The Holocaust’s historical power is inseparable from later discourse about it

Evidence

Jay (1992:103) suggests that the Holocaust is “a post facto conceptual entity not in use at the time”; its power as a set of historical events is thus inseparable from discourses about it. … James Young (1993: viii) argues that the construction of the Holocaust in memory “varies from land to land, political regime to regime and is mediated by the memorials and museums.” — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 294

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to debates about historical event versus retrospective construction, similar to how national identity is built retrospectively.
• SHARE: A colleague working on memory studies or holocaust historiography would appreciate the Jay and Young formulations.