Ebook: Memorializing the GDR: monuments and memory after 1989

Since unification, eastern Germany has witnessed a rapidly changing memorial landscape, as the fate of former socialist monuments has been hotly debated and new commemorative projects have met with fierce controversy. Memorializing the GDR provides the first in-depth study of this contested arena of public memory, investigating the individuals and groups devoted to the creation or destruction of memorials as well as their broader aesthetic, political, and historical contexts. Emphasizing the interrelationship of built environment, memory and identity, it brings to light the conflicting memories of recent German history, as well as the nuances of national and regional constructions of identity.;Memory debates and the built environment since unification -- 'Working through' the GDR past -- A shifting memorial culture -- Memory, monuments and memorialization -- Notions of, and problems with, collective forms of memory -- Monuments, memorials and 'memory markers' -- Socialist icons: from heroes to villains? -- The role of monuments in the GDR -- Transition: October 1989 to October 1990 -- Eastern Berlin I: from unification to Lenin's fall -- Eastern Berlin II: from the commission's recommendations to -- Thalmann's survival -- Demolition debates beyond Berlin: Chemnitz's 'nischel' -- Modification: a modern makeover for Halle's flag monument -- Relocation: finding a new home for Leipzig's Karl Marx relief -- Conclusion: the ever-present narrative of 1989 -- Soviet special camps: reassessing a repressed past -- Special camps and interrogation centres -- Commemoration without monumentalization: representing silenced memories at Buchenwald -- Emotive symbolism and reconciliation at Funfeichen -- Breaking the silence: historical revision in Greifswald -- A monument without answers? Haftstatte Prenzlauer Allee, Berlin.;Conclusion: Revoking silence -- 17 June 1953 uprisings: remembering a failed revolution -- Conflicting interpretations in Berlin: Katharina Karrenberg, Wolfgang Ruppel and beyond -- Remembering Hennigsdorf's steelworkers -- Tank tracks in Leipzig -- Tank tracks in Dresden -- Conclusion: diverse remembrance -- The Berlin Wall: historical document, tourist magnet or urban eyesore? -- The early post-Wende years: from commodification to preservation -- Ubergange: Remembering border crossings and transitions -- Bernauer Strasse wall memorial (Part I): peripheral remembrance? -- Victimhood and visibility I: Remembering child vicitms in Treptow -- Victimhood and visibility II: White crosses in duplicate -- Victimhood and visibility III: The Freedom Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie -- Towards decentralised remembrance: the gesamtkonzept and Bernauer Strasse (Part II) -- Conclusion: Shifting remembrance -- Remembering the 'peaceful revolution' and German unity -- Building national memory? Berlin's freedom and unity monument -- Remembering the Leipzig demonstrations: the Nikolaikirchhof and beyond -- Schwerin's controversial remembrance of the round table -- Swords into ploughshares: Dessau's peace bell -- Transforming the fortunes of Magdeburg? the development of a citizens' monument -- A truly democratic project? Plauen's Wende monument -- Conclusion: The concrete legacy of the peaceful revolution -- Conclusion: Beyond the palimpsest -- What remains? -- Dominant narratives -- Dialogic remembrance and entangled memories.