The archive of the fictitious: USHMM’s Daniel’s Story as educational memory

ABSTRACT The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s exhibition, Daniel’s Story sits precisely at the midpoint between archive and fictional narrative, using historical accounts and archival material to construct a childhood for a fictitious ‘Daniel’ to be experienced by museum visitors. While Daniel’s Story raises concerns regarding over-identification, it also presents an educational tool made more palatable within the framework of the permanent exhibition. Using Alison Landsberg’s notion of prosthetic memory, this article analyses the purpose of this exhibition within the context of the archive, the historical boundaries it simultaneously crosses and respects, as well as the message of the ‘artifacts’ themselves.