Exhibiting Atrocity: Memorial Museums and the Politics of Past Violence by Amy Sodaro (review)

The past few decades have seen an increasing tendency to use public history as a means of dealing with difficult pasts and of building a more stable future. Around the globe, from Botogá, Columbia to Montgomery, Alabama, new museums are being opened for this purpose. Amy Sodaro's Exhibiting Atrocity: Memorial Museums and the Politics of Past Violence provides a very timely exploration of the role museums can play in confronting and understanding past trauma. It makes a valuable contribution to the growing body of work on the public history of conflict by exploring the emergence of a particular cultural form of memorialization identified as the "memorial museum." Taking five case studies from four countries—the United States (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and National September 11 Memorial and Museum), Chile (Museum of Memory and Human Rights), Rwanda (Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre), and Hungary (House of Terror)—Sodaro explores the role that this form of museum can play in helping societies deal with past violence and build towards a stronger future.

The case studies are well-chosen, each representing a museum of international renown, highlighting different issues relating to the ways in which violent pasts are represented. Sodaro identifies three primary functions that memorial museums seek to perform. The first is identified as being their straightforward purpose as museums—to testify about what happened, document, curate, preserve, and present the past. The second is to act as a memorial, remembering those who suffered through the particular periods of violence and to provide space for healing to take place. Finally, they serve to morally educate those who visit of the dangers of ideology, intolerance, and hatred. It is this final purpose—"to prevent future genocide, human rights abuses, and violence,"—that, Sodaro argues, sets them apart from other forms of commemoration and other museums and gives them their unique form and function.

The examination of each case study follows a set structure, thus facilitating meaningful comparison between the various institutions included in the book and providing a useful lens to evaluate other such museums. It starts by examining the historical background of each museum and the particular episode of violence it depicts, providing an explanation of the historical events represented and the political and cultural context of the museum's establishment. It then takes the reader on a virtual tour of the museum, highlighting particular design features or curatorial tropes that are common to many or all of the case studies and those that are unique to each museum. Finally, each chapter examines the ways in which each of these museums has sought to engage public audiences and promote dialogue since their establishment.

Each case study depicts significant loss of life in a national context and demonstrates in different ways the relationships that exist between the need to remember the past and the political imperatives of the present. They highlight the growing problem of globalizing memory studies and the pitfalls of taking an established and generic form of memorializing past atrocities that fails to take account of the unique nature of the violence that is being remembered. Although there may be common characteristics and experiences, each particular case has its own set of issues and its own past that needs to be dealt with in a way that is appropriate to that case. The case studies also shed light on the processes through which memorial museums are created, something which is as important as the nature and reception of the finished product. By exploring the contexts within which decisions were made to develop these museums and the debates, negotiations and decisions that surrounded each stage in their development, the book provides insights into the challenges of developing such complex and contentious sites of memory and demonstrates the importance of understanding the political impulses that shaped them.

While acknowledging the value of what...