New book by alumna Shir Kochavi addresses the multifaceted history of Jewish cultural heritage after the Holocaust
A new book by Shir Kochavi explores the influence of the traumatic events of the Holocaust on the formation of a cultural heritage policy during the foundational years of the State of Israel.
Based on primary research, Museums in Israel after the Holocaust: A Multifaceted History of Cultural Heritage offers a new understanding of cultural practices after the Second World War, while analysing the role of key Jewish cultural representatives who shaped museum collections that emerged during this period.
Published by Routledge in June, PhD graduate Dr Shir Kochavi’s monograph investigates the ways Israel has dealt with the complicated history of ‘heirless’ Jewish cultural objects and questions of ownership.
It provides a detailed examination of the process of allocation of ‘heirless’ Jewish cultural property handled by two American-Jewish organizations: the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization (JRSO) and the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction (JCR) in the immediate years following the Second World War.
Dr Kochavi’s book takes a material culture approach, which explores the meanings and values attached to an object over the course of time and during its transition between places and owners.
Jerusalem, the Bezalel Museum building (1945). From the collection of the Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, PHG\1006803. Unknown photographer.
Shir Kochavi is an art historian with extensive expertise in curatorial work and provenance research. She completed a PhD on ‘Salvage to restitution: 'heirless' Jewish cultural property in post-World War II’ in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies in 2017.
She is currently working as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Bar Ilan University where she researches the post-Holocaust period within the framework of the cultural world and commemoration. This year, she has received a fellowship from the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati for her postdoctoral research project on German-Jewish art dealers in New York.
Dr Shir Kochavi
Dr Kochavi’s research interests include 20th Century Jewish history, women’s involvement in post-war narratives, Jewish ritual objects, Jewish museums and the history of collecting. Shir said:
“This book is based on my PhD undertaken at the University of Leeds and a culmination of an extensive research in international archives.
“I am grateful for the support of two inspiring supervisors – Professor Mark Westgarth and Dr Eva Frojmovic – who taught me to find value even where information is missing and pushed me to be critical and courageous.”
Book cover for Museums in Israel after the Holocaust: A Multifaceted History of Cultural Heritage by Dr Shir Kochavi (Routledge, June 2024).
Mark Westgarth, Professor of Professor of History of the Art Market and Shir’s PhD supervisor, said:
“Shir’s new book is a real testament to the brilliant research that she undertook at the University of Leeds. It is an exceptionally important contribution to the growing scholarship on Jewish cultural property in the aftermath of the Second World War.”
Dr Eva Frojmovic, Associate Professor in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, and Director of the Centre for Jewish Studies, said:
“I am thrilled that this important research is going to be accessible to the wider public.”
More information
Museums in Israel After the Holocaust: A Multifaceted History of Cultural Heritage by Shir Kochavi was published by Routledge on 28 June 2024.
Find out more about the book on the Routledge website.
Image
Mordecai Narkiss, the first manager of the Bezalel Museum in Jerusalem (1897-1957), with Central Collecting Point staff, Wiesbaden, Germany 1947. From the collection of the Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, A605\490-51p. Unknown photographer.
