Mass Graves, Murder Factories, and Memorial Museums for Transitional Justice

Memorialization is a fundamental component of transitional justice. Unlike private roadside memorials strewn across the United States, memorialization for transitional justice is a public endeavor to call out an identifiable loss of lives. The memorialization of the Holocaust or a genocide has been facilitated through three primary means—through public commemoration of mass graves, landmark commemoratives, and centralized Holocaust museums. Public grave commemorations honor the remains of persons whose lives were lost at the site of the mass grave. Landmark commemorations call attention to victims or rescuers associated with sites that may be dedicated to public use. Commemorative museums become repositories for artifacts and symbols that honor the memory of victims and rescuers. Museums aim to communicate an important message in the way they design and display information and artifacts. Designers must determine if they intend their work to serve a redemptive purpose. In this chapter I consider in what ways these create or restore value for the victims and the communities.