An awkward object, or a 1943 memorial to the women murdered at Majdanek

Inspired by an encounter in the archive of the State Museum at Majdanek, this article offers a reading of the manuscript of the testimony submitted by a former female inmate of the camp, Helena Kurcyuszowa, and the detailed story it tells of a monument she planned, designed and began constructing in 1943 at the women’s (V) field of the camp. The argument draws on methodologies of critical memory studies, trauma and gender studies, as well as a visual culture approach to commemorative gestures in visual, material and spatial forms. The analysis revolves around the concept of the awkward object, i.e. an object that confounds and challenges the researcher, and awkwardness, i.e. a sense that the object escapes normalized historical narratives and dominant forms of commemoration and memory. A memorial designed by Kurcyuszowa in Majdanek is studied in relation to contemporary artistic, feminist approaches to memorials and monuments, and the role gender plays in the processes of access to the archive, the document, and the witness in relation to the Nazi genocide. This study is devoted to a transformative intervention in the memory culture of the present moment.