Abstract
This thesis examines the digitisation of Holocaust history as both a technological development and a catalyst for disciplinary transformation within historical practice. Through a year-long embedded study at Holocaust Centre North and its newly launched digitisation project, Homeward Bound, the research explores how the Holocaust heritage sector negotiates the pressures, promises, and ethical demands of digital culture. Combining autoethnographic reflection, theoretical analysis and oral history interviews with Holocaust Centre North staff, the study interrogates digitisation not merely as a practical undertaking but as a process that reshapes epistemological conditions, curatorial responsibilities, and the affective labour of memory work.By situating Holocaust digital practice within wider debates in digital history, the thesis argues that the Holocaust sector provides a crucial model for understanding how historical scholarship may adapt to digital environments while maintaining ethical and epistemic rigour. It contends that the future of digital history will depend on more than technical proficiency: this requires robust digital literacy, critical awareness of mediation, and an ongoing commitment to the ethical stewardship of the past. In doing so, the study contributes to broader disciplinary conversations about how historians might navigate the digital age with methodological flexibility, critical reflexivity, and sustained attentiveness to the moral dimensions of historical representation.
| Date of Award | 21 Jan 2026 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Sponsors | Holocaust Centre North |
| Supervisor | Rebecca Gill (Main Supervisor) |