Conclusion

Abstract

Holocaust commemoration can – and should – take many forms. It should not be limited to just one day a year, nor should it be restricted to just one group of people, or certain institutions. Smaller-scale commemoration can be just as insightand impactful as official talks, or the curated work found in large, dedicated museums. Over the past five years I have been lucky enough to experience a very personal and emotive form of commemoration in the form and shape of traditional storytelling. I first met Shonaleigh in July 2013 when I was hosting an international conference on Holocaust commemoration in contemporary culture at the University of Portsmouth, and Shonaleigh joined us as both a speaker and as teller of traditional stories for one of the evenings. Shonaleigh is a Drut’syla, a traditional Jewish Storyteller – and it is believed that she currently is the only remaining practicing Drut’syla. She is also the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor. The stories she told that evening, but also the way she told them, blew me away. It was a form of ‘commemoration’ I had not encountered before – both polished and raw and engendering a deeply emotive response that I had not quite expected. Since that evening, I have listened to Shonaleigh’s traditional tales many times – and it is always a unique experience, responding to audience responses or demands, seamlessly shifting from one story into another without a script, never following a set plan. Listening to her made me think about the unique way her traditional stories address contemporary concerns; but also how these stories, often centuries old, engage with ‘Holocaust commemoration’ in a different way. In March 2017 I had the opportunity to interview Shonaleigh for this special issue, to find out more about her art, but also to ask how she considers it to fit into a Holocaust commemoration that, as the introduction has shown, has become institutionalized, standardized and quasi ritualized. Her responses are revealing and also serve to admirably conclude this Special Issue that has been trying to probe traditional modes of commemoration and offer alternative approaches to it.