Digital interventions have existed in Holocaust memory and education contexts since the 1990s. However, the term “digital” is still conceptualised, practiced and debated in both academic and professional circles as if it is a relatively new phenomenon.
The effect of this means that besides the very largest of Holocaust museums and memorial sites, few have coherent digital strategies, appropriate digital infrastructure, or permanent digital expertise amongst their staff.
This trend echoes through funding and policy circles. Where international work has leveraged the digital, this has focused on public access to archival metadata and academic research audiences rather than public memory and education. Where specific funding for digital Holocaust memory and education exists, it tends to be project-focused, providing shortterm investments which leave institutions searching for further funds, or projects being abandoned due to a lack of support for maintenance and impact analysis.
To address this “sustainability crisis” in digital Holocaust memory and education, research has shown that interventions are needed at policy and funding, institutional, staff, and visitors/users level.
The working paper Sustainable Digital Futures for Holocaust Memory and Education: Recommendations for Funders and Policymakers focuses on policy and funding – a much-overlooked area in existing research. The working paper presents findings from a workshop organized by the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme and the Landecker Digital Memory Lab at the University of Sussex in June 2024, which brought together representatives from major transnational and national bodies that support policy and/or funding for Holocaust memory and education. Adopting a future studies methodology, the working paper offers a series of recommendations directed specifically at funders and policymakers regarding how they can support the sustainability of digital Holocaust memory and education.