Angels in the Temple: The Aesthetic Construction of Citizenship at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Prior to the opening of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., in 1993, critics voiced concerns about the appropriateness of locating a museum of European mass genocide within the Washington Mall, a space of national pedagogy devoted to celebrating the history and achievements of the U.S. nation-state. However, representing the Holocaust in terms of U.S. national identity has been a central preoccupation of the museum's planners and curators from its inception. The museum (fig. 1) not only tells a story about America's role in the Holocaust, but provides a lesson in how to be a good citizen in the U.S. today. As the project director during planning and construction stated