Realms of Memory

How singular was the Holocaust?  Historian Juergen Zimmerer sparked a firestorm of controversy in Germany for suggesting continuity between the colonial past and the Holocaust.  Any suggestion that the Holocaust needs to be understood within a broader framework that goes beyond antisemitism and the Nazi era strikes at the heart of the German national memory culture.  Drawing from his recently published edited volume, Germany’s History Wars: Contesting Memory and Identity Today, I had the chance to talk with Juergen Zimmerer about how the singularity idea has contributed to the unlearning of the lessons of the Holocaust.  A conversation with Juergen Zimmerer, renowned scholar of the genocide in German South West Africa, next on the September 1st episode of the Realms of Memory podcast.

Jeff Olick has been one of the central figures in the making and shaping of memory studies, a burgeoning, multidisciplinary field of study drawing scholars from around the globe.  A professor of sociology and history at the University Virginia, Charlotte, I had the opportunity to engage with Jeff in a wide ranging conversation.  We talked about how memory studies and the work of Maurice Halbwachs helped him find a home in sociology for his interest in collective memory.  We discussed his work on how Germany’s political elite mastered the Nazi past, albeit with significant caveats.  He shared his thoughts on how, despite the recent backlash, American collective memory may finally be turning away from a celebratory approach to the past toward what he has labeled as the politics of regret.  A conversation with memory studies expert Jeffrey K. Olick, in this episode of the Realms of Memory podcast.

Few scholars have influenced memory studies as much as Jeff Olick.  Professor of Sociology and History at the University of Virginia, Charlotte, Jeff was co-founder and past co-president of the Memory Studies Association, the leading association for this burgeoning, interdisciplinary field of studies. His books on Germany offer pathbreaking insights into how the country’s political elites attempted to master the Nazi and Holocaust past.  The Politics of Regret, has become a reference point for explaining why countries around the globe take up the challenge of confronting shameful histories.  From the The Collective Memory Reader to the six volume, A Cultural History of Memory, Jeff has helped compile a cannon of readings and an expansive history of collective memory.  A conversation with Jeff Olick about memory studies, the politics of memory in Germany, and the prospects for the politics of regret in the United States, next on the August 4th episode of the Realms of Memory podcast.

Since the 1990s countries around the world have been building a new type of history museum.  Rather than glorifying the nation, these museums are purpose-built to spotlight the darkest and most shameful chapters in national histories.  They are inspired by a post-Holocaust, “never again,” human rights memorialization culture anchored in the belief that nations can and should learn from past wrongs.  Until recently, the United States lagged behind this trend.  Few American museums offered a critical perspective on the nation’s history of racial violence. Sociologist Amy Sodaro, an expert on museums and the politics of past violence, offers her insights on three new U.S. museums that feature the history of slavery and racial violence.  This is the subject of her recent book, Lifting the Shadow: Reshaping Memory, Race and Slavery in U.S. Museums.

Despite the frenzied debates about what history we should be teaching in the United States, until recently most African American and mainstream history museums have continued to tell an uplifting story of racial progress and achievement.  The United States has lagged behind museums in many other parts of the world which now give greater attention to recognizing past wrongs and injustices.  In the July 7th episode I’ll be talking with Sociology Professor Amy Sodaro from the Borough of Manhattan Community College in the City University of New York about three new museums that feature the history of slavery and racial injustice.  This is the subject of her latest book, Lifting the Shadow: Reshaping Memory, Race and Slavery in U.S. Museums.