‘A contemporary look at the Jewish Past in Poland’? Traces of memory and the Galicia Jewish Museum, Kraków (2004-2011)

Gerrard, Katherine (2013). ‘A contemporary look at the Jewish Past in Poland’? Traces of memory and the Galicia Jewish Museum, Kraków (2004-2011). University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis is a rigorous academic study of a museum which has previously not been subject to theoretical examination: that is, the Galicia Jewish Museum in Kraków, Poland. It analyses the relationship between the museum’s permanent exhibition, Traces of Memory, and the broader museum from its establishment in 2004 until the end of the research period for the thesis, 2011. Through a case study methodology and detailed analysis of the resulting observations, conducted by the ultimate participant observer – a former director of the museum – and informed by extensive bibliographic research, the thesis provides a unique contribution to knowledge in the fields of museum studies, Polish-Jewish relations and Jewish cultural studies.

Through a close, micro-level reading of Traces of Memory and the Galicia Jewish Museum, and with a concluding that chapter draws together the threads of the thesis – considering them in relation to the broader contexts of the Kazimierz Jewish quarter in Kraków and the European Jewish Space – the thesis provides a Jewish museum contribution to the discipline of ‘new museology’, and finds that the Galicia Jewish Museum can be seen as the embodiment of what a ‘new museum’ might be within the defined context of an east European, Jewish framework.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):