Culture of Remembrance
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Erinnerungskultur (from German), or Culture of Remembrance, is the interaction of an individual or a society with their past and history.
Definition
In the strictest sense, Remembrance Culture consists of all the behavioral configurations and socially approved or acquired
Expression and forms
Particularly within the public Culture of Remembrance, expressions can be found in a variety of initiatives and approaches, for example the
Examples
In Germany, Austria and in many other countries, the Culture of Remembrance is essentially a synonym for remembering the
However, a central aspect of the Culture of Remembrance is not only the German experience, but also
International cooperation in the field of Erinnerungskultur
In Europe, the French-German collaboration regarding remembrance can serve as a template for relations between other countries, such as those between Germany and Poland. These two countries have to come to terms with their shared painful past in order to strengthen current relations. Among other things there is a multifaceted dialogue: there have been many events throughout European history which allow for a comparison of different remembrance cultures.
Conservation, restoration and reconstruction
A recent example of reconstruction can be found at the
A lyricist from Dresden, Durs Grünbein, denotes this attempt of reconstruction with a critical distance by using the title Chimäre Dresden (chimera of Dresden): other cities had also a tragic downfall, however, none of them cultivated the memory of the time before the destruction with so much painful nostalgia, none of them lived so much through the identikit of their former cosmopolitan silhouette. Similar conflicts arose i.e. during the reconstruction of Heidelberger Schloss (which remains undone).
Current discussion
In 2011, during the event "Memorial Mania"
Other prominent and current conflicts about the culture of remembrance are i.e. the reconstruction of
Role in the foundation of national identity
Culture of remembrance, a historical sorrow, was only of minor importance in the conflict of the Berlin "Holocaust Monument". According to Jan-Holger Kirsch, its proper significance consists in "redefining of ‘the national identity’ in the unified Germany". The monument is considered to be a prominent exhibit of the Berlin Republic, in which the acknowledgments of nation and historical guilt are not seen as contradiction anymore. Thereby, the Holocaust can be used as a form of identity politics through which especially Jews are excluded once more.
Critique of Erinnerungskultur
Loss of Authenticity Through Sacralization
The historian K. Erik Franzen comments in an article about Dachau, that the topography of the site has maintained a strong religious focus through the construction of different religious memorials that encourage the guiding principle of Christian reconciliation. "The "authenticity" of the site has virtually disintegrated as part of its contact with the past- if there was even such a thing as an authentic site to begin with."[3]
Suggestive Museumization ("Suggestive Musealisierung")
In her autobiography, Weiter leben. Eine Jugend , the literary scholar and holocaust survivor Ruth Klüger has contested whether Dachau, amongst other examples, is suitable for use as an educational facility and museum. She writes that Dachau is so clean and orderly that it almost feels inviting, as if it were evoking the memory of a former holiday camp rather than of a tortured existence.[4] In a conversation about the growing memorialization of memory, she expressed the view that "Pathos and Kitsch" would shift the view of reality and would not do justice to the victims.[5] Aleida Assmann comments that for Klüger, "museumised places of remembrance" have become "Deckerinnerungen" ("screen memories").[6]
Distorted language
Sigrid Jacobeit[7] analyzes the distorted language of commemoration.
"The language of commemoration is ritualized, selective, variegated, standardized, and tends to explicitly transport a particular society to the relevant image of history". The past becomes decontextualized, uncoupled from political, societal and cultural concepts, and there is even an attempt "to master the past and to render it harmless for future generations". "Nie wieder!" ("Never again!") is in this case viewed as a cautionary and illusory solution.[8]
Templates
Jan Assmann sees it as a "threatening sign" that the culture of remembrance is sometimes reduced to a template, whereby only that which fits the template is seen as valid, and that which doesn't is rejected.[9][10]
References
- ISBN 978-3-643-10338-3, S. 4–16; die ursprüngliche Theorie (ohne Sport) beruht auf Paul Connerton: Seven Types of Forgetting. Memory Studies. 1, 2008, S. 59–71
- ^ am 9./10. Dezember 2011 in Berlin (deutsche Vorankündigung durch das Haus der Kulturen der Welt Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine und englische Vorankündigung durch die American Academy Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine)
- ^ "Nachrichten aus Deutschland und der Welt | Frankfurter Rundschau". October 22, 2023.
- ISBN 9783835321519, retrieved May 18, 2016
- ISSN 0174-4917, retrieved May 18, 2016
- ISBN 9783406585326, retrieved May 15, 2016
- ^ "Prof. Dr. Sigrid Jacobeit — Institut für Europäische Ethnologie". www.euroethno.hu-berlin.de (in German). Archived from the original on May 15, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
- ^ Sigrid Jacobeit: KZ-Gedenkstätten als nationale Erinnerungsorte.Zwischen Ritualisierung und Musealisierung. Antrittsvorlesung 5. November 2002 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Philosophische Fakultät I Institut für Europäische Ethnologie http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/humboldt-vl/jacobeit-sigrid-2002-11-05/PDF/Jacobeit.pdf
- ^ Jan Assmann: Das kulturelle Gedächtnis. Schrift, Erinnerung und politische Identität in frühen Hochkulturen, München 1999²; zusammenfassend ders.: Erinnern, um dazuzugehören, in: Kristin Platt/Mihran Dabag (Hrsg.): Generation und Gedächtnis. Erinnerungen und kollektive Identitäten, Opladen 1995, S. 51-75.
- ^ Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (May 26, 2002). "Zugänge zur Zeitgeschichte: Primärerfahrung, Erinnerungskultur, Geschichtswissenschaft | bpb" (in German). Retrieved May 15, 2016.