Shandler, Jeffrey. Holocaust Memory in the Digital Age: Survivors’ Stories and New Media Practices. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2017.
Concepts: Mediated memory | Institutional testimonial production | Physical markers | Code-switching | Algorithmic curation
Keywords: Holocaust memory | Digital media | New media | Oral history | Technology
Shandler argues that Holocaust testimony is always shaped by the medium through which it is conveyed, and that digital formats do not inherently enhance authenticity. His analysis of the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive reveals how institutional framing, indexing, and protocols mediate testimonial production — a concern especially relevant to AI-generated tools that incorporate algorithmic curation and simulated interaction. His identification of code-switching (survivors shifting to Yiddish during emotional moments) as a testimonial marker that AI cannot process illustrates Kraft’s core/narrative memory distinction from a linguistic angle: the very moments at which testimony exceeds the narrative register are the moments AI misses.
“Digital formats do not inherently enhance authenticity.” (paraphrase of Shandler, 2017, cited in Rosenthal, 2025, p. 6108)
“Testimony is always shaped by the medium through which it is conveyed.” (paraphrase of Shandler, 2017, cited in Rosenthal, 2025, p. 6108)
“AI’s inability to capture survivors’ code-switching into Yiddish during emotional moments.” (Shandler, 2017, cited in Rosenthal, 2025, p. 6108)
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