Remembering to Forget: Holocaust Memory Through the Camera's Eye - Couverture rigide

Zelizer, Barbie

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0226979725 ISBN 13 : 9780226979724

Editeur : University of Chicago Press, 1998

Synopsis

There is no more gruesome and tragic record in the history of the 20th century than the photographs taken at the liberation of the concentration camps in Germany after World War II. These images are seared into our collective memory as brutal evidence of the atrocity of war and the evil of which humanity is capable. But the horrific content of these images has somewhat obscured their status as historical documents. This text reveals the unique significance of the concentration camp photographs - how they have become the basis of our memory of the Holocaust and how they have affected our presentations and perceptions of contemporary history's subsequent atrocities. Prior to the Holocaust, news reporters primarily told their stories in words, using photographs almost as an afterthought. When the camps were liberated, however, journalists and reporters turned to photography to bear witness to the unspeakable and indescribable scenes of the dead and dying. Through this process, the text argues, photographs earned a new legitimacy as tools of reporting. The author shows how, since the end of the war, the use of "atrocity photos" has fallen into patterns - or waves of memory - determined by the different roles that the photos occupy in the public imagination. Most recently, for example, the images from Bosnia hark back to the Holocaust imagery, an echo that can actually dilute our response to what happened both then and now.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Barbie Zelizer reveals the unique significance of the photographs taken at the liberation of the concentration camps in Germany after World War II. She shows how the photographs have become the basis of our memory of the Holocaust and how they have affected our presentations and perceptions of contemporary history's subsequent atrocities. Impressive in its range and depth and illustrated with more than 60 photographs, Remembering to Forget is a history of contemporary photojournalism, a compelling chronicle of these unforgettable photographs, and a fascinating study of how collective memory is forged and changed. "[A] fascinating study. . . . Here we have a completely fresh look at the emergence of photography as a major component of journalistic reporting in the course of the liberation of the camps by the Western Allies. . . . Well written and argued, superbly produced with more photographs of atrocity than most people would want to see in a lifetime, this is clearly an important book" Omer Bartov, Times Literary Supplement

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: University of Chicago Press
• Date d'édition: 1998
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0226979725
• ISBN 13: 9780226979724
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 300
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible