Britta Geschwind

My primary interest lies in how societal institutions reflect and negotiate ideals and views on citizenship and democracy, both in the present and the past. In recent years, my research has concentrated on the Swedish reception of former concentration camp prisoners, with an emphasis on agency, gender, stigma, and sexuality. I am also interested in the material traces left in the wake of the reception after the Second World War and how these are mobilized and given meaning in the present. My research has broadly focused on heritage, its uses, and the role of memory institutions. I am the Principal Investigator for the project titled "Swedish Remembrance of the Holocaust: Museums, Politics, and Materiality," funded by the Swedish Research Council (Dnr: 2022-02011). The project with co-researchers Björn M staaf and Victoria martinez explores how the Holocaust and related events are represented in Swedish museums, focusing on materiality, belonging, and power relations. In addition to investigating the formation process of the Swedish Holocaust Museum, the study compares how existing museums, such as Malmö Museums and Kulturen in Lund, have framed, exhibited, and utilized their collections related to the Holocaust. It specifically examines how the Holocaust is defined, framed, and negotiated in political and social contexts at national, regional, and local levels. As the Research and Development Coordinator for the Swedish Holocaust Museum, I am the Principal Investigator for the research network titled "Collecting the Holocaust in Sweden: Collections and Ethics" (Dnr: 2022-06183), also financed by the Swedish Research Council with co-researchers Markus Idvall (SU), Fredrik Nilsson (ÅA) Liv Nilsson Stutz (LiU), Malin Thor Tureby (MU).