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book: The Second World War in the Twenty-First-Century Museum
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The Second World War in the Twenty-First-Century Museum

From Narrative, Memory, and Experience to Experientiality
  • Stephan Jaeger
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2020
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Media and Cultural Memory
This book is in the series
Volume 26 | Media and Cultural Memory

About this book

The Second World War is omnipresent in contemporary memory debates. As the war fades from living memory, this study is the first to systematically analyze how Second World War museums allow prototypical visitors to comprehend and experience the past. It analyzes twelve permanent exhibitions in Europe and North America – including the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden, the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, the House of European History in Brussels, the Imperial War Museums in London and Manchester, and the National WWII Museum in New Orleans – in order to show how museums reflect and shape cultural memory, as well as their cognitive, ethical, emotional, and aesthetic potential and effects. This includes a discussion of representations of events such as the Holocaust and air warfare. In relation to narrative, memory, and experience, the study develops the concept of experientiality (on a sliding scale between mimetic and structural forms), which provides a new textual-spatial method for reading exhibitions and understanding the experiences of historical individuals and collectives. It is supplemented by concepts like transnational memory, empathy, and encouraging critical thinking through difficult knowledge.

Author / Editor information

Stephan Jaeger, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.

Topics

Frontmatter

Open Access Download PDF 		I
Acknowledgements

Open Access Download PDF 		VII
Contents

Open Access Download PDF 		IX
Abbreviations

Open Access Download PDF 		XI
List of Illustrations

Open Access Download PDF 		XIII
Prologue

Open Access Download PDF 		1
Chapter 1: The Second World War in the Twenty-First-Century Museum

Open Access Download PDF 		8
Chapter 2: The Medium of the Museum

Open Access Download PDF 		40
Chapter 3: Restricted Experientiality

Open Access Download PDF 		61
Chapter 4: Primary Experientiality

Open Access Download PDF 		94
Chapter 5: Secondary Experientiality

Open Access Download PDF 		128
Chapter 6: The Transnational

Open Access Download PDF 		172
Chapter 7: The Holocaust and Perpetration in War Museums

Open Access Download PDF 		221
Chapter 8: Total War, Air War, and Suffering

Open Access Download PDF 		265
Chapter 9: Art in Second World War Museums

Open Access Download PDF 		292
Conclusion

Open Access Download PDF 		306
Bibliography

Open Access Download PDF 		314
Index

Open Access Download PDF 		341

Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
February 24, 2020
eBook ISBN:
9783110664416
Hardcover published on:
February 24, 2020
Hardcover ISBN:
9783110661064
Paperback published on:
January 31, 2022
Paperback ISBN:
9783110777703
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
14
Main content:
354
Coloured Illustrations:
30
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110664416
eBook ISBN: 9783110664416
Hardcover ISBN: 9783110661064
Paperback ISBN: 9783110777703
Keywords for this book
Transnational Memory; Second World War Memory; Second World War Museum; Holocaust Representation
Audience(s) for this book
Museum practitioners; academics in Memory, Museum & Heritage Studies, Public History; Holocaust Studies
Creative Commons
BY-NC-ND 4.0
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