Media, Museums, and the Witness. Transformations of a Cultural Figure

The cultural figure of the witness can be understood as a specific communicative constellation. In Germany, the term Zeitzeuge, or the concept of Zeitzeugenschaft, is closely connected with the history of National Socialism and commemorations of the holocaust. Witnessing in this context has undergone important transformations in recent decades having to do with the changing ways of presenting witnesses in the media and, more recently, in museums. This article traces some of these changes. It argues that, while there are ongoing discussions about what will happen to established patterns of commemoration once the surviving victims of Nazi prosecution are no longer there to tell their stories, we should not forget the fact that, already, their testimonies are not only part of communicative but also of cultural memory.