The Image of holocaust in Narratives and Sites of Memory

My thesis is devoted to various discourses regarding the Holocaust, and methods of representing events closely wedded to the Holocaust. I follow two lines of relation to the Holocaust - the main themes of my dissertation are questions regarding the function of seemingly non-living sites of memory (material participants) and questions regarding the significance of narratives (de facto nonmaterial participants), both with respect to the image of the Holocaust that these two institutions construct. I examine in detail the character of "sites of memory" and the nature of narratives, and I attempt to delve into the structure of memory that these institutions are supposed to represent, to reveal the mechanisms used by these institutions to work with memory, and what sort of image of the Holocaust they portray. In my thesis I try to clarify the issue of the mechanisms of memory, its dynamism, and dependence on context and location. Through an analysis of the narratives of Holocaust survivors, I strive to present key moments and thematic areas of narration. I touch upon the problem of limits and the crisis in representing the Holocaust. I also take an interest in the current appearance of sites of memory, the changes in materiality over time, and types of approaches to it (conservation, reconstruction). I..