Holocaust Testimony

Abstract

This chapter offers an exploration of how Holocaust testimony is used within the Imperial War Museum Holocaust exhibition. It considers the role of the survivor within the context of a national museum, how personal testimony is used within a public exhibition space, and how testimony contributes towards the construction of memory in a British context. Exploring the translation of personal recollections of Holocaust survivors into a national museum in Britain, this study is situated at the juncture between history, lived memory, and active cultural memory. The historical narrative of the IWMHE shapes the story presented through the survivors’ memories, and this study aims to illuminate the process by which memories of another time and place become meaningful for the present, and in an entirely new (distant) place. Addressing the construction of Holocaust memory through survivor testimony within the IWMHE, this chapter explores the shaping of survivors’ words within the context of the museum and how survivor voices are used to support a specific version of the Holocaust story.