At museums and memorial sites, the interpretation of a photograph greatly depends on its presentation, but on closer examination, some spatial arrangements raise ethical questions.
Exploring the presentation of photographs at the USHMM in Washington DC and at the State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, this essay analyses exhibition strategies that have an almost immersive effect on visitors or border on an reenactment of the photographed scene. Whereas the exhibitions are designed for the benefit of the visitors, these evocative arrangements may have ethically questionable implications for the presentation of the victims. However, rather than to pass a judgment, Koppermann aims to recognize and verbalize intuitive impressions and to trace them back to the curatorial details that cause them.
