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  3. This Isn't Even My Final Form: Anne Frank Memes and Mediatization of Holocaust Memory
 

This Isn't Even My Final Form: Anne Frank Memes and Mediatization of Holocaust Memory

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Date of Publication
May 30, 2022
Publication Type
Conference Paper
Division/Institute

Institut für Kommunik...

Author
Aguilar, Juan González
Makhortykh, Mykolaorcid-logo
Institut für Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft (ikmb)
Subject(s)

300 - Social sciences...

900 - History

Language
English
Uncontrolled Keywords

holocaust

internet meme

anne frank

user-generated conten...

search engine

denialism

Description
The rise of user-generated content, such as internet memes and amateur videos, enables new possibilities for mediatization of the past. However, these possibilities can facilitate not only more diverse and less top-down engagements with memory, but also lead to its trivialization and distortion of historical facts. The latter concerns are particularly pronounced in the case of memories about mass atrocities, such as the Holocaust, where online media often used to promote denialism and attack the dignity of the victims. To better understand the ambiguous relationship between user-generated content and mediatization of memory about the past suffering, we examine a selection of internet memes dealing with Anne Frank, an iconic Holocaust victim. Using a combination of inductive content analysis and close reading, we identify four classes of Anne Frank memes: 1) ad hominems; 2) deniers; 3) trivializers; and 4) thought provokers. Our observations demonstrate that despite trivialization of Holocaust memory being a prevalent function of memes, many of them also reinforce the “canonical” narrative about Anne Frank, thus prompting the need for a more nuanced understanding of the multi-faceted role of user-generated content in the process of memory mediatization.
Related URL
https://www.icahdq.org/page/ICA2022
Handle
https://boris-portal.unibe.ch/handle/20.500.12422/85632
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