Memorials in Berlin and Buenos Aires : balancing memory, architecture, and tourism / Brigitte Sion.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sion, Brigitte, 1970- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Holocaust memorials--Germany--Berlin.

Holocaust memorials.

Architecture and tourism.

War memorials.

Germany--Berlin.

War memorials--Argentina--Buenos Aires.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), and architecture.

Architecture and tourism--Germany.

Architecture and tourism--Argentina.

Berlin (Germany)--Buildings, structures, etc.

Berlin (Germany).

Buildings--Argentina--Buenos Aires.

Buildings.

Argentina--Buenos Aires.

Argentina.

Germany.

Physical Description:

xix, 129 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham ; Boulder ; New York ; London : Lexington Books, [2015]

Summary:

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Berlin and the Monument to the Victims of State Terrorism within the Memory Park in Buenos Aires have been controversial from start to finish. While these sites differ in many respects, Germany and Argentina share a history of dictatorial regimes that murdered civilians on a massive scale. The Nazis implemented the genocide of millions of Jews and other minorities during World War II. The Argentina military junta was responsible for the "disappearance" and subsequent murder of thousands of civilians in the 1970s. Decades later, new governments in Germany and Argentina acknowledged the responsibility of their respective states for these mass murders by memorializing the victims with a national monument in the capital city. This study of two memorials develops a model and method for analyzing the memorialization of recent tragedies that share several characteristics: the state creates a self-indicting national memorial to the victims of state-sponsored mass murder in the absence of their bodies. Analyzed as sites of conflicting performances and as performances themselves, these memorials illuminate the ways in which people engage with them, and how an architecture of absence triggers embodied memory through somatic experience. While death tourism and architourism are a key to their success in attracting visitors, they also pose a threat to their commemorative role. Besides assessing the success and failure of these memorials, Brigitte Sion offers a model for analyzing a transnational circuit of commemorative practices. Book jacket.

Contents:

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the Parque de la Memoria in historical context

Commemorating absent bodies

Self-Indicting monuments

Embodied memory

Death tourism and architourism

Multitasking memorials.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780739176306

0739176307

OCLC:

900119330