The Holocaust Memorial Museum

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Avril Alba

   Pages 1-5

3. The Holocaust Memorial Museum: A Built Theodicy

   • Avril Alba

   Pages 6-39

4. Negative Epiphany: From Sinai to Washington

   • Avril Alba

   Pages 40-88

5. From Tent to Temple: Resurrection in Jerusalem

   • Avril Alba

   Pages 89-134

6. A Redeemer Cometh: The Survivor in the Space

   • Avril Alba

   Pages 135-185

7. Conclusion: The Return of Myth to History

   • Avril Alba

   Pages 186-196

8. Back Matter

   Pages 197-252

   PDF

The Holocaust Memorial Museum reveals and traces the transformation of ancient Jewish symbols, rituals, archetypes and narratives deployed in these sites. Demonstrating how cloaking the 'secular' history of the Holocaust in sacred garb, memorial museums generate redemptive yet conflicting visions of the meaning and utility of Holocaust memory.

• Holocaust
• Jewish studies
• memorial museums
• museology
• memory
• history
• Holocaust Memorial
• Judaism
• Memoria
• Museum

“Alba’s book is an outstanding contribution to the discussion of what can and ought to follow the imminent arrival of the post-participant stage in Holocaust memorialization.” (Arthur Shostak, The European Legacy, Vol. 22 (5), March, 2017) 

"Meticulous international research, thoughtfully nuanced interpretation, lucid and penetrating writing these qualities distinguish Avril Alba's groundbreaking comparative study of major Holocaust museums in Australia, Israel, and the United States. A rising star in Holocaust studies, Alba probes and tests the meanings that these 'sacred secular spaces' ascribe to the Shoah. The results are as poignant and gripping as they are significant and challenging." - John K. Roth, Edward J. Sexton Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Claremont McKenna College, USA

• University of Sydney, Australia

  Avril Alba

Avril Alba is Lecturer in Holocaust Studies and Jewish Civilisation at the University of Sydney, Australia. From 2002-2011 she was the Education Director at the Sydney Jewish Museum where she also served as the Project Director/Curator for the refurbishment of the Sydney Jewish Museum's permanent exhibition 'Culture and Continuity'. She teaches, researches and consults in the areas of Holocaust representation, Jewish and museum studies.

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