Memorialising the German Democratic Republic

纪念德意志民主共和国

• 批准号: AH/I002294/1
• 负责人: Anna Saunders
• 金额: $ 7.12万
• 依托单位: Bangor University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2011 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FI002294%2F1
• 关键词: Memorialising; German; Democratic; Republic

Since unification, numerous public spaces in eastern Germany have been freed from Cold War narratives and been reinvested with meaning, thus making them available for new types of public remembrance. Eastern Germany's fast-changing landscape of monuments and memorials is central to the shaping of collective identities and memories, particularly in light of Germany's two twentieth century dictatorships. While much research has hitherto been carried out on memorials relating to the Holocaust and the National Socialist past, there has been very little detailed work on the way in which the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the legacy of socialism feature within this landscape - despite extensive historical research on the GDR, as well as a number of recent works on 'Ostalgie' and manifestations of east German identities in literature, film and consumer culture. The proposed project aims to fill this gap by producing a monograph which will examine a selection of in-depth case studies of monuments and memorials in eastern Germany. The focus on the urban landscape is particularly significant on the territory of former East Germany, for the GDR regime placed great importance on monuments and urban space in order to promote a collective socialist consciousness and a cohesive East German identity. In contrast to numerous recent studies of non-spatial 'sites of memory', the focus of this project returns to the principal physical meaning of the term 'site', underlining the primary importance of the relationship between the built environment and memory. As a focused study of lesser-known monuments relating to key events and themes in the GDR (e.g. socialist icons, Soviet special camps, 17 June 1953, the Berlin Wall and the events of 1989/90), it will be the first of its kind in the field, and will move away from the well-documented focus on national narratives in Berlin. The key areas of investigation relate to four areas: a) the role of the GDR past in shaping both the physical landscape of eastern Germany and the construction of national and regional identities; b) the agents of memory and the identification of key patterns in the memorialisation process;c) the relationship between time and memory, in order to test the categorisation of different 'types' of memory and to assess the impact of past memory cultures on present structures of memory;d) the restrictions and challenges of memorial form and the impact of form, location and authenticity on the production of memory. In order to investigate these issues, the project will 'read' the selected monuments and associated debates in three ways. First, it will test the motives of key interest groups by examining documentary records from the planning stages of monuments; second, it will examine the reception and understanding of monuments through local newspaper coverage, the activities of citizens' groups, and the observation of public interaction with the monuments; third, it will investigate the interplay between conflicting types of collective memories through interviews with artists, local activists and politicians. These methods will ensure that case studies are examined from the perspectives of both the participants and the institutions/groups which are responsible for creating the monuments, thus highlighting the interaction between 'top down' and 'bottom up' memories.This project is a timely investigation of memorialisation processes in contemporary Germany, for it will be able to reflect on the twentieth anniversary celebrations of the fall of the Berlin Wall and of unification, both of which have significantly shaped the narratives within which memorial structures are embedded. It is also a significant time to build on public interest in this sphere, as is the aim of the broader impact of this project, which intends to engage teachers and learners of Germanand contemporary history, as well as practioners in the field of public art.

自统一以来，德国东部的许多公共空间已经从冷战叙事中解放出来，并重新赋予意义，从而使它们成为新型的公共纪念场所。德国东部快速变化的纪念碑和纪念馆景观对于塑造集体身份和记忆至关重要，特别是考虑到德国在世纪的两次远征。虽然迄今为止已经对大屠杀和国家社会主义过去的纪念馆进行了大量研究，但很少有详细的工作是关于德意志民主共和国（GDR）和社会主义遗产在这一景观中的特点-尽管对GDR进行了广泛的历史研究，以及一些关于“Ostalgie”和东德身份在文学中的表现的最新作品，电影与消费文化拟议的项目旨在填补这一空白，编写一本专著，对德国东部的一些纪念碑和纪念馆进行深入的个案研究。对城市景观的关注在前东德德国的领土上尤其重要，因为民主德国政权非常重视纪念碑和城市空间，以促进集体社会主义意识和有凝聚力的东德身份。与最近对非空间“记忆场所”的众多研究相反，该项目的重点回到了“场所”一词的主要物理含义，强调了建筑环境与记忆之间关系的首要重要性。作为一项对与东德关键事件和主题相关的鲜为人知的纪念碑的重点研究（例如社会主义图标，1953年6月17日的苏联特别集中营，柏林墙和1989/90年的事件），它将是该领域的第一个此类研究，并将摆脱对柏林民族叙事的充分记录。调查的关键领域涉及四个方面：a）民主德国过去在塑造东部德国的自然景观和国家和地区身份的建设中的作用; B）记忆的代理人和纪念过程中关键模式的识别;（三）时间与记忆的关系;以测试不同“类型”的记忆的分类，并评估过去的记忆文化对现在的记忆结构的影响;纪念形式的限制和挑战，以及形式、地点和真实性对记忆产生的影响。为了调查这些问题，该项目将以三种方式“阅读”选定的纪念碑和相关的辩论。首先，它将通过审查纪念碑规划阶段的文献记录来测试主要利益集团的动机;其次，它将通过当地报纸的报道、公民团体的活动以及观察公众与纪念碑的互动来审查对纪念碑的接受和理解;第三，透过与艺术家、地方活动家和政治家的访谈，探讨相互冲突的集体记忆之间的相互作用。这些方法将确保从参与者和负责创建纪念碑的机构/团体的角度对案例研究进行审查，从而突出“自上而下”和“自下而上”记忆之间的相互作用。该项目是对当代德国纪念过程的及时调查，因为它将能够反思柏林围墙倒塌和统一二十周年的庆祝活动，这两个事件都极大地塑造了纪念结构所包含的叙事。这也是一个重要的时间来建立在这一领域的公共利益，因为这是该项目的更广泛的影响，它打算让教师和学习者的德国和当代历史，以及在公共艺术领域的从业者的目的。

项目成果

Kulturkontakte - Cultures in Contact

Kulturkontakte - 文化接触

• 发表时间: 2014
• 作者: Saunders, A.

Memorializing the GDR: Monuments and Memory after 1989

纪念东德：1989 年后的纪念碑与记忆

• 发表时间: 2018
• 作者: Saunders Anna