Reasons For Memorialising

Question 1

Reasons for Memorialising the Shoah

Answer 1

Explanation
Emotional Engagement
Reflection
Statistical Demonstration

Question 2

Memorials

Answer 2

Members of community gather to commemorate their dead
Jewish community wiped out- commemoration shared by absent Jews and non Jews
Holocaust Memorials about guilt of perpetrators as much as suffering of victims
Absence of Jewish people, buildings, things, culture- need for memorials

Question 3

Educate

Answer 3

Advance and disseminate knowledge of unprecedented tragedy
Celebrate significant contribution of Jews to Germany
Educate about richness and vibrancy of Jewish cultural history
Understanding of related, contemporary issues
Continuing racial prejudice

Question 4

Emotional Engagement

Answer 4

Preserve memory of those who suffered- personal items, photographs, names
Bridge gap between ‘us’ and ‘them’
Bear witness
Unprecedented tragedy, scale of loss v individual loss

Question 5

Reflection

Answer 5

Moral/ spiritual questions raised by Holocaust
Ensure lasting social/ political relevance
Consider how easily we can become victim or perpetrator
Reflect on personal responsibilities as citizens of democracy

Question 6

Statistical Demonstration

Answer 6

Recording lives, names, details of all Jews who were sent into exile or murdered
Defence against sceptics and deniers
Way of recording scale of tragedy and preserving significance of individual loss