Holocaust Objects

Abstract

This chapter aims to illuminate the process of material selection within the Imperial War Museum Holocaust exhibition, and to explore in greater depth how this material has been interpreted within the framework of a British national museum of warfare. It considers the relationship between cultural memory and objects, exploring the construction of Holocaust memory in the national museum through surviving material remains, much of which arrived at the Imperial War Museum from other Holocaust museums and archives. This chapter explores how the Holocaust story is both shaped and legitimised through Holocaust objects and contributes towards a problematisation of the term ‘Holocaust object.’ An object’s significance is illustrated by its inclusion within a museum display; such an object must have the ability to speak of a world beyond itself. This status is reflective of a current value system, one that is explored in a British context here. We may assume only those objects considered of value are collected, preserved, and displayed. This chapter questions what is considered of value, materially, to Holocaust memory in the British national museum today, and how this material is used to tell a particular story of the Holocaust.