Holocaust Museums and the Itch to Universalize

Edward Rothstein’s “The Problem with Jewish Museums,” is one of the finest pieces of writing I know not only about Jewish museums but also about “identity museums” of all kinds. With concision and clarity he analyzes the development, the evolving character, and the preoccupations of these Jewish institutions. In so doing, he brings into stark relief the psychological needs and insecurities among many Jews that make nearly all museums focused on Jewish themes, including Holocaust museums, different from those devoted to the histories and experiences of other groups, especially in countries to which they’ve immigrated, and most especially in America.

For accomplishing all this, Rothstein won’t make many friends in academia or the museum world, and particularly not among the Jews who inhabit those precincts. Good for him: he’s right, and they’re wrong. Increasingly, academics in the liberal arts and social sciences adhere to the dogmas of multiculturalism. Some groups, especially those that have suffered at the hands of Western oppressors, are encouraged to publicize their sufferings, their struggles, and their particularities. But when Jews undertake to describe their people’s experience—especially of exclusion, prejudice, oppression, and even mass murder—they’re often accused of being, as Rothstein notes, “too Jewish,” not least by Jews themselves.

Could it be that these Jews, many of them at the forefront of efforts to protect human rights universally, are uncomfortable advocating for their own group? Do they fear that, if they focus on Jews, and particularly on Israel, they’ll be seen by their colleagues as parochial and, therefore, not fit to join the universalist club?