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A useful way to situate memory within the context of modern genocide is to consider the Holocaust of the Jews by Nazi Germany. First, the Holocaust represents what may be called open memory that has become part of popular culture in Western societies. The relatively high level of literacy among the victims plus the traditions within the Jewish religion about memory gave birth very quickly to survivors' written accounts called Memorial Books, composed from memory and testimonies, makeshift memorials in places of destruction, and ultimately, published memoirs, films, and art. Second, and in contrast, the Romani and Sinti (gypsies), also victims of genocide by the Nazis, did not tell their story because of reverse literacy issues and traditions within the culture that prohibited talking about the dead. The creation of the State of Israel in 1948 became a repository for the memory of the Holocaust as well as the counterimage of the new Israeli Jew in his or her own nation-state.

With other genocides issues regarding memory are more complex and often politicized because of denial by the perpetrators, or descendants of the perpetrators. Thus, the main issue of the Armenian genocide is the search by Armenians around the world for confirmation of the event as "genocide" by the Turkish Republic. The Armenian diaspora population, although it has constructed memorials, overseen the writing of memoirs, and directed video and oral history projects among survivors, still views the need for Turkish official recognition of the events of 1915 through 1922 as genocide as critical to the well-being of the community. Turkish denial of the genocide, and even the creation of reverse history whereby accusations of Armenian genocide against the Turks have been made, has created a counterproblem in Turkey, where Turks are uncertain about their own modern history. Therefore, the Armenian case might be characterized by deliberately suppressed memory.

In sites of genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1990s, conflicting stories have emerged about those responsible for atrocities and as a result of the intersection of age-old antagonisms in recent political, economic, and national issues that the victims as well as the perpetrators may not have been cognizant about. Thus, the Yugoslavian War of 1992 and beyond produced contradictory memory about oppressor and victim among Croats, Bosnians, and Serbs. In the Kosovo War of 1998 mutual recriminations existed between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians. Even if the war crimes tribunals addressing these conflicts convict leaders of crimes against humanity or genocide, it is doubtful that a standard narrative explaining clearly who is the victim and who is the perpetrator will emerge. Oral histories, however, in addition to art forms, poetry, and folk idioms, will undoubtedly be significant in creating and maintaining memory.

Memories of the Rwandan genocide are wrapped up in the completion of trials for those accused of genocide, as well as the difficult issue of creating a common memory that allows both perpetrators and victims to live together in the same society in the aftermath of genocide.

As time passes, memory fades. Influenced by contemporary events, films, and historical writing, survivors of genocide who write their memoirs a long time after liberation or rescue may have flawed memories that would be deemed inadmissible in court proceedings. Children of survivors often receive the memory of their parents' tragedies in fragmented ways; this produces trauma in what is called the "second generation." Actual memories of events, however, are reserved for those who unfortunately experienced them, whereas the second generation receives the story as a kind of fable.

The collective memory of genocide has been formed in many different ways. For Jewish memory there remains the traditional Yizkor service of remembrance of the dead on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement in the Jewish calendar. Yom HaShoah (Day of Holocaust Remembrance) has been added to this same calendar; it is commemorated in both Israel and the Jewish diaspora on the 27th of the Hebrew month of Nissan, usually late April on the Gregorian calendar. Because it appears only in the Hebrew calendar, Yom HaShoah is reserved for Jewish memory, not that of other victims. European secular memory of the Holocaust, however, suggests some contradictions, as its commemoration annually occurs on January 27th, the day the Soviet army liberated Auschwitz. For a survivor who was in another concentration camp until the end of World War II on May 8, 1945, the European commemorative date may be meaningless. For other genocides often the date of their onset has become the date of commemoration. Thus, April 7 is usually the date the Rwandan genocide is commemorated, and April 15 marks the commemoration of the Armenian genocide.

Art and monuments can play an important role in creating memory, especially if such manifestations of culture evoke memories at unexpected moments. Various generations of artistic memory may be found in every genocide. The most visceral images are generally uncovered in children's art. Survivors often create works of art as a form of witnessing or grieving. The second generation and those not touched by the event itself nevertheless often attempt to deal with the subject as part of an informal discourse about collective memory. The result may be representations in the plastic arts, memorials, film, and plays that may create problems over issues such as historical accuracy and the ability to represent what many describe as "unrepresentable." The only case of a perpetrator nation creating significant memorials to its victims is Germany. In most other cases it is the nation of the victims that has developed memorials to genocide, in its own country, such as Armenia, or among diasporas. The unwillingness to address genocide through historical writing, official apologies, commemorative dates, compensation, or memorialization is perhaps an indication that genocide, for some regimes, remains an unfinished project.

SEE ALSO Art as Representation; Diaries; Historiography as a Written Form; Memoirs of Perpetrators; Memoirs of Survivors; Memorials and Monuments

Stephen C. Feinstein