Mémoriaux et mémorial

Two forms of commemoration, two « sites of memory » are devoted to the victims of the Nazi Genocide. The first one is represented by the Memorial books, collective local histories of Jewish communities written mostly in Yiddish, sometimes in Hebrew, published in various countries, mainly in the United States and in Israel, by the survivors after World War II. The second one is The Unknown Jewish Martyr Memorial, inaugurated in Paris in 1956, meant commemorate to all the victims of the Genocide. But the idea aroused opposition first among Jews in France, then in Israel who believed that Israel was the place central to such a commemoration. This debate shows that what is at stake in commemorations is very often a struggle for the control of the collective memory of a social group.Wieviorka Annette. Mémoriaux et mémorial. In: Revue Française d'Etudes Américaines, N°51, février 1992. Fêtes et célébrations des groupes ethniques. pp. 55-62