Postmemory and the Holocaust: Art of the Second and Third Generations

Postmemory, a term coined by Marianne Hirsch, describes the “memories” post-Holocaust generations inherit through stories, images, and behaviors they grew up with. These “memories”, which have been passed onto them, often unconsciously, through the generations carry on the traumas lived through by their parents and grandparents. Now more than 70 years following the Shoah, the second and third-generation continue to grapple with the profound loss of their families, the collective Jewish consciousness, and their relationship to the Holocaust. By looking at the visual art, film, and writing of the postgeneration, we will come to know more intimately both the struggle and the healing, put in motion by the postgeneration.