Postmemory

“Post memory is a powerful form of precisely because it’s connection to its object or source is mediated not through recollection but through projection, investment, and creation” (Marianne Hirsch 406). I disagree with Hirsch, because creating and projecting, to me, is almost impossible. I don’t believe you can recollect past memories, or experiences, from someone who has lived them and then be able to experience the same type of trauma. I believe you have to live something in order to have the same post memory effect.


One example Hirsch gives about post memory is that it’s a form of heteropathic memory in which the self and the other are most closely connected through familial or group relation, for example, through what it means to be Jewish, or Polish. This is not necessarily true, because let’s say my grandfather were German and he was one of the soldiers during the Holocaust. My grandfather would then explain his version of the war to me. His version c...