“Ketchup Is the Auschwitz of Tomatoes”: Humor and the Collective Memory of Traumatic Events

Abstract

This study explores the interrelations between humorous texts and the memory of traumatic events through an analysis of skits aired on Israeli television that are related to Holocaust memory. The study presents a typology of these skits indicating an evolutionary development: from the use of humor to criticize Holocaust remembrance to the use of Holocaust memory to create humorous effects. Contextualizing these findings in the fields of media memory and trauma theory, the study argues that this evolutionary development challenges the hegemonic commemorative discourse of the Holocaust: while commemorative discourse plays a distinctive role in performing cultural trauma, the media's humorous discourse conveys a sacrilegious viewpoint and thus can play a vital role in recuperating from it.