Institutions that have collected video testimonies from the few remaining Holocaust survivors are grappling with how to continue their mission to educate and commemorate. Noah Shenker calls attention to the ways that audiovisual testimonies of the Holocaust have been mediated by the institutional histories and practices of their respective archives. Shenker argues that testimonies are shaped not only by the encounter between interviewer and interviewee, but also by technical practices and the testimony process. He analyzes the ways in which interview questions, the framing of the camera, and curatorial and programming preferences impact how Holocaust testimony is molded, distributed, and received.

About the Author

Noah Shenker is 6a Foundation Lecturer in Holocaust and Genocide Studies in the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation at Monash University.

Reviews

Shenker's book is a major addition to the scholarly literature on video testimony. His in-depth knowledge of the archival collections he examines enables him to provide a nuanced demonstration of the ways in which institutional imperatives regarding testimony act to shape the kinds of testimonies that are produced.

* American Historical Review *

[Shenker's] work contributes substantially to testimony studies, and, one hopes, will spark new debates.

* Holocaust and Genocide Studies *

Shenker's book is an invaluable resource for anyone working with the vast institutional repositories that will assume even greater importance as we shift to the post-survivor era. . . . Archivists and scholars alike would do well to read his careful analysis of the framing of testimony.

* Journal of Jewish Identities *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253017130
Author Noah Shenker
Format Paperback
Page Count 262
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press
Weight(grams) 345g