Presence as Absence
The Homely and the Unhomely in Jewish Photography under Nazism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4070905 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Shira Miron (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 109-142 |
| Publication date | 2024-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New German Critique (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0094-033X • E-ISSN: 1558-1462 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/0094033x-10926481 |
| OpenAlex | W4392787710 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 33 |
This article traces the change in practice and the transition of meaning in the photographs taken in Jewish homes in Germany under the Nazi regime. It draws on the ontological duality of absence and presence embedded in the medium of photography to analyze examples of such photographs selected from numerous archival and private collections, discerning a move away from the practice of interior photography as a tool of social affirmation in the late Weimar Republic toward its attestation of absence and loss shortly before emigration from Germany. Employing the Freudian term uncanny in its original spatial connotation as "unhomely," the analysis contextualizes the latent presence of the inhabitants in images of vacant interiors through a discussion of the historical change in the domestic life of Jews in the face of the increasing Nazification of the public space. Focusing on the commemorative and mnemonic function of the photos, the article concludes by addressing their constitutive role in personal narratives as a private lieu de mémoire and as the generator of future postmemories
Art · German · Judaism · Linguistics · Nazism · Photography · Theology · Visual arts · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Philosophy · Photography and Visual Culture
The Burden of Representation
Photographs Objects Histories
Spectral Evidence
Suspended Conversations
The Shrinking World of German Jewry, 1933-1938
Between Dignity and Despair
Picturing Rooms
Looking at the family photo album
Picturing Absence
Reconsidering the Margins
The Family Gaze
Toward a material culture of Jewish loss
The Camera as Historian
Digital Cameras, Personal Photography and the Reconfiguration of Spatial Experiences
Realms of Memory
Reading German Jewry through Vernacular Photography
Introduction
Regarding the pain of others
Incongruous Images
Presence
Between Memory and History
The Home Experience of German Jews Under the Nazi Regime
Lately, Almost Constantly, Everything Seems Small to Me
Photographic Uncertainties
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |