Forest, Benjamin and Johnson, Juliet and Till, Karen E.
(2004)
Post
‐
totalitarian national identity: public memory
in Germany and Russia.
Social and Cultural Geography, 5 (3).
pp. 357-380.
ISSN 1464-9365
Abstract
Through a comparative analysis of Germany and Russia, this paper explores how
participation in the memorialization process affects and reflects national identity formation
in post-totalitarian societies. These post-totalitarian societies face the common problem of
re-presenting their national character as civic and democratic, in great part because their
national identities were closely bound to oppressive regimes. Through a comparison of
three memorial sites—Sachsenhausen concentration camp memorial in Germany, and
Lubianka Square and the Park of Arts in Russia—we argue that even where dramatic
reductions in state power and the opening of civil society have occurred, a simple
elite–public dichotomy cannot adequately capture the nature of participation in the process
of memory re-formation. Rather, mutual interactions among multiple publics and elites,
differing in kind and intensity across contexts, combine to form a complex pastiche of
public memory that both interprets a nation’s past and suggests desirable models for its
future. The domination of a ‘Western’ style of memorialization in former East Germany
illustrates how even relatively open debates can lead to the exclusion of certain represen-
tations of the nation. Nonetheless, Germany has had comparatively vigorous public debates
about memorializing its totalitarian periods. In contrast, Russian elite groups have typically
circumvented or manipulated participation in the memorialization process, reflecting both
a reluctance to deal with Russia’s totalitarian past and a emerging national identity less
civic and democratic than in Germany.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Germany; monuments and memorials; politics of memory; public memory; Russia; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography |
| Item ID: |
9026 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1080/1464936042000252778 |
| Depositing User: |
Dr. Karen Till
|
| Date Deposited: |
22 Nov 2017 16:44 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Social and Cultural Geography |
| Publisher: |
Taylor & Francis |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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