Virtual Topographies of Memory

https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789463725583/non-fiction-cinema-in-postwar-europe

Am 3. Oktober erscheint der Sammelband „Non-Fiction Cinema in Postwar Europe“ bei Amsterdam University Press. Enthalten ein Essay von Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann und Fabian Schmidt zum Thema „Virtual Topographies of Memory“. Das abstract:

The f ilms and footage, which the Allies recorded in the liberated concentration and extermination camps as well as at other atrocity sites, shaped the future iconography of the camps. Using imagery from various camps, later film compilations created “virtual” sites that served as typifying representations of “the” concentration camp. This chapter intends to review atrocity footage and its later use as constitutive elements of such virtual topographies. By analyzing the raw footage as it is preserved in archives dispersed around the world, early atrocity films, documentary compilations, virtual models, video games, digital tours, and online platforms, we demonstrate how the historical visual evidence of the camps turned into mobile virtual models of destroyed or lost visible traces of former concentration camps.

Keywords: Holocaust, concentration camp, archive footage, documentary film, digital memory, video games