Introduction: Scrutinizing the “Transna tional Turn”

TRANSNATIONAL AND/OR TRANSCULTURAL perspectives on the Holocaust are undoubtedly en vogue, as is demonstrated by the many recent conference calls, publications, and research clusters on the theme. This boom is indicative of a larger transnational or transcultural turn, which, over the last ten years, has reached disciplines as diverse as sociology, history, modern languages, and, most importantly, memory studies. Transcultural/- national memory can be understood as an intervention into the field of memory studies, which promotes the fundamental interrelatedness of cultural and mnemonic phenomena. It focuses on literal and metaphorical instances of border crossing, intermingling, travel, and translation, drawing attention to “the palimpsestic overlays, the hybrid assemblages, the non-linear interactions, and the fuzzy edges of group belonging.” The idea of transnational memory ties in with a broader dynamization of memory studies, which entails a shift in focus away from (cultural) memory as a “product” to the procedural character of memory formation, transportation, and translation.

The increasing globalization of almost all spheres of social life, coupled with a new sense of “connectivity” brought about by digital technologies, has called into question many of the core assumptions guiding memory studies. This particularly pertains to what Astrid Erll and others have identified as the “methodological nationalism/culturalism” of memory studies, that is, the implicit understanding of cultures as separate and clearly delineated “spheres” or “containers,” and the “assumption of an isomorphy between territory, social formation, mentalities, and memories.” In response to this, cultures and memories have been increasingly conceptualized as dynamic, porous, and constituted through exchange—they are not discrete and uniform but entangled and hybrid. In terms of research, this has brought forward a focus on phenomena that emerge at the intersection of nations and cultures or cut across them. This concentration on national, cultural, and mnemonic interlinkages also challenges traditional understandings of the nation or culture. Lucy Bond and Jessica Rapson therefore regard transcultural memory