The Holocaust in the Media
The first workshop in the academic year took place in the ILSCR on 13th September. The speakers were a group of researchers from the University of Vienna under the direction of Juergen Grimm with the presentation of the research project “An international comparative reception study on the documentary 'Night and Fog‘ (Alain Resnais, 1955)”.
This project is an international comparative study of the reactions to the documentary "Night and Fog" (Alain Resnais, 1955) on the deportation of Jews to Nazi concentration camps. Research is conducted in the countries which were most touched with the Second World War: Germany, Austria, Poland, Russia, Britain, France and Israel. This study is a part of a large international research project "Impartment of History on TV"; among the participants of this project is a head of ILSCR Peter Schmidt. Despite the relative remoteness of the consideration of historical events, the authors suggest that a proper understanding of them is important for the formation of European identity and to prevent the possible humanitarian catastrophe.
The basic assumptions regarding to the impartment of history are the following: 1) Impartment of history isn’t limited to the reconstruction of the past and the building of historical awareness; 2) Impartment of history influences the perception of the present.
The experimental study “An international comparative reception study on the documentary 'Night and Fog‘”provides scientific insight into the process of imparting history in the media and explores the influence of the witnesses to history on the process of imparting history. Before the film, the researchers provide the questionnaire with pre-receptive tests on opinions, attitudes and psycho-social traits; and after the film - memory questions and evaluation of the film (post-receptive tests). The experiment involves five experimental groups, which are combined in different ways with the original and short versions of the film with the interviews with witnesses.
It is assumed that a minimum of 250 subjects will be recruited in Russia. The experiment has been conducting at the Department of Psychology in HSE with the support of the International Laboratory for Socio-Cultural Research.
To participate in the experiment, please send an email to sofia.khomenko@univie.ac.at.
Olga Pavlenko