Essay and social media by Rachel Rines.
A few weeks prior to our trip, I decided, like many other college students who study abroad, to create a separate Instagram account to document my experiences studying the history and memory of World War II. Initially, my motivation was solely to be able to post as many photos as I wanted in a designated space. However, as we have been reflecting upon what it means to memorialize, and to observe memory in the modern world, I began to view the significance of social media in a new light. On Thursday, 5/23, Reagan asked us what we saw of memory in the city. I started to reflect upon how many Parisians walk by monuments, over bridges, or encounter land on which major historical events occurred while going on about their daily lives. So much busyness surrounds these places of memory — much like on social media. Many times, when traveling, we as individuals tend to take a lot of photos and videos…yet they are quickly lost in our camera roll or in our computer files, and we may only briefly recall them when looking for an old picture of Christmas 2017 or our dog as a puppy. I knew that with the material with which we would be engaging, I did not want any of what I saw to be lost to memory. Thus, I created a sort of ‘sacred space’ — one of fun photos of my tourism, sure, but also of the knowledge I cannot and should not forget. While I hope you will view my full Instagram as I continue to upload throughout the trip each day, I chose to upload here my documentation of the Shoah Memorial visit on Thursday 5/23, one of the most impactful museum experiences of my life. It is almost concealed to passersby; the permanent exhibition below ground. Yet it contains near-infinite information, which I spent far more time than I expected reading and observing. I hope that, while not nearly as impactful as such a formal, elaborate, and effective museum as the Shoah, my Instagram may be a ‘permanent exhibition’ of what I have seen and now know, no matter how my life may continue and be perceived in the typical realm of social media.
