Language:
English
Year of publication:
2013
Titel der Quelle:
Journal of War & Culture Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
6,1 (2013) 75-91
Keywords:
Hoheisel, Horst,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Commemoration
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
Abstract:
Since 1980 the Federal Republic of Germany has seen the emergence of so-called countermonuments (Gegendenkmäler) to victims of fascism, in particular of the Holocaust. This trend has not only been a response to the growing interest in the Holocaust, but has also been engendered by a deep mistrust of monumental forms after their exploitation by the Nazis. Reviews the evolution of post-1945 West German memorials, noting that they began with the commemoration of wartime sufferings of Germans themselves, but gradually passed to the memorialization of sufferings inflicted by the Germans on others. Thus, the tendency to "counter-memorialization" can be traced also to the pre-1980 period. Argues that there is now a tendency to a new form of memorialization, "combimemorials", in which memorial, archival, and exhibition elements can be detected. Discusses three of the most characteristic examples of combimemorials: Gunter Demnig's "Stumbling Stones" ("Stolpersteine") and Horst Hoheisel's "Think Stones" ("Denksteine"), both in various cities, and Sigrid Sigurdson's "A Town Remembers" ("Eine Stadt erinnert sich") in Brunswick.
Note:
An enlarged version appeared in "'Holocaust'-Fiktion" (2015) 183-197.
URL:
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