Memory Space: A Case Study of a Holocaust Digital Mapping Project of Łomża, Poland

Abstract

In his book Multidirectional Memory, Michael Rothberg argues that collective memory, specifically as it manifests itself in public urban spaces, is not a “zero sum struggle over scarce resources” but rather “multidirectional: as subject to ongoing negotiation, cross-referencing, and borrowing; as productive and not private.” Rothberg responds to what he terms a “competitive memory” model whereby space and the memories imbued in it are inherently limited. Rothberg disagrees, arguing that physical spaces and material objects can embody multiple memories and reference multiple temporalities. But what happens when we leave the physical world and move to the digital? Do ideas of space and ownership remain the same? Does a place still have a memory on a virtual topography? Can digital space provide a new frontier for more democratic memorialization efforts? This article attempts to answer these questions by reconsidering the nature of urban memory on virtual streets using a case study of a digital Holocaust memorial map I created of Łomża, a city in Eastern Poland. By studying the points of contention that arose when I began collaborating with Łomża public historians and an American Jewish family of a Łomża Holocaust survivor, this article interrogates the limits of digital versus material memory, the effects of temporal versus spatial detachment from historical events and how digital memorials can both relieve and exacerbate tensions in the twenty-first century.