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

Abstract

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.