Holocaust Monuments and National Memory

Since 1989, two sites of memory with respect to the deportation and persecution of Jews in France and Germany during the Second World War have received intense public attention: the Vélo d'Hiver (Winter Velodrome) in Paris and the Monument for the Murdered Jews of Europe or Holocaust Monument in Berlin. Why is this so? Both monuments, the author argues, are unique in the history of memorial projects. Although they are genuine "sites of memory", neither monument celebrates history, but rather serve as platforms for the deliberation, negotiation and promotion of social consensus over the memorial status of war crimes in France and Germany. The debates over these monuments indicate that it is the communication among members of the public via the mass media, rather than qualities inherent in the sites themselves, which transformed these sites into symbols beyond traditional conceptions of heritage and patriotism.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations

Introduction

PART I: MONUMENTS AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY

Chapter 1. Monuments in History
Chapter 2. History in Monuments

PART II: PARIS AND BERLIN AS SITES OF MEMORY OF THE 1990S

Chapter 3. Paris: the Vél’ d’Hiv’ and the Promise of National Reconciliation 1992–97
Chapter 4. Berlin: the Monument for the Murdered Jews of Europe and the Promise of Consensus 1988–2000
Chapter 5. The Institutionalisation of Memory in Public Art and rhetoric

PART III: DIALOGIC MONUMENTS BETWEEN NEGOTIATION AND STATE INTERVENTION

Chapter 6. The National Memorial Paradigm
Chapter 7. The Postnational Memorial Paradigm
Chapter 8. Dialogic Monuments

Appendix
Bibliography
Index