Memory Studies Association

The Inaugural Connective Holocaust Commemoration Expo 2025

By Mel Poluck We built a games arcade, an exhibitor hall, set up various exhibitions and VR suites, ran a mini project hack, showcased work-in-progress, learnt new skills through workshops, engaged in debates and discussions, networked, hosted ‘let's play’ sessions and went to the beach together. This was the inaugural Connective Holocaust Commemoration Expo 2025. Why did we do it? One of the overarching aims of the Landecker Digital memory Lab is to create a community of individuals and organisations working in the field of digital memory that cuts across traditional silos, nationalities and disciplines. To this end, we are convening a series of three international events, starting with the Connective Holocaust Commemoration Expo 2025, held at University of Sussex last month. After months of intense planning and preparing, on Tuesday 24 June, as delegates began streaming through the doors of the Jubilee building to the registration desk, it was heartening to see attendees arrive from so many affiliations and countries. There were representatives from more than 30 countries among Expo participants, including student ambassadors, from across the Middle East, from Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia. https://youtube.com/shorts/v4dRS_Jc5Zo Setting the tone We wanted to create an event that [...]

Listening in Latin America: Digital Holocaust Memory and Education in Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador

by Dr Kate Marrison Research fellow Dr Kate Marrison recently returned from Lima where she held a roundtable discussion with professionals working in the field of Holocaust education from Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador. This is what she found out. While there is a proliferation of scholarly interest in the digital development of Holocaust commemoration and education across Europe and the US, little attention has been paid to this work in Latin America. Last month the Memory Studies Association annual conference took place in Lima, so we took the opportunity to bring together colleagues to discuss their work within Holocaust organisations in Argentina, Brazil, and Ecuador. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Perú. To kick off, I asked contributors what digital interventions they had brought to their organisations and what are the challenges and opportunities they bring. Participants discussed some fascinating examples of their practice. They included a virtual tour of Museo del Holocausto de Buenos Aires and the first survivor interactive biography to be recorded in Spanish as part of the Dimensions in Testimony (DiT) project in collaboration with The Latin American Network for Education on the Shoah. Examples from Brazil included open-access online educational materials created by Museu [...]