Today, I finished a great book by Barbie Zelizer, Remembering to Forget, Holocaust Memory Through The Camera’s Eye. Zelizer examines how photographs of the Nazi Holocaust are linked to collective memory and how the methods of graphically portraying atrocity developed during the photographing of the liberation of the concentration camps influence the way in which atrocity is photographed today. Zelizer makes a fascinating argument that as words failed to communicate the scope of the atrocity in the camps, photography offered a more powerful way to communicate what was happening, increasing the legitimacy of the news photograph in the process. In addition, Zelizer argues that photographs of the holocaust have become iconic symbols of atrocity and the reference point to which current atrocity is compared. This has led to a habituation with the photographed image of suffering that makes viewers of current atrocity photographs less able to respond and makes it more difficult for viewers to gain a comprehensive knowledge of current atrocity.

Zelizer tells a fascinating and informative story about atrocity photographs but offers little advice to where to go next. As she points out, seeing the photographs of present atrocity does not necessarily lead to action. What then can be done? In our media saturated world it seems unlikely that we will have fewer photographs being disseminated in the world. Also, it does not seem preferable to have fewer photographs of atrocity being taken; avoidance of atrocity will not be any better at preventing more atrocity. Perhaps the issue lies in finding a way to connect visualization to action.

Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. This sign on the wall just outside the museum entrance. Photographs play a huge role in this institution of collective memory, and the museum is profound and informative. The museum has made efforts to connect the memorialization of past atrocity to developing advocacy for preventing current and future atrocity by showing photos of current events as a part of the museum and also dedicating a section of their website to responding to today’s issues.

In 1998, I visited Dachau, a concentration camp near Munich. There is a great difference between the museum and the camp. The US museum is designed to create an experience, and tells a comprehensive tale about how the holocaust came to be. Dachau is not a museum, but a memorial and / or a warning. The camp still stands amongst the suburban sprawl that has surrounded it. The barbed wire, guard towers, “Arbeit Macht Frei” inscribed in iron, foundations of the bunk houses, and the crematoria remain. There is a small interpretive exhibit and a film that is shown, but the power of the place is not in its information but in the reality of its existence. I took this photo there.

It seems the 20th Century was one colossal atrocity after another and the new medium of photography was developed recording that atrocity. Going into this next Century, how will we not only bear witness to atrocity, but also act to prevent it? Perhaps one day we will say “never again” and mean it.