Generational translation in the Jewish Museum, Berlin

Abstract

This paper addresses the challenge museums of catastrophic history face, striving to translate between history and memory in creating a meaningful and sensitive experience for individual visitors, not only evoking the past but also impacting the present and future. This study focuses on the Jewish Museum Berlin and asks how the museum can impact individual visitor journeys and concurrently address the public demand for memory, the contradictions between museum mission and public perception, and the perceived distance of visitors from historical events. The study builds on memory and translation studies research and the concepts of history, story, and identity. An analysis of entangled memory (Feindt et al. 2014), here applied as an inspiration for generational translation, shows how the crossover between memory and translation studies provides insight into the work of memory museums. Previous research and the history, mission, identity, architecture, and conflicts of the Jewish Museum Berlin show that museums – as (unfinished) collective memories – allow the creation of space for individual reflection and the interpretation of past and present to create a narrative. The work of memory museums is complex, but the concepts of generational translation and entangled memory are valuable tools in provoking and enabling meaningful experience and reflection.