Lecture: Some Reflections on Transmitting the Memory of the Shoah and its Implications, particularly in Israel

ABSTRACT This lecture by Prof. Saul Friedländer and the following response by Prof. Michal Govrin were delivered at Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, on October 10, 2013. The public lecture was part of the “Transmitted Memory and Fiction’ research group. The following morning, a study session was held with Saul Friedländer, Otto Dov Kulka, the members of the research group, and other guests. In his keynotes lecture, Friedländer discussed the two modes of transmission of traumatic memory, i.e. collective and individual, and expanded on the transmission of the collective trauma of the Shoah in Israel. Friedländer argues that socially transmitted memory of traumatic events lasts as long as its function remains collectively essential, and is transformed with the change of the collective reality. He maintains that, in Israel, the continually changing memory of the Shoah is likely to remain ‘alive.’