Memorijali ili muzeji Holokausta? Memorijal Šoe u Parizu

Abstract

Šta je Memorijal Šoe? Na mnogo načina reč je o jedinstvenoj instituciji. U pitanju je prostor (namerno koristimo termin "prostor" umesto "mesto" ili slične izraze) koji se u Parizu nalazi nedaleko od Muzeja judaizma (Musee d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaisme). Postoji, dakle, potreba za muzejom jevrejske istorije jednako kao i za memorijalom Holokausta. Sa pravom se možemo zapitati zašto je to tako, naročito uzevši u obzir da nedaleko od ova dva, postoji i treći prostor, Memorijal deportacije (Memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation), koji se ne odnosi samo na Šou kao specifično jevrejsko iskustvo, već jednako na sve žrtve deportacije. Nameće se pitanje zašto su ove dve institucije razdvojene, kao i šta razlikuje memorijal od muzeja.

The article is an inquiry into the history and purpose of the Shoah Memorial in Paris. It analyzes the very function of a memorial versus the function of a museum - and by doing so juxtaposes these two institutions as diametrically opposite endeavors. The main hypothesis is that the museum, much like the university, or the institute, deals with history, whereas the memorial deals with memory. One is organized and conceptualized, "filtered" and "purified", the other is spontaneous, organic and intentionally in a state of disarray. One stands for the community, the other for a crystallized, refined and elaborated image of the community. The perfect case study for the examination of the given hypothesis is the Shoah Memorial in Paris, as it is constituted out of both (as we have speculated, opposed) aspects that merge into the singular whole.