The Black Hole of Memory: French Mnemotechniques in the Erasure of the Holocaust

“Never forget” is one of the key injunctions uttered by which to remember the Holocaust. But the call to memory ran afoul of various debates among French philosophers and historians in the context of the post-World War II “memory wars.” France is a particularly problematic site for the urgency of re...

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Main Author: Michael Dorland
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Toronto Libraries 2017-02-01
Series:MediaTropes
Online Access:http://www.mediatropes.com/index.php/Mediatropes/article/view/26977
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author Michael Dorland
author_facet Michael Dorland
author_sort Michael Dorland
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description “Never forget” is one of the key injunctions uttered by which to remember the Holocaust. But the call to memory ran afoul of various debates among French philosophers and historians in the context of the post-World War II “memory wars.” France is a particularly problematic site for the urgency of remembering as French postwar memory was triply traumatized by its own status as a defeated power, its Vichyite collaboration with the Nazis, and the erasure of its role in the extermination of French and mostly of foreign refugee Jews. This essay examines the tactics of memory-struggle up to the summer of 2012, the 70th anniversary of the 1942 Vel d’Hiv roundup.
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spelling doaj.art-a43bf61f2c23471d9cbfc2a9b67086b92022-12-22T02:43:15ZengUniversity of Toronto LibrariesMediaTropes1913-60052017-02-016211923865The Black Hole of Memory: French Mnemotechniques in the Erasure of the HolocaustMichael Dorland0Carleton University“Never forget” is one of the key injunctions uttered by which to remember the Holocaust. But the call to memory ran afoul of various debates among French philosophers and historians in the context of the post-World War II “memory wars.” France is a particularly problematic site for the urgency of remembering as French postwar memory was triply traumatized by its own status as a defeated power, its Vichyite collaboration with the Nazis, and the erasure of its role in the extermination of French and mostly of foreign refugee Jews. This essay examines the tactics of memory-struggle up to the summer of 2012, the 70th anniversary of the 1942 Vel d’Hiv roundup.http://www.mediatropes.com/index.php/Mediatropes/article/view/26977
spellingShingle Michael Dorland
The Black Hole of Memory: French Mnemotechniques in the Erasure of the Holocaust
MediaTropes
title The Black Hole of Memory: French Mnemotechniques in the Erasure of the Holocaust
title_full The Black Hole of Memory: French Mnemotechniques in the Erasure of the Holocaust
title_fullStr The Black Hole of Memory: French Mnemotechniques in the Erasure of the Holocaust
title_full_unstemmed The Black Hole of Memory: French Mnemotechniques in the Erasure of the Holocaust
title_short The Black Hole of Memory: French Mnemotechniques in the Erasure of the Holocaust
title_sort black hole of memory french mnemotechniques in the erasure of the holocaust
url http://www.mediatropes.com/index.php/Mediatropes/article/view/26977
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