The Holocaust in the Media

1
The Holocaust in the Media
An international comparative reception study on
the documentary 'Night and Fog (Alain Resnais,
1955)

• Juergen GrimmUniversity of Vienna

2
Personal Background

• experiencing the Holocaust in a documentary as a
  pupil in Germany
• shocked and ashamed
• half of my classmates didnt want to be
  confronted
• thinking about national identity
• Long-term effect ?
• To get inoculated against fascism and nationalism
  
• Is this true for all conditions ?
• Which communicative, social and cultural
  circumstances make a humanitarian disaster
  becoming a motivation for development of
  humanitarian skills ?

2
3
General Questions and Research Aims

• Impartment of history is a key concept of
  building national identity which is the basis for
  integration of national societies and manage
  international peaceful coexistence.
• How do you have to impart history to reconcile
  patriotism and cosmopolitism?
• Which communicative tools are effective for
• historical knowledge transfer,
• elaborative historical interpretation schemas,
• adequate managing of present problems, and
• impartment of humanity ?
• Which convergences and divergences of national
  perspectives are given in Europe regarding
  eminent historic events like World War II and
  Holocaust ?
• Can communication about historical catastrophes
  help to build an European identity ?

3
4
International Research Project Impartment of
History on TV

• Project leader Prof. Dr. Juergen Grimm
  (University of Vienna, Austria)
• Vienna project groupDr. Josef Seethaler
  (Academy of Sciences,Vienna, Austria)Prof. Dr.
  Rainer Gries (University of Jena, Germany)Prof.
  Dr. Peter Vitouch (University of Vienna,
  Austria)Prof. Dr. Katherine Sarikakis
  (University of Vienna, Austria)
• International cooperation partnersProf. Dr.
  Peter Schmidt (HSE, Moscow, Russia)Prof. Dr.
  Sonia Roccas (University of Jerusalem,
  Israel)Prof. Dr. Moshe Zuckermann (University of
  Tel Aviv, Israel)Prof. Dr. Ingrid Volkmer
  (University of Melbourne, Australia)Prof.
  Joachim von Gottberg (Association for the
  Voluntary Self-Regulation of TV)Johannes Dicke
  (Television Company 3sat)

4
5
Three Packages of Investigation

1. Network and Content Analysis of the TV-Market for
   Historical ProgramsReconstruction of format
   trade and analysis of historical TV programs
2. Media Effect Analysis 1 Experimental effect
   studies with regard to historical TV formats
3. Media Effect Analysis 2 Representative panel
   survey on use and effect of historicizing TV
   formats

• Our current research on the Holocaust
  documentary is in package 2

5
6
Theoretical Frame
6
7
Basic Assumptions regarding the Impartment of
History

1. Impartment of history isnt limited to the
   reconstruction of the past and the building of
   historical awareness.
2. Impartment of history influences the perception
   of the present.

• Past- and present-related processes of
  impartment of history

7
7
8
Research Leading ModelMultidimensional
Impartment of History (MIH)

• I. Processes relating to the past
• 1. Transfer of factual knowledge
• 2. Selection/deduction of messages
• 3. Change of interpretation patterns
• 4. Building of historical awareness
• a. Active search for information
• b. Abstraction of historical images
• c. History-based construction of identity
• II Processes relating to the present
• 5. Adjustment of collective awareness of danger
• 6. Formation of political opinions
• 7. Lifeworld projections
• 8. Imparting of Humanity
• a. Decrease of prejudice
• b. Aggression management
• c. Communitas skills
• d. Political humanitas

• Schacter, Daniel L. (1987) Implicit memory
  history and current status. In Journal of
  Experimental Psychology, 13/3, pp.501-518.
• Reder, Lynne M. (ed.) (1996) Implicit memory and
  metacognition. New York, London Psychology
  Press.
• Addis, Donna Rose, Alana T. Wong, and Daniel L.
  Schacter (2007) Remembering the past and
  imagining the future common and distinct neural
  substrates during event construction and
  elaboration. In Neuropsychologia, vol.45, no.7
  (April), pp. 1363-1377.
• Voss, Joel L., Ken A. Paller (2008) Brain
  substrates of implicit and explicit memory The
  importance of concurrently acquired neural
  signals of both memory types. In
  Neuropsychologia, vol.46, issue 13 (November) ,
  pp.3021-3029.

