Name: Emily Shein
Class Year: 2022
Major: German and Philosophy double major
Hometown: Red Hook, N.Y.
Internship Organization: Holocaust Museum Los Angeles
Job Title: Archival Research Intern
Location: Remote
I spent this summer working as an archival research intern at Holocaust Museum Los Angeles (HMLA). I applied for this position because one of my primary areas of interest in my German and philosophy majors is memorialization. I am particularly interested in studying memorials and museums that deal with historical trauma, and, through my work in my German major, I have developed a specific interest in Holocaust memorials and museums. During my time at ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥, I have extensively researched Holocaust memorials and yet, prior to this summer, I had not had the opportunity to go beyond the classroom to work in the field of Holocaust remembrance. My work at HMLA has deepened my work in this field not just by presenting me with new questions about the nature of memorialization that I had not previously considered, but also by grounding my theoretical research in the more concrete day-to-day work of memorializing the past.
In the archives, I primarily worked on organizing our online collection. The Museum is currently in the process of switching to a new online collections management system, with the hopes of making it available for public use in the future. I organized collections about Theresienstadt—a concentration camp and ghetto—as well as collections about individual survivors who have donated personal belongings to the Museum. This type of organizational work was comprised of researching the background of certain artifacts and individuals, as well as inputting metadata into the online collections management system to prepare collections for public use. Outside of collections management, I translated text-based objects from German into English. I also wrote a text panel about a Holocaust survivor’s family, which will be added to a new display case in the Museum itself.
When I wasn’t working in the archives, I got to participate in programming about Holocaust education and museum work. With other interns, I attended online lectures, discussions, and film screenings about aspects of the Holocaust that aren’t often talked about, such as the experiences of women and LGBTQ+ people, and I was able to apply what I learned in these cohort meetings back to my own work in the archives. I was also able to talk to museum professionals and ask questions about the ins-and-outs of running a Holocaust museum. During some of my favorite conversations, we discussed the importance of considering the mental health of museum workers who constantly confront historical trauma, and the subtle ways the physical layout of a museum can mediate visitors’ encounters with the past.
I also had the opportunity to meet many Holocaust survivors who were willing to share their stories with the cohort of interns. This was a particularly impactful part of my internship because this is the last generation of survivors who are still alive. So much of Holocaust education—particularly at HMLA, which was founded by a group of survivors in the 1960s—is grounded in sharing testimony, so I feel extremely lucky that I had the chance to hear from so many survivors.
I feel so fortunate to have had this opportunity to see firsthand how a Holocaust museum operates. I am eager to take the skills I developed in this internship and apply them to my own research about German memorial culture and commemoration during my final year at ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥.
Visit the Summer Internship Stories page to read more about student internship experiences.