Table Of ContentStephan Jaeger
The Second World War in the Twenty-First-Century Museum
Media and Cultural Memory/
Medien und kulturelle
Erinnerung
Edited by
Astrid Erll · Ansgar Nünning
Editorial Board
Aleida Assmann · Mieke Bal · Vita Fortunati · Richard Grusin · Udo Hebel
Andrew Hoskins · Wulf Kansteiner · Alison Landsberg · Claus Leggewie
Jeffrey Olick · Susannah Radstone · Ann Rigney · Michael Rothberg
Werner Sollors · Frederik Tygstrup · Harald Welzer
Volume 26
Stephan Jaeger
The Second World War
in the Twenty-First-
Century Museum
From Narrative, Memory, and Experience
to Experientiality
An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working
with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books
Open Access. More information about the initiative and links to the Open Access version can be
found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org
Knowledge Unlatched
The Open Access book is available at www.degruyter.com
ISBN 978-3-11-066106-4
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-066441-6
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-066133-0
ISSN 1613-8961
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives
4.0 Licence. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020901137
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2020 Stephan Jaeger, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Cover Image: Installation ‘bomb hail,’ aerial bombs, missiles, and shells, permanent exhibition
Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr, © MHM/Andrea Ulke, 2019.
Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
www.degruyter.com
For Priya
Acknowledgements
Thisbookistheresultofmorethannineyearsofresearchintothenarrativesand
representations of war and history museums,which originated in the summers
of2009 and 2010.While visitingmuseumsinBerlin,London,Warsaw,and Kra-
kówandlookingforpatternsinrepresentationsoftheSecondWorldWarindif-
ferent historiographical media, I became fascinated with visitors’ ‘readings’ of
museum space in contrast to readers of text and viewers of film. I realized the
potential in using aesthetic and narratological reading techniques to analyze
thereception ofexhibitionsaswellas theconstructiveandperformativenature
ofcollectivememories.Thiseventuallyledmetoconductfieldworkin157differ-
ent museums and independent exhibitions on both of the world wars,the Hol-
ocaust and other genocides, human rights,war and military history, and some
more general history museums and exhibitions.These exhibitions were located
infifteencountries,andthefieldworkwasconductedbetweenJuly2010andAu-
gust 2019.
The research for this book was generously supported through an Insight
Grant by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and
through several internal grants facilitated by the University of Manitoba. This
book would not have been written in this form without the help of a number
of people.This includes curators and staff in the various museums in which I
conductedmyfieldresearch.IwouldlikeparticularlytothankGorchPieken,An-
drea Ulke, Monika Bednarek, Klaus Hesse, Thomas Lutz, Dean Oliver, Jeff
Noakes, Mélanie Morin-Pelletier, and Anna Muller in this regard. All twelve
core museums analyzed in this book were graciously willing to assist me with
numerous questions and allowed for the reproduction of photographs from
their exhibitions.
I presented ideas that made it into this book at around twentyconferences
andguestlectures,andindoingsoreceivedvaluablefeedbackfromdiscussants
andanonymouspeerreviewersofmymuseumresearch.Theideasreceivedover
theyearsfromtheGermanStudies Association(GSA)“War andViolence”inter-
disciplinarynetwork,whichIco-chairedbetween2013and2017,wereinvaluable.
I also cannot thank mycolleagues enough at the Universityof Wisconsin-Madi-
son and at the Universität Trier,where each I spent longspans of my year-long
researchleavein2017–2018andfoundthequietandinspirationtofinallywrite
the majorityof this manuscript. Aparticular thanksgoes toSabine Gross, Marc
Silberman,Wolfgang Klooß, Ralf Hertel, and Herbert Uerlings.
It would be impossible to name all of my colleagues, friends, and family
members who helped enable the completion of this project. In particular, I
OpenAccess.©2020StephanJaeger,publishedbyDeGruyter. Thisworkislicensedunder
theCreativeCommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives4.0License.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110664416-001
VIII Acknowledgements
want to thank Adam Muller, Susanne Vees-Gulani, Jörg Echternkamp, and Ka-
thrinMaurerfortheirsupport,ideas,andencouragement.Additionally,without
the supportive atmosphere from all mycolleagues in myhome department,the
DepartmentofGermanandSlavicStudiesattheUniversityofManitoba,thecom-
pletionofthisprojectwouldhavetakenmuchlonger.Especiallyinspiringtome
were the discussions with my graduate students, in particular Erin Johnston-
Weiss,EmmaMikuska-Tinman,EstherHein,andOlurotimiK.Oni.EmmaMikus-
ka-Tinman and Erin Johnston-Weiss were absolutely instrumental in proofread-
ingand editing this manuscript in its various stages.
MygratitudegoestoAstridErllandAnsgarNünningforagreeingtopublish
this book in their Media and Cultural Memory series and to Manuela Gerlof,
Lydia J. White, Stella Diedrich, and all the De Gruyter staff for their support
and efficiency in making this publication possible.
Finally,thisbookisdedicatedtomylifepartnerPriya.Withoutherpatience
andunwaveringsupportwheneverthisendeavorseemedtotakeoverourlives,I
could not have completed it.
Contents
Abbreviations XI
List of Illustrations XIII
Prologue 1
Chapter 1: The Second World War in the Twenty-First-Century Museum 8
. The Museum between History and Cultural Memory 8
. The Second World War between National and Transnational
Memory 13
. Museum Typesand the Second World War 21
. Selection of Museums Analyzed 32
Chapter 2: The Medium of the Museum 40
. Museum Space and the ‘Ideal’ Visitor 40
. Experientiality 47
Chapter 3: Restricted Experientiality 61
. The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa 62
. Warsaw Rising Museum 77
. The Imperial War Museum in London 88
Chapter 4: Primary Experientiality 94
. The National WWII Museum in New Orleans 95
. The Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory in Kraków 107
. The Bastogne War Museum 116
Chapter 5: Secondary Experientiality 128
. The Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden 129
. The Imperial War Museum North in Manchester 150
. The Topography of Terror in Berlin 160
Chapter 6: The Transnational 172
. The German-Russian Museum in Berlin-Karlshorst 172
. The Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk 182
. The House of European History in Brussels 203
X Contents
Chapter 7: The Holocaust and Perpetration in War Museums 221
Chapter 8: Total War, Air War, and Suffering 265
Chapter 9: Art in Second World War Museums 292
Conclusion 306
Bibliography 314
Index 341
