The Representation of Perpetrators in the Netherlands : A Case Study of Dutch Memorial Museums about the Second World War

Sammanfattning: This thesis analyses the texts and audio-files of the exhibitions of the Dutch memorial museums about the Second World War to understand how perpetrators have been represented. In a social constructionist approach on cultural memory and heritage it can be argued that memorial museums are institutions which partake in the processes of cultural memory and heritage during which a reconstruction of the past is developed which can be connected to the values of the current society. Cultural memory and heritage provide a shared past for the community and a connection between the past, present, and future. The aim is to find out who is represented, how they are represented, and how their narrative relates to Dutch memory culture. This has been done through an analysis of the texts of the exhibition using Fairclough’s three dimensional model for Critical Discourse Analysis.It can be concluded that the narrative of the perpetrators in the Netherlands has hardly changed since the exhibitions still represent the stereotypical German, high-ranking, and/or violent perpetrators. However, the exhibitions do focus on local perpetrators rather than the elite in Germany, they include women as perpetrators, and present the perpetrators as ordinary people who became perpetrators due to a variety of social, cultural, and mental factors. Additionally, the exhibitions indicate that individuals, including perpetrators, cannot be either ‘good’ or ‘evil’ but should be analysed individually to understand the positive and negative consequences of their choices and actions. Nonetheless, more Dutch perpetrators, lower-ranking individuals, and guards who tried to help the prisoners need to be represented to provide a more complete image of the perpetrators and to represent a more nuanced narrative where ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Additionally, the variety of reasons that turned regular people into perpetrators could be better explored through a more diverse group of perpetrators. Finally, within the context of moral consciousness, active citizenship, and reflection, the portrayal of the different choices made by the different perpetrators and the effect these had would be valuable cases of reflection for the visitor.