There are many ways in which people have tried to memorialize the Holocaust. Some memorials are specific to a given person, place, or event. Others are intentionally general in scope. Some memorials are very concrete and realistic, others more abstract. Locations vary widely, from memorials at atrocity sites to memorials in countries far away from where the atrocities occurred.
In the case of the Soviet Union, many memorials were constructed to remember and honor what happened during the “Great Patriotic War.” However, most of them do not specifically mention the crimes perpetrated against the Jewish community. Find testimonies in the “Stories” section of the website where Survivors address post-war memorialization in the Soviet Union.
Suggested Survivors:
How did the Survivors characterize post-war memory in the Soviet Union? Ask the students to consider why the Soviet Union did not specifically memorialize Jewish people killed in the Holocaust.
Ask students to consider what they believe an appropriate memorial should look like. Ask students to draw or construct a model of a memorial they would like to see for the Holocaust in the Soviet Union. Things to think about should include where the memorial would be located and who it would memorialize (and by extension, who would be excluded). Students then share their designs with the class and explain their choices.
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