The burden of history(?): Particular and universal framings of the memory of the Holocaust and attitudes towards asylum seekers in Israel

Does divergent framing of historical events affect attitudes towards contemporary situations? This study examines whether particular or universal framings of the Holocaust impacts attitudes amongst Israeli Jews towards asylum seekers. Several survey experiments demonstrate that historical framings have a distinct affect on such attitudes. When the Holocaust was framed in universal terms, respondents were less likely to endorse an exclusionist policy towards African asylum seekers or oppose giving medical treatment to wounded Syrians in Israeli hospitals. This effect was limited to secular and liberal Jews, though. When the memory of the Holocaust was framed in particular terms, however, no such affect existed. The particular understanding of the Holocaust memory thus predominates within Jewish-Israeli society.  Implications of the findings for framing collective memory are discussed.