Visiting Holocaust Exhibitions

[annwfyn]

As most of you know, I'm currently writing my MA thesis on the ethics of displaying the photography of the Holocaust. I've got a billion quotes/opinions from assorted art historians/historians/sociologists/curators etc, but I really don't have anything from The Person Visiting The Museum (tm).

I was therefore wondering if there was anyone on here who would be OK with talking to me a bit, either via comments, or via e mail. Basically, if you've been to an exhibition of the Holocaust, in a museum context (Imperial War Museum, Holocaust Memorial Centre in the US or Israel, a local museum, a gallery - anything really), I'd really really appreciate hearing from you.

What I'd like to know, if possible, is

a) which photographs had the strongest impact on you/stuck in your memory the most.

b) what that emotional impact was - how did they make you feel?

c) what do you think about displaying holocaust photography? Do you ever feel uncomfortable or feel that it is inappropriate to display certain photographs? If so which ones, and why?

My e mail address is sally.brewer@wolfson.oxon.org.

I've got a whole load of rambling thoughts myself that I'll happily share with anyone who asks, but I'll try and avoid doing that on this post.

I'd really really appreciate anyone who can offer some opinions. I don't need to use anyone's name in my thesis, and I can avoid quoting anyone directly if they don't want to be quoted.

Comments

[pmp.livejournal.com]

How recent do the experiences have to be?

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Not recent at all - any time in the past is fine.

[commlal.livejournal.com]

I havent been to a war museum since I was quite young, so I don't know if thats any help.

[purpleheather.livejournal.com]

I once saw an exhibition of photographs of Anne Frank's annexe, about 13 years ago, and while I remeber it to be very moving, I don't remember specific instances.

I could link to this from my LJ if you like to see if any of my friends want to comment.

Must get over my fear of gas masks so I can go back to the Imperial War Museum.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

That would be fab, if you could.

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

Dad took me to Dachau when I was 15 (we were staying with his sister & her family in Munich). He didn' really want me to go, but I convinced him that it would be "good for my history GCSE".

I don't remember much about it. None of the displays were translated into English, and amny of the photos were blown up so large that you'd need to stand well back to see them properly - but you couldn't, because of the layout.

The huts (as pictured on the wikipedia page) had been cleaned & polished and tidied up so far that I remember saying to Dad "They don't look so bad". I *knew* they'd have been much worse at the time, but it really didn't come across well.

In contrast, the episode of "Band of Brothers" where Easy Company came across the abandoned concentration camp hit me like a punch to the stomach.

I seem to have a line in my head between "icky things", where my imagination extrapolates from the facts and comes up with stuff far worse than the reality, and "true horror", where the facts on their own don't convey the magnitude; I need visuals before it sinks in.

[madwitch.livejournal.com]

I will do also, as I think some of the sf_d types on my flist have been to the one in Washington.

[medusa-nw.livejournal.com]

I'm Dutch, so grew up with that pretty much. Have been to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam and the Jewish Museum in Berlin among others, both of which had photographs.
(came here via madwitch's LJ)
Can answer here if you want?

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

That would be lovely - here or via e mail - whichever is easier for you. :)

[madwitch.livejournal.com]

Sal, go here. http://kibbles.livejournal.com/134336.html

LJ post by a friend of mine, who has opened it up so that you can read it. Won't be open for ever, though.

[sovegna-vos.livejournal.com]

Hi, madwitch linked me here. I've been to the memorial museum in Washington and like most Eastern European Jews I've had family that died in the Holocaust, however

a. the photographs that had the strongest impact on me are ones I saw just this year, online -
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/ssalbum/auschwitz_album/

Especially the ones where they're on the porch, or the bridge.

b. I felt so uneasy looking at them the first time that I had to get up and walk around for a bit. It's really hard to describe in words the reason that these bother me so much (I mean, it's pretty obvious but I'm finding it hard to explain). The complete oblivion of people to the suffering of others? The fact that they look like they're at summer camp, having the time of their lives? I don't know.

c. I always feel uncomfortable when I see Holocaust photography, which is why I believe it's always appropriate to display. If I ever felt anything other than discomfort or disgust, I'd have to seriously question my humanity.

[medusa-nw.livejournal.com]

Allrighty then, here you have it:

Obviously growing up in The Netherlands, a country that was occupied during WW2, it is something we talked about constantly at school and at home (my grandfather, though not Jewish, spent some time being forced to work in a munitions factory in Germany), and on top of that it is still a hugely important part of our post-war literature and film industry. The recent movie ‘Black Book’ by Paul Verhoeven is just one example.
All our history textbooks had photos, some of them very graphic, but after a while the impact of those did lessen somewhat. Although I don’t think I’ll ever not shudder when I see pictures of the mass graves, or the skin-over-bone appearance of the people they rescued from the concentration camps…

Going to the Anne Frank Huis with our entire year from school when we were 13/14 had a huge impact. I don't know if you are aware that the exhibition is in the actual, tiny, building where the Frank and van Pels families hid, so we could only enter in small groups at a time. There were many photographs and diary extracts, and there were a fair few of us that came out of there in tears (myself included). It's one thing reading about it, it's an entirely different thing seeing it in context.

