Shattered spaces : encountering Jewish ruins in postwar Germany and Poland / Michael Meng.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Meng, Michael.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Germany--History--1945-1990.

Jews.

Jews--Germany--History--1990-.

Jews--Poland--History--20th century.

Jews--Poland--History--21st century.

Collective memory and city planning--Germany.

Collective memory and city planning.

Collective memory and city planning--Poland.

Memory--Social aspects--Germany.

Memory.

Memory--Social aspects--Poland.

Memorialization--Germany.

Memorialization.

Memorialization--Poland.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (368 p.)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

After the Holocaust, the empty, silent spaces of bombed-out synagogues, cemeteries, and Jewish districts were all that was left in many German and Polish cities with prewar histories rich in the sights and sounds of Jewish life. What happened to this scarred landscape after the war, and how have Germans, Poles, and Jews encountered these ruins over the past sixty years? In the postwar period, city officials swept away many sites, despite protests from Jewish leaders. But in the late 1970's church groups, local residents, political dissidents, and tourists demanded the preservation of the few ruins still standing. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, this desire to preserve and restore has grown stronger. In one of the most striking and little-studied shifts in postwar European history, the traces of a long-neglected Jewish past have gradually been recovered, thanks to the rise of heritage tourism, nostalgia for ruins, international discussions about the Holocaust, and a pervasive longing for cosmopolitanism in a globalizing world. Examining this transformation from both sides of the Iron Curtain, Michael Meng finds no divided memory along West-East lines, but rather a shared memory of tensions and paradoxes that crosses borders throughout Central Europe. His narrative reveals the changing dynamics of the local and the transnational, as Germans, Poles, Americans, and Israelis confront a built environment that is inevitably altered with the passage of time. Shattered Spaces exemplifies urban history at its best, uncovering a surprising and moving postwar story of broad contemporary interest.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Introduction

1 Confronting the Spoils of Genocide

2 Clearing Jewish Rubble

3 Erasing the Jewish Past

4 Restoring Jewish Ruins

5 Reconstructing the Jewish Past

Conclusion

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674062818

0674062817

OCLC:

1041188677