In September 2023, I conducted fieldwork and archival work in Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The 17 day trip was funded by the BAAS and the Royal Holloway Doctoral School.

The research included looking at historical newspapers at the Cecil Green Library, Stanford and the Hoover Library, Stanford.

My research explores Holocaust memory among American adolescents by studying what I call “Holocaust controversies”. This refers to negative news coverage that surrounds an act, event, faux pas, or media content that, based on the subsequent written and spoken contention, suggests that those involved committed an assault on the Holocaust. That these individuals have committed a kind of Holocaust memory taboo, breaking pre-established or assumed etiquette about how the Holocaust should be viewed, discussed, and represented. It is not this thesis’ purpose to indicate or construe whether a specific act or Holocaust faux pas warranted the ensuing media and public scrutiny. As readers, you may privately determine or decide the severity of the misdemeanours committed by those involved. Beyond this project, there may be avenues to explore these Holocaust controversies by asking why these acts were committed and whether the participants represent intentional taboo breakers.

By studying this interaction within the matrix of American public high schools, I will be able to determine concretely developments, consistencies, and inconsistencies in American Holocaust memory due to the distinctly structured nature of K-12 education (e.g., grades, lessons, subjects, school districts, mandates, curriculums, etc.).