At the crossroads with public history: mediating the Holocaust on the Internet

Abstract

For memorials, museums, and research institutions as well as for scholars and historians, the Internet has become an indispensable tool for the dissemination of knowledge about the Holocaust. These representatives of a transnational and transcultural memorialization, however, are usually not at the forefront of an innovative, sometimes provocative usage of new information and communication technologies. They do, on the other hand, respond proactively to incentives from public historians with massive online activities and significant reinterpretations. Using examples from Wikipedia and Facebook, these issues are discussed, while showing the fluid relationship between evolving social media technologies, our cultural memory, and the representations as well as at times controversial forms of commemoration of the Holocaust on the Internet.