Spurensuche der dritten und vierten Generation: Nora Krugs Visual Memoir Heimat und Eline Jongsmas Instagram-Dokumentation His Name Is My Name

Abstract

Drawing on a media-aesthetic perspective, the article explores the counterdocumentary potential of Nora Krug’s visual memoir Heimat: Ein deutsches Familienalbum / Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home (2018) and Eline Jongsma’s animation-based Instagram documentary His Name Is My Name (2022) for the negotiation as well as visualization of historical events, transgenerational guilt, and traumatic memories. By focusing on the formalaesthetic features that define the (auto-)biographical memorial work of Krug and Jongsma, the article shows how these third- and fourth-generation non- Jewish artists deconstruct and destabilize conventional historical narratives. In their highly heterogeneous and fragmented work, both artists embark on a transgenerational and multimedial search for traces, actively addressing the question of how the legacy of the perpetrators affects the present of those born after. (VS, in German)