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Familial Memory Activism and Transgenerational Experiences of Visiting Sobibór Death Camp: A Case Study

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Public Engagement with Holocaust Memory Sites in Poland

Part of the book series: The Holocaust and its Contexts ((HOLC))

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Abstract

This study examines the transgenerational experiences of visiting the former Sobibór death camp in Eastern Poland, a site which has only recently been established as a fully established “memoryscape”. Through the microhistorical case study of survivor Thomas Toivi Blatt and his descendants, this study features archival research and qualitative interviews with his daughter and grandchildren. I determine how visits to Holocaust sites can encourage or mobilise further acts of memory work and suggest that families can influence the way in which these memories are being pursued and act as a strong motivation for memory activism. It also argues that this can have a mutually beneficial outcome on both the private actors and institutional stakeholders involved in the memory of the camp and its victims, as Sobibór becomes more open to tourists and, more specifically, the ancestors of those who suffered there.

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  • Author’s own Interview with Rena Smith, 2 May 2023.

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Private Collections

  • Private collections of Thomas Toivi Blatt and Rena Smith, with thanks to the Smith-Blatt family.

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Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the financial support of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    Hannah Wilson

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  1. Hannah Wilson
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Correspondence to Hannah Wilson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK

    Diana I. Popescu

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Wilson, H. (2024). Familial Memory Activism and Transgenerational Experiences of Visiting Sobibór Death Camp: A Case Study. In: Popescu, D.I. (eds) Public Engagement with Holocaust Memory Sites in Poland. The Holocaust and its Contexts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53004-3_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53004-3_9

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-53003-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-53004-3

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

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