Explicit Memory
Implicit Memory
8
8
9
Basic Assumptions Regarding the Impartment of
History

• Impartment of history includes
• the presentation of factual information and
  interpretations offered by the media,
• selective acquirement of history on the basis of
  media representations, and
• elaborative information processing of history
  depictions in the media by the recipients
  including active derivation and forming of
  judgment for the past, present and future.

9
9
10
Model of Information Processing and Persuasion
Impartment of History by the Media
elaborative
selective

• Regarding Past
• Deduction of messages
• Change of interpretation patterns
• Raising history awareness

• Message Transfer
• Knowledge
• Interpretations

• Regarding Present
• Collective risk perception
• Political attitudes
• Lifeworld projections
• Imparting of Humanity

• Collective Identities
• National identity (patriotism, nationalism,
  cosmopolitanism)
• European identification
• Social group identity

The term Imparting of History by the media as
employed here includes a) the presentation of
factual information and interpretations offered
by the media, b) selective acquirement of history
on the basis of media representations, and c)
elaborative information processing of history
depictions in the media by the recipients
including active derivation and forming of
judgment for the past, present and future.
11
The Holocaust in the Media
Conducting the experimentin Moscow

• Christiane Grill, Sofia KhomenkoUniversity of
  Vienna

12
Aims and Context of Research

• scientific insight into the process of imparting
  history in the media
• exploring the influence of the witnesses to
  history on the process of imparting history
• no commercial or political purpose behind the
  study

13
Night and Fog

• Highly prized documentary by French director
  AlainRenais (1955)
• International collaboration
• Translated into different languages
• Documentary combined with statements of witnesses
  to history (victims and perpetrator)

14
Night Fog-Experiment with Witnesses to History
(Moscow) Experimental Groups
G3 Night Fog, short version Witnesses to
history victim Witnesses to history
perpetrator G4 Night Fog, short version
Witnesses to history victim G5 Night Fog,
short version Witnesses to history
perpetrator

• G1 Night Fog, original versionwithout
  witnesses to history
• G2 Night Fog, short version without witnesses
  to history

14
14
15
Design of the Media Effect Experiment "Night and
Fog"

• t1 Before the film
• questionnaire with pre-receptive tests on
  opinions, attitudes and psycho-social traits
• t2 During the film
• watching the film
• t3 After the film
• memory questions and evaluation of the film
• post-receptive tests (equivalent to t1).
• Impact difference of measurement t1 and
  measurement t3

The pre-post-method allows us to comment on
short-term effects. These can not necessarily be
put on a level with long-term effects, but can be
understood as indicator for effect tendencies
which can intensify with long-term use of similar
stimuli.
15
16
Conducting the Experiment I

• Pre-questionnaire online or printed (must be
  filled out one or two days before the film
  presentation)
• Room for film presentation
• Single or small groups (up to 3 persons)
  (preferred)
• Bigger groups under controlled conditions (no
  communication between subjects)
• Post-questionnaire online or printed
  (immediately after the film)
• Registration and appointment
• Timetable with available dates for the film
  reception and the post-questionnaire online
• Registration via mail to sofia.khomenko_at_univie.ac.
  at
• Prae-questionnaire 2 days before the appointment

17
Conducting the Experiment II

• How students can be informed about the study?
• via mail of the HSE among students
• presentation of the project in courses
• Recruitment of subjects
• 250 subjects, if possible more
• students and non-students
• older subjects (50), if possible, with help of
  students or others

18
Additional Qualitative Study

• audio-visual interviews using modern high
  definition camera equipment

19
Additional Qualitative Study

• (1) Interviews with the participants of the
  experiment

• Feelings and opinions regarding "Night and Fog"
• explore identity awareness
• find out how subjects deal with history
• Identify trans-cultural differences among the
  subjects of different age-groups
• evaluate attitudes of modern Russian people with
  regard to the past

20
Additional Qualitative Study

• (2) Interviews with older Russian people
  including war veterans (optional)

• Feelings and opinions regarding "Night and Fog"
• Experiences in World War II
• find out how subjects deal with history

20
21
Collaboration between Austria and Russia

• Christiane and Sofia organizing the experiment
• Collaboration with one of your students for
  his/her exam thesis
• Access to all results of the international
  comparative study of "Night and Fog
• Forming a mixed research group with Moscow
  colleagues
• Joint publication

22
Thank you for your attention! We are looking
forward collaborating with you!
22