Creating a landscape of remembrance
Memorials are most often grand. Large in scale, bold and monumental they usually force the attention of viewers, as they should. They stand to remind us of bold deeds of the past, brave people who fought for change, or pivotal moments in history. Germany has its monuments and memorials, mostly created prior to the world wars. After WWII a different kind of memorial began to appear. Instead of being a large area that one can avoid by walking around, the new memorials were scattered throughout cites. They became part of the landscape, impossible to ignore or avoid. They have become a landscape of remembrance.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” -George Santayana
Germans do not shy away from their troublesome history, but choose to face it head on so that it might never happen again. It is taught from an early age in schools. There is some debate amongst Germans as to how and what should be remembered. Read here for a more in-depth look at these differences.
How can a country remember its past without glorifying it? They don't want to memorialize the wrong thing while still acknowledging the presence of history. For example, there is a sign on a small side street in Berlin, not far from the Federal Ministry of Finance (one of the last remaining buildings built during the Nazi regime and still in use). This sign shares that the purposely nondescript apartment building and parking lot behind it are actually built on top of the bunker in which Hitler lived, and ultimately died, in. Not wanting the space to become a Neo-Nazi shrine, the German government kept the location of the bunker undisclosed for many years.
When looking at the following memorials, ask yourself one of these thoughtful questions from geographyforgeographers.com
What are some of the common themes of the different memorials and structures included here?
What elements of Germany’s recent past were not included?
How do these structures/memorials help Germany in its goal of moving beyond but remembering the past?
How are different groups of people/time periods remembered through these structures?
Stolpersteine, the Stumbling Stones
I first noticed them while walking through Bonn, then again in Cologne, and Koblenz. And suddenly I couldn't stop seeing them, the tiny bronze stones set into the sidewalk. If you are ever in Europe and come across these small shiny memorials, take a second to stop, stoop down and really look at them. Each plaque is engraved with the name and last known whereabouts of a victim of the Holocaust. They are placed outside the victim's last address. There are over 45,000 of the memorials across Europe, with nearly nearly 916 locations in Germany alone. Sometimes there will only be one, sometimes they are clustered together, each plaque a different family member.
The Stolpersteine are another form of the landscape of remembrance. They are not placed prominently, but are rather discovered by chance, only recognizable when passing by at close distance. In contrast to central memorial places, which according to Demnig can be easily avoided or bypassed, Stolpersteine represent a much deeper intrusion of memory into everyday life. the Stolpersteine were first created by artist GUunter Demnig.
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
Berlin doesn’t shy away from its history, particularly that from WWII. Just steps away from the iconic Brandenburg Gate is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It’s initial simplicity quickly becomes overwhelming as you walk through over 2,500 blocks of granite representing the Jewish lives lost in the holocaust. The blocks start small then begin to loom over you, teh geound undulating in waves under your feet.
I visited the memorial first late into the night and it was devastating. The blocks were oppressive, disorienting, and never ending. It was a relief to walk out the other side. Visiting again at sunset, the memorial had a more peaceful feeling at the edges, but the same in the middle. I’d say it does it’s job of forcing people to face the horrificness of the acts committed.
Interestingly enough, the monument has not won everyone over. After visiting the memorial I researching it a little more to see if there was significance to the height or number of the stones. Instead I ran across this article.
Memorial Synagogue of Bonn
Along the Rhine, just behind our hotel, there is a small plaza and wall built into the walking path. It is yet another part of the Landscape of Remembrance to be found in Bonn. This memorial is created on the site of the Bonn synagogue, which stood near this location and was destroyed by the Nazis on November 9th 1938. It also commemorates the Jewish residents of Bonn who were murdered in the Holocaust. As you stand in just the right spot the Star of David on the ground lines up with the negative space in the wall behind it.
The Empty Library
On May 10th, 1933 students and many professors who were part of the National Socialist Student Union burned over 20,000 book in Bebelplatz in front of Humbolt University in the middle of Berlin. Most of the books were from Jewish, communist, liberal and social-critical authors.
In 1995 Israeli artist Micha Ullman created this moving memorial, the Empty Library. It's easy to miss during the day, and even at night, for the memorial is actually underground. Set into the cobblestones of the square, one must look down into a glowing square to see the empty shelves representing the books and ideas lost.
This memorial hit hard given the current push to pull books about the LGTBQ+ community, books about race history and relationships, and other topics are being pulled rapidly from schools in our country.
Neue Wache, the New Guardhouse
This monument along one of the busiest streets in Berlin, Unter den Linden, was previously a memorial to the Wars of Liberation. It was repurposed after WWII into the Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Dictatorship. This is a delicate subject. How can you memorialize victims of a war in which the country was the villain?
The outside looks like any neoclassical monument complete with columns and a carved pediment. Yet it is not until you wander inside that the monument reveals itself. Nearly completely empty, the interior is a black granite box with a large oculus cut into the ceiling. Kathe Kollowitz's sculpture Mother and Her Dead Son is directly placed under the opening , exposed to the rain, snow and cold of the Berlin climate, symbolizing the suffering of civilians during World War II.
das Berliner Mauer, the Berlin Wall
The wall has been gone for over thirty years, yet there are reminders of it, and the divide between East and West Berlin everywhere if you know where to look. First there is the East Side Gallery, the longest still existing piece of the Wall. It has become an outdoor gallery, memorial, and continued art space as contemporary artists continue to cover the eastern side. The western side of the wall is dedicated to the art that was created on it by artists from around the world celebrating the reunification. Most of these murals are touched up or restored every ten years by the original artist. Unlike almost every other flat surface Berlin, street artists and taggers leave these images alone.
More subtle is line of bricks that runs throughout the city marking where the wall once stood. It's a constant reminder underfoot of that divided and contentious time.
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