Fetyszyzacja autentyczności – casus muzeum-miejsca pamięci
The fetishization of authenticity - a case of a museum-memorial site

Summary/Abstract: This article is devoted to the phenomenon of fetishization of the authenticity of exhibits connected with the Holocaust and the space of museums/memorial sites, such as the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial Site or the Stutthof Museum in Sztutowo. This fetishization is founded on faith in the potency of Holocaust artifacts and it is manifested in the assumption that the artifacts are vehicles of the story about the victims and have an enormous potential of affecting museum visitors’ emotions. The fetishization is also connected with the sacralization of the artifacts and it results in the imperative to protect material traces of the Holocaust. This article presents various contradictions born from such assumptions and manifested in exhibition practices, conservation projects, principles of creating museum collections as well as ways of experiencing visits to museums/memorial sites and reception of exhibitions. The phenomenon of fetishization of authenticity is presented here in connection with the increase in the number of Holocaust representations in broad cultural circulation and the expansion of the multimedia culture and mass tourism, including Thana tourism.

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