Remembering to Forget: Holocaust Memory through the Camera's Eye
Zelizer (Covering the Body: The Kennedy Assassination, the Media, and the Shaping of the Collective Memory, LJ 11/1/92), who writes regularly for the Nation, has produced an interesting study of the relationship between photojournalism, memories, and atrocities such as the Holocaust. Zelizer argues that photographs became the major part of the journalistic record during World War II, when the reality of the camps could not be conveyed entirely in words. That advance for contemporary photojournalism has created a collective memory of the Holocaust. In addition, Zelizer questions the images' role in representing the past historically and in remembering the past collectively. She also links Holocaust photographs to how people present and perceive present-day atrocities, which are measured against the German horrors and vice versa. She traces the waves of memory about the atrocities and how photographs have been used since the 1950s. Much has been written about the press and the Holocaust, but this is unique in its focus on the collective memory. Recommended for media, communications, and Holocaust collections.AMary F. Salony, West Virginia Northern Community Coll. Lib., WheelingCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.