Title: Structures of memory : understanding urban change in Berlin and beyond /
Authors: Jordan, Jennifer A., 1970-
Publisher: Stanford University Press,
Year: 2006
Subjects: City planning Germany Berlin; Land use Germany Berlin.; Memorials Germany Berlin.; Berlin (Germany) Buildings, structures, etc.; Berlin (Germany) History
Abstract: "In many different parts of the world people cordon off sites of great suffering or great heroism from routine use and employ these sites exclusively for purposes of remembrance. The author of this book turns to the landscape of contemporary Berlin in order to understand how some places are forgotten by all but eyewitnesses, whereas others become the sites of public ceremonies, museums, or commemorative monuments. The places examined mark the city's Nazi past and are often rendered off limits to use for apartments, shops, or offices. However, only a portion of all "authentic" sites--places with direct connections to acts of resistance or persecution during the Nazi era--actually become designated as places of official collective memory. Others are simply reabsorbed into the quotidian landscape. Remembering leaves its marks on the skin of the city, and the goal of this book is to analyze and understand precisely how." -- Publisher's description
Contents: Landscapes of remembering and forgetting -- Blank slates and authentic traces: memorial culture in Berlin after 1945 -- Persistent memory: pre-1989 memorials after the fall of the wall -- Changing places: new memorials since 1989 -- Forgetting places -- Berlin and beyond.