The same thing happened when my family and I visited Berlin on a Christmas break a few years ago, and went to the Jüdisches Museum on Boxing Day because (I am ashamed to say) it was one of the very few things to do that day, everything was closed. I’m very glad we went however, it’s a very impressive building, designed by Daniel Libeskind.
This museum doesn’t just focus on WW2, but that part of the exhibition did have the most impact, mainly I think because of the use of photographs with the many letters and testimonies they have there of Holocaust victims. I found that what moved me most were the photographs of very ordinary people who looked just like you and me, together with their testimonies of the almost indescribable horrors they experienced.

So in a nutshell: yes, photography at Holocaust exhibitions is very important, even more so now that so many Holocaust deniers are out there trying to say it never happened. They need to see the evidence with their own eyes. As much as possible needs to be done to show what people went through, in the hope that something like it won’t ever happen again…

As for making me feel uncomfortable: yes, it absolutely does. And it should. How else is it going to make people think?

I don’t know if you have heard of Magnum Photos? They are a photographers’ collective, and have an enormous library of images. They are currently focusing on 1968, and the various mini-revolutions going on across Europe and Russia at that time. Another very good example of preserving history through photography. You can find their website here: http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.AgencyHome_VPage&pid=2K7O3R1VX08V
The collective was founded in 1947, largely because of a need they felt to preserve and document the world around them after the horrors of WW2. There are some photographs in their archives of the Holocaust Memorial at the Jüdisches Museum.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I've been to an actual concentration camp (Bergen-Belsen) but I don't remember if there were photographs (this was at least 20 years ago).

a/b) I've obviously seen photos in other media and the most striking ones were certainly those of survivors after liberation, much more so than those of mass graves, for example. The feeling was mostly one of "how are they still alive?".

c) It is very important that atrocities are documented, both in writing and visually. However, there is a certain line (human dignity, piety) that shouldn't be crossed, especially not if it's just for shock value. A photo of a mass grave in which you can clearly see the outline of bodies (and the fact that they are human bodies) is fine, closeups of features aren't.
It is possible to show what was going on without being too graphic.

[cristobel.livejournal.com]

I've been to Dachau. I'll gather my thoughts together, find a child free moment, and email you.

[eladriell.livejournal.com]

Interesting topic, I wonder why you chose it?

Perhaps you should contrast the stories/opinions your getting with those of people who refuse to go and see such "exhibitions" or visit the alleged sites.

Anyway, its certainly a topic that needs more debate and scholarly coverage in todays society. So good luck!

[jholloway.livejournal.com]

Not so much photographs, more artefacts -- at Kulturen in Lund, for instance.

But seriously, where were you when I was editing this? (http://www.societies.cam.ac.uk/arc/issues/nov07-1.html)

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

*gazes at link*

You didn't hunt me down to show that to me, even though we hadn't met yet?

That is really interesting. All my postgrad work, pretty much, has been on the relationship between the living and the dead, and how we explore our past through them. My next bit of research will be on a similar subject, and it's something that I do spend too much time thinking about, but am fascinated by,

I now need to hunt that down and read it.

[cartoon-red.livejournal.com]

I was directed over here by kibbles' post. I've only been to Anne Frank's house, and it was a while ago, so I'm not sure how helpful this will be.

As mentioned above, the exhibit is in the actual house, and it's tiny. I'd read her diary, obviously, and it mentions that, but it didn't really hit me how cramped it must have been until being there, and seeing it. I remember coming out in tears and being more or less unable to function over the next few hours. The atmosphere, and the story, pictures, and diary extracts...it was very intense. And it felt very overwhelming. There was so much horror there, it was almost too big to take in.

I often feel uncomfortable about seeing Holocaust pictures. In high school we were made to watch video footage from the liberation of Auschwitz, and I couldn't sit through it - I left the room in tears (although I was the only one). What I felt (and feel) most, was not feeling sad, although there was that. But I mostly felt a tremendous sense of guilt that my country (I'm British) and all countries didn't do anything to stop the atrocity. It made me ashamed to be alive, almost, knowing that people could just ignore something like that. And worse, we're still doing it - think of all the human rights violations on massive scale today that we still ignore.

So yes, it makes me violently uncomfortable to see Holocaust photography. But I don't think it's inappropriate at all. Quite the opposite - it would be hugely inappropriate to hide what happened. Those people...it can't have been in vain, y'know? We owe it to them to try and stop it from happening, and I think the worst part in many ways is that we're not being terribly successful at that.

My younger sister visited the Holocaust Museum, incidentally, during her 8th grade Washington trip. She refused to talk about it because it hurt too much, so I have no idea what her views on specific photos are, but I thought that might be relevant. I dunno.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for this!

My ethical worry is whether we are really doing it for them. They didn't get a chance to consent, and I wonder whether all the photographs we show really would have been welcomed by the subjects of them.

And sometimes I wonder whether we ever cross the line from respectful to voyeuristic - looking at suffering which isn't our own, from the safety of our own lives. I don't know....

Just me rambling right now, and trying to provoke a bit of debate. Your input is hugely appreicated btw.

[jholloway.livejournal.com]

For you, let me see if I can find a PDF!

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I love you more than words can say.

[jholloway.livejournal.com]

I get that.

Anyway, PDF-hunting now. Failing that, next time you're down here I can lend you a copy. Not like I haven't read every paper in it a hundred million times until I wanted to die, after all.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Cool. Would be appreciated. It looks really interesting. Sadly this damn thesis is currently killing my role playing time, so I may not make it to Cambridge til July, when I intend to try and make a full weekend of your games, if I can.

[cartoon-red.livejournal.com]

That is something that honestly never occurred to me - the lack of consent, almost voyeuristic intent. And I don't think there's any one answer to that, but...there is, I think, a difference from a photograph/film of a huge crowd of emaciated bodies or what have you and, say, a close up of a single person, clearly showing all identifying features.

The only analogy I can draw (and this is very crude) is the difference between a photo of a naked toddler taken to document its life, or for art, or an advert, and child pornography. They're both photos of essentially the same thing, but the impact and intent is vastly different.

Clearly we bear the responsibility to ensure that these photos are viewed in a sensitive, appropriate manner. I would never advocate plastering them all over billboards or anything like that, for instance, but I'd be really not happy with the idea of shutting down/restricting the Holocaust Museums, or Anne Frank's house, or whatever.

We have to be aware of ourselves, I think, and examine our motivations for display and viewing of photos like this. And yes, there probably will be people whose only response will be "thank goodness I'm not them!", but I'd like to think (and here is some faith in humanity for you) that the majority would me moved in an entirely different fashion.

[nickys.livejournal.com]

I visited an exhibition of children's drawings from a concentration camp once. It was at the Jewish Cemetary in Prague.

There were photos there, although the main focus was the drawings.


b) what that emotional impact was - how did they make you feel?

Err... ripped my heart out and tore it into tiny pieces is probably the best description.

[tooth-fairy.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it would be of any use but a Michael Palin programme last night was at Auschwitz and he was talking about his feeling on it. It was on BBC2 so I imagine could be found on iplayer.

[mamapduck.livejournal.com]

The photos which gave me nightmares actually didn't have people in them. For reasons I've never quite figured out (largely because it is so distressing) pictures of the damage after Cristalnacht hit me really hard. There was one of a street coverd in shattered glass from shop windows and it was just the idea that such rampant damage was all that was left of a neighborhood and all the people in it. It was like those people's worlds were not just erased but scribbled over with a marker, if that makes sense. Not just a loss but a replacement of good with mayhem.

I feel that the display of holocaust photos is necessary but I sometimes worry about where the line is between "need to know" and a violation of privacy. We need people to see those images so they understand what happened (words aren't always enough) but when we come across photos of emaciated, naked prisoners I regret the loss of their dignity. I think I come down on the side of display because ultimately it is the lesser of evils. While it is invasive to show the pictures, if it prevents there ever being a repeat then it is worth it.

[evilshell.livejournal.com]

I came here via kibbles

I've been to Dachau and the Anne Frank house.

Dachau...I went on a tour to the camp. We took public transport to Dachau from Munich, and the mood was quite light on the way over, people laughing and joking. Getting out into the town and seeing the Dachau town map sign (very common in Germany, to have signs with maps outside train stations and all to show where everything is). We got to the camp, and the mood slowly changed from the moment we walked to the gate until we got into the camp proper. At the end, on the way back, it was a very different group...somber, sad, hard to explain.

a) which photographs had the strongest impact on you/stuck in your memory the most.

None in particular. They all blend together in a single one to me...

b) what that emotional impact was - how did they make you feel?

Horrified that human beings can do that to each other. Unbearably sad.

After a while, we do get inured to them in the media, books....but ones in places such as Dachau or the Anne Frank house have a far higher impact, because you realize you're standing on the ground where it happened.

c) what do you think about displaying holocaust photography? Do you ever feel uncomfortable or feel that it is inappropriate to display certain photographs? If so which ones, and why?

It is absolutely appropriate to display them. To not do so would be a grave disservice to those whose lives were lost. If we hide the photos, pretend they didn't exist, then their memory is diminished, the impact of what happened to them is reduced. We can never forget what happened, we can't be *allowed* to forget. To not display the photos is to allow people to forget.

I couldn't talk about Dachau very much for years after I was there. It haunts me still, you could feel the death there. Seeing the photos there made that impact even stronger.

[redlemon.livejournal.com]

Here via Kibbles.

I sent you an email. I rambled much more then could probably fit into an LJ comment.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[bringeroflight.livejournal.com]

The one that really got me was the picture of the King of the Gypsies at the museum we went to - because while they exhibited it, they didn't tell you what happened.

At least with the black child photo, it noted that they'd disappeared and no-one knew what happened to them.