Holocaust Museums at a Crossroads: Ethical Debates and Moral Obligations Leah Angell Sievers Midlothian, Virginia B.A. Literature, Yale University, 1997 M.T.S. World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, 2001 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Religious Studies University of Virginia October 4, 2013 Prof. Asher Biemann ___________________________ Prof. Larry Bouchard ___________________________ Prof. Gabriel Finder ___________________________ Prof. Jennifer Geddes ___________________________ Prof. Charles Mathewes ___________________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Chapter One: Early Holocaust Memorial Practices Life in the Displaced Persons Camps Reestablishing a Sense of Jewish Life, Jewish Self, and Jewish Community Documenting Survivor Testimonies in the Displaced Persons Camps Post-War Immigration to the United States Conclusion Chapter Two: Holocaust Remembrance in Israel and Germany Memorials, Monuments, and Museums Yad Vashem The Jewish Museum Berlin Conclusion Chapter Three: Holocaust Museums in the United States Turning Points The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center Conclusion Chapter Four: Holocaust Uniqueness and Holocaust Memory The Uniqueness Debate It’s Jewish to Remember The Memory Debate Conclusion Chapter Five: Engaging the Ethical and the Aesthetic The Ethical Tasks of Holocaust Museums Creating a Moral Museum Ethical Dilemmas at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum How Museums Today Use Survivor Testimony How Museums Today Address Contemporary Anti-Semitism Conclusion Chapter Six: United States Holocaust Museums and Twentieth-Century Genocide The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: From Memory to Action The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust: Conflict Over Armenia The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center: Remaining Relevant Conclusion Conclusions and Perspectives Bibliography i ABSTRACT My dissertation, “Holocaust Museums at a Crossroads: Ethical Debates and Moral Obligations,” arises out of more than fifteen years of work experience in and study of Jewish and Holocaust museums and Jewish culture, traditions, literature, texts, philosophy, and ethics. The primary goal of my research is to argue that Holocaust museums are at a crossroads as they face the demise of the survivor population, the fact of ongoing genocide and mass atrocities, and the persistence of anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination around the world. In this interest, the dissertation is not just about empirical evidence and curatorial decisions but also about analyzing museum practices through the lens of post-Holocaust Jewish moral thought. This project is a normative one, and it articulates an ethical and philosophical framework against which museums’ curatorial and philosophical choices can be examined. It fits into an unoccupied niche in the field of literature on the Holocaust and Holocaust museums by documenting and analyzing in extensive detail the way that Holocaust museums are filtering and/or prompting the key questions being faced in Holocaust institutions and by the Jewish community today. It examines three major issues: how museums address the subject of modern genocide, how they incorporate survivor testimony, and how—or whether—they present the fact of ongoing anti-Semitism. This work adds layers of specificity and focus to the dialogue on the relation of the Holocaust to other genocides and to an ethical understanding of Holocaust representation. Methodologically, the project relies upon three specific approaches to assist me in answering questions such as the ones above. First, I employ empirical analysis as it has 1 been developed in the field of cultural anthropology and engage in close examinations of three major Holocaust museums—the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center—through on-site visits, interviews with senior staff, a study of web materials, and close analysis of museum documents such as minutes from meetings and mission statements. The museums and their relevant documents function as primary source materials in my research. The second approach is historical analysis, and the literature of the field is used as secondary source material that sheds light on the decisions made in the museums and on the history of their development. Finally, there is a philosophical analysis of the empirical and historical data and the patterns documented, employing various philosophical and ethical approaches to formulate an assessment of the future of Holocaust museums in the United States. Philosophical analysis functions here as both an interpretive tool and as a means by which to reflect on specific ethical questions and on the future direction of Holocaust museums. Through the use of these approaches, this dissertation responds to the significance of the issues raised here to the future of Holocaust museums. 2 INTRODUCTION This dissertation stems from more than fifteen years of my interest and professional involvement in museums, an interest that has grown through summer internships at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. and the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles and through my past employment at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles and the Virginia Holocaust Museum in Richmond, Virginia. The subject of this dissertation therefore arises out of my professional experiences in museums and out of my academic work at the University of Virginia. Empirically, I have observed in my professional experience and in recent research trips to museums such as the Museum of Tolerance, the Skirball Cultural Center, the Jewish Museum in New York, the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York, the Virginia Holocaust Museum, the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, the 9/11 Memorial site, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum that museums vary widely in how they represent the traumatic past. Holocaust museums are no different, and they also diverge in how and to what degree they address two particular subjects: the fact that there have been genocides other than the Holocaust during the twentieth-century and the problem of resurgent anti- Semitism. What Holocaust museums have in common is a deep concern about the future of the museums once there are no longer any living Holocaust survivors and a desire to stay relevant in an ever-changing world. 3 As I became curious about these subjects and began my research, I found that the literature in the field of Holocaust Studies, Jewish Studies, Museum Studies, and Religious Studies on subjects ranging from museum theory to Holocaust remembrance to religious ethics did not address my questions about how museums were proposing to meet the challenge of a world without Holocaust survivors and why the museums vary in their approach to the subjects of modern genocide and resurgent anti-Semitism, though some scholars do go in these directions slightly. There were no major empirical studies of Holocaust museums’ approaches to these issues to support my research. To be clear, there is an enormous amount of scholarly work in many of the subject areas on which this dissertation relies, such as Holocaust memory,1 ethics,2 representation,3 architecture,4 history,5 and museums.6 Scholars in these fields have made significant accomplishments in documenting subjects including but not limited to the development of “Jewish” and Holocaust architecture, Jewish theology after the Holocaust, post-Holocaust ethics, museums ethics, and Holocaust remembrance. There is perhaps a gap in the literature in the areas mentioned above due to several influential factors. In regard to the subject of modern genocide, it bears noting that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. had extensive debates on the subject in its planning stages, which are well-chronicled in religious studies scholar Edward T. Linenthal’s book on the museum, Preserving Memory, and in the museum’s own records from the time.7 Given that the Holocaust Memorial Museum was the first major Holocaust museum built in the United States, its decisions set a precedent for the many Holocaust museums that were to follow, and its creation was closely followed in scholarly circles and in the media. As the first of its kind in this country, the 4 museum’s planning stages involved many serious, tense discussions that brought significant attention to the notion of museological ethics. All museums are in one way or another laboratories for ethical issues, but Holocaust museums bring specific ethical concerns—such as representation, memory, and Holocaust uniqueness—to the forefront regardless of whether those debates are as pressing today as they were when the first Holocaust museums were being built. The force of these ethical debates remains powerful today, especially as the memorial and geopolitical topography of the world continues to change. The basic code of museum ethics has stayed the same, but the subjects matter to which that code applies continues to evolve. The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) asserts in its Code of Ethics that museums should consider themselves the stewards of the cultural wealth