned in section 2.2 and in the brief introduction to the research, our research adopts a novel approach to the study of Holocaust memory. This, together with the methodology and results of our research, can contribute to the discussion and rethinking of the Holocaust memory's recent significances in Central Europe. |
Making research results applicable to the transmission of Holocaust memory |
We hope that our research results can contribute to the active transmission of Holocaust remembrance. We would therefore like to make our research results available and discuss them with experts who, as museologists, educators, and drama teachers, contribute to the living transmission of Holocaust memory. |
5. DISSEMINATION AND FOLLOW-UP
5.1 What activities will you carry out to share the results of the project outside your organization and partners?
Then our research is complete, we plan to conduct more on-line workshops: 1. an on-line workshop with additional colleagues to discuss the research results from a scientific perspective 2. we will organise three workshops with museologists, educational and film professionals to screen the film, discuss its editing possibilities and its further educational and museum use 3. to discuss the further applicability of the research results from a theatrical and drama pedagogical point of view with theatre directors and drama teachers. We also plan to publish the research results in a journal special issue.
5.2 Do you plan any activities in the future which will build on the results of this project?
The planned results of our research contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the Central European issues of transgenerational Holocaust memory.In terms of research results, we will also preparing to develop a socio-drama. The planned socio-drama would take place with the joint participation of perpetrators, victims, heroes, silent accomplices, and sympathizers. This approach and methodological practice, already implemented in international practice (Theatre of Witness, Northern Ireland), also provides additional opportunities for an in-depth, holistic interpretation of the meanings of Holocaust memory. As mentioned above, we also plan to make the visual documentation of our research available for use in museums and education in Central Europe.