<p>This thesis traces the evolution of Holocaust commemoration and memorialization in New Orleans, Louisiana. It situates Holocaust commemoration in New Orleans into a national context and explains that Holocaust remembrance in the early decades after WWII was largely regulated to the small survivor community that developed in the city. It locates the political career of white supremacist and Holocaust denier David Duke in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a defining catalyst for a shift in Holocaust remembrance in the city. It shows that while Holocaust commemoration was present in the city pre-Duke, it was not as prevalent after Duke?s successful election to the House of Representatives in 1989. The New Orleans Jewish community not only used Holocaust commemoration as a response to Duke?s racist and anti-Semitic ideology, but also expanded commemoration to include pedagogical initiatives and memorialization. This thesis further explores these efforts to explain that Holocaust commemoration and memorialization was used to both remember the Holocaust and address larger issues of racism and intolerance in order to incorporate a broader demographic into commemorative events. It aims to illuminate Jewish commemorative culture in New Orleans that has not been fully investigated, evaluate Holocaust memorialization in New Orleans and situate it in a broader national context in order to explore its unique aspects, and finally, it seeks to add to our understanding of how collective memory develops amongst diverse groups.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10271548 |
| Date | 21 December 2017 |
| Creators | Jagneaux, Kelsey N. |
| Publisher | University of Louisiana at Lafayette |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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