Memory and Postwar Memorials: Confronting the Violence of the Past

by M. Silberman (Editor), F. Vatan (Editor)

Overview

The twentieth century witnessed genocides, ethnic cleansing, forced population expulsions, shifting borders, and other disruptions on an unprecedented scale. This book examines the work of memory and the ethics of healing in post authoritarian societies that have experienced state-perpetrated violence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349465743
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	12/06/2013
Series:	Studies in European Culture and History
Edition description:	1st ed. 2013
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Francine Hirsch, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA Karl Schloegel, Cultural Studies, Europa Viadrina University, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany Bill Niven, History and Heritage Department, Nottingham Trent University, UK Robert van der Laarse, History and Cultural Studies, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Geneviève Zubrzycki, Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA Ofelia Ferrán, Department of Spanish, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA Robyn Autry, Department of Sociology, Wesleyan University, USA Laurie Beth Clark, Department of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA Anke Pinkert, Department of German, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA Richard Golsan, Department of French, Texas A&M University, USA Marc Silberman, Department of German, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

Table of Contents

Introduction – After the Violence: Memory; Florence Vatan and Marc Silberman PART I: COMPETING MEMORIES 1. The Nuremberg Trials as Cold War Competition: The Politics of the Historical Record and the International Stage; Francine Hirsch 2. The Cube on Red Square: A Memorial for the Victims of Twentieth-Century Russia; Karl Schlögel 3. Reactive Memory: The Holocaust and Flight and Expulsion of Germans; Bill Niven 4. Beyond Auschwitz? Europe's Terrorscapes in the Age of Postmemory; Rob van der Laarse PART II: STAGING MEMORY 5. Narrative Shock and Polish Memory Remaking in the Twenty-first Century; Geneviève Zubrzycki 6. Grievability and the Politics of Visibility: The Photography of Francesc Torres and the Mass Graves of the Spanish Civil War; Ofelia Ferrán 7. Doing Memory in Public: Post-apartheid Memorial Space as an Activist Project; Robyn Autry 8. Mnemonic Objects: Forensic and Rhetorical Practices in Memorial Culture; Laurie Beth Clark PART III: RE-MEMBERING MEMORY 9. Toward a Critical Reparative Practice in Post-1989 German Literature: Christa Wolf's City of Angels or The Overcoat of Dr. Freud (2010); Anke Pinkert 10. Paradoxes of Remembrance: Dissecting France's 'Duty to Memory'; Richard J. Golsan 11. After-Words: Lessons in Memory and Politics; Marc Silberman

Editorial Reviews

"As the essays in this volume explore memorial sites, museums, literary texts, and trials as contested sites of meaning making with regard to commemorating violent pasts, they significantly contribute to the study of predominantly European collective memories and commemorative practices." - H-Soz-u-Kult

"Marc Silberman and Florence Vatan have assembled an intriguing array of case studies providing a panorama of commemorative practices in post-conflict scenarios. Testimony to the mature status of memory studies, the distinctive essays provide rich insights into how divided societies cope with memories of past violence. Readers interested in recent mnemonic trajectories and attendant political and cultural practices - primarily but not exclusively in Europe - will find this book highly rewarding." - Daniel Levy, Associate Professor of Sociology, Stony Brook University, USA

"This rich volume provides a lively and engaging introduction to contemporary debates on the global politics of memory. Silberman and Vatan have assembled a stellar group of established and emerging scholars whose work cuts across the continent of Europe and moves into non-European space as well. With a particular focus on the aftermath of violence, the essays collected here provide insight into the dynamics of cultural memory in state and grassroots commemorations, in museums and the media, and in trials and artistic performances." - Michael Rothberg, Professor of English, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA, and author of Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization

From the Publisher