Australian Representations of the Holocaust: Jewish Holocaust Museums in Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney, 1984–1996

Abstract

Abstract Museums in Europe and elsewhere have depicted the events of the Holocaust in different representational and narrative forms. This article observes that Holocaust museums in Australia present neither a humanist narrative, as in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, nor a Zionist narrative, as at Yad Vashem. Nor do the museums connect the Holocaust to Australian history or relate it to Australian Cultural or political contents. Museums in Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney were established primarily to educate the broader Australian public In response to the Phenomenon of Holocaust denial. Their founders were motivated more by this task than by any political ends: the issue of addressing rival claims to victimhood was not at the fore.