Talk
The Slow Path to Remembrance: Memorial Spaces and Post-Unification Right-Wing Violence in Eastern German Cityscapes

This talk will examine efforts to remember the right-wing and racist violence of the early 1990s in eastern German cityscapes. Through focussing on the memory of the pogroms of Hoyerswerda in 1991 and Rostock-Lichtenhagen in 1992, it will trace the slow and often controversial process of memorialisation, in which the perceived need to restore the damaged reputation and ‘image’ of such towns was often at odds with the act of engaging meaningfully with a difficult past. The talk will examine the relevance of physical space, the involvement of different interest groups and the impact of grassroots and artistic initiatives in the memorialisation process, viewing memorial spaces as ang point – rather than an end point – for community engagement. As such, it will reflect on the difficulties of memorialisation in the post-unification east German landscape more generally, demonstrating the path-dependency of memory, and reflect more specifically on the slow inclusion of victims’ voices in these case studies, alongside increasing efforts to embed memorial structures into educational projects and broader anniversary activities. The findings will show that the remembrance of this past today continues to be critical for the construction of local and regional identities and for shaping current and future narratives of inclusion and exclusion.

Anna Saunders is Professor of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Liverpool, where she has until recently served as Head of Department. Her current research examines contemporary anniversary and memorial trends in eastern Germany, with a focus on the built environment and memorial activism. She is author of two monographs: Memorializing the GDR: Monuments and Memory after 1989 (Berghahn, 2018) and Honecker’s Children: Youth and Patriotism in East(ern) Germany, 1979-2002 (MUP, 2007), and has edited a special issue of German Life and Letters on the topic of ‘Anniversary Capital’ (2020). She has also co-edited with Debbie Pinfold the volume Remembering and Rethinking the GDR: Multiple Perspectives and Plural Authenticities (Palgrave, 2013) and has published articles on a range of topics relating to youth culture in the GDR, literary and filmic representations of East Germany, and the post-unification built environment.

The talk is part of the HAIT Lecture Series Lost (in) Transformation: Answers from the Recent Past to Challenges of Today in the winter semester. Friederike Kind-Kovács will moderate the talk.

The Lecture Series takes place in TIL 110 and hybrid via Zoom. 

If you would like to attend, please register by the Monday before the event at: hait@tu-dresden.de, stating your full name. The registration link will be sent to you separately a few days before the start of the event.

Diese Maßnahme ist mitfinanziert durch Steuermittel auf Grundlage des vom Sächsischen Landtag beschlossenen Haushalts.