Rethinking the politics of the past: multidirectional memory in the archives of implication

Addresses the concept 'multidirectional memory'. Employing a comparative and interdisciplinary approach, the author makes a twofold argument about Holocaust memory in a global age by situating it in the context of decolonization. On the one hand, the Holocaust has enabled the articulation of other histories of victimization at the same time that it has been declared "unique". On the other, it uncovers the fact that public memory of the Holocaust emerged in part thanks to postwar decolonization. He further investigates the political repercussions of his concept through the analysis of Sebald's writings and the works of the British Israeli artist Alan Schechner.