Israeli memory of the Shoah in a digital age: is it still "collective"?

In this article, we will explore several recent changes in the practices of remembering the Shoah in Israel. Much research on Israeli collective memory has relied on school curricula and textbooks, Holocaust museums, commemorative
ceremonies, Poland voyages, museums and political pronouncement of government leaders and politicians. We suggest that the current generation is far more influenced by global digital and social media. The interactive, popular, more iconic and less hierarchical nature of media technologies pose challenges for traditional conceptualizations of collective memory, which often privilege top down productions and representations. By focusing on several of the forms and
products of these technologies, we raise questions as to the relevance of previous analyses of Israeli collective memory for charting trends in the digital generation.
We begin with a brief sketch of collective memory and the role of generations
as carriers of particular memories, and argue for the relevance of media
technologies in determining the shape of memory. We then outline several challenges that digital and social media pose for understandings of collective memory of the Holocaust. Next, we apply these issues to several contemporary Israeli phenomena: selfies in concentration camp visits, the shift from nationwide ceremonies held at key symbolic sites to on-line, home-based gatherings, the diffusion of Holocaust humor and satires in electronic and social media, and the conservative reaction to digital technologies on the part of Israeli Holocaust museums.