Destroy. Rename. Or remove. In America, memorializing difficult parts of our past falls into three categories. Three categories fail to represent the intricacies that the memorial likely represents. A major goal for me as I came on this trip was to understand, in concrete terms, how the Germans have come to terms with their past, or to use the eloquent German phrase Vergangenheitsbewältigung.
Based on our trip so far, I grouped historical reckoning into three main groups: memorialization, documentation, and physical manifestation. These three types of practices are applied in different scenarios based on a range of considerations such as community wishes, the nature of the location, the intended message, and the intended audience.
Memorialization is an attempt to denote a set place of significance. We encountered the “stumbling stones” scattered across