Vanishing Points of Memory

At the intersection of postcolonialism, Holocaust commemoration and coming to terms with the past, a controversial debate about the supposed certainties of German remembrance culture has unfolded over the past year. Is the memory of Jewish victims privileged over African victims? What distinguishes racism from antisemitism? Hannah Arendt and Edward Said were not the only ones to ask such questions in the past. In their work, Natan Sznaider, Professor of Sociology at Tel Aviv University, finds ideas and arguments to advance today’s discussion. Will it ultimately be possible to commemorate the victims of the Shoah and colonialism without relativizing history?