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Tag: Holocaust

Black Form (Dedicated to the Missing Jews): The Destruction of A Holocaust Memorial

Written by Stefan Goebel

Today it would be scandal, but back then, 35 years ago in February 1988, hardly anyone raised an eyebrow when the Black Form (Dedicated to the Missing Jews) was bulldozed to the ground. To be sure, this black cube built of blocks of aerated concrete was never meant to be a permanent memorial; it had been commissioned as a temporary work of art. The American artist Sol LeWitt (1928–2007) had created it for the second instalment of the international Skulptur Projekte exhibition in my home town Münster in 1987.

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The Palgrave Handbook of Britain and the Holocaust

Reviewed by Ellis Spicer

This new volume, edited by Tom Lawson and Andy Pearce, includes contributions from authors of a wide range of backgrounds and expertise. It does not shy away from awkward truths or confronting representations of the past that serve the interests of the present. The editors emphasise how the past is used to understand and shape the present. History is memory in action and it is fascinating that this book places the recent events of COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, legacies of slavery in statues, and Brexit as paramount to the ways in which history is consumed, reacted to and communicated in our modern society.

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Victims, Perpetrators, Bystanders and Collaborators: Conference Report

Written by Kate Docking. There has been a lack of meaningful scholarly engagement with the utility of the terms ‘victims’, ‘perpetrators’, ‘bystanders’ and ‘collaborators’ as historical concepts. Too often, the word ‘perpetrator’ is used by historians without any explanation as to its meaning. But what exactly makes a ‘perpetrator’? How do we define a victim? Have the connotations of these terms changed over time or been overly politicised? Is it the job of the historian…

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