A new paradigm for Holocaust studies: from the compulsion to record through the limits of representation to the possibilities of interactivity

Media about the Holocaust are often referred to in terms of Holocaust representation, as if this is the only way to explore the relationship between media and this past. As the Holocaust transitions from a living to a mediated memory, this article offers an alternative perspective. Whereas some historical critiques still focus on representational appropriateness and trivialization, current research is less concerned with who or what is made visible in media about the Holocaust and more interested in what users/visitors can do with sources and narratives about the past with and through media. Yet, conceptually, scholars continue to understand interactivity in limited ways, either in terms of user agency (in media and memory studies) or the relationship between human designers and computational systems (in digital humanities). The author argues that the dominance of representation in Holocaust studies should be understood as an interruption in the conceptualization of the relationship between media and the Holocaust rather than the norm. Taking a philosophical archaeological approach reveals that two other paradigms—the record and interactivity—are far more concerned with materiality. Moving through the three paradigms of representation, the record, and interactivity, this article foregrounds the overlooked significance of materiality in understanding the relationship between media and the Holocaust, and offers a model of seven spectra to support further practice and critique of media works that adopt interactive intentions.