The Power of Objects from Sites of Mass Atrocities

A broken wristwatch, battered glasses or a tattered wallet, how can ordinary objects discovered at sites of mass atrocities become powerfully moving?  University College Dublin Professor Lea David calls them desire objects because they take on new and ever changing meanings from their discovery to their use in courtrooms and museums.  The most emotionally charged of all of these objects are shoes.  Now almost mandatory memory pieces for Holocaust museums, shoes have migrated to the wider public sphere helping to mobilize diverse groups around causes ranging from climate change to the war in Gaza.  A conversation with Lea David from University College Dublin about her book, A Victim’s Shoe, a Broken Watch and Marbles: Desire Objects and Human Rights.  Next on the September 2nd episode of Realms of Memory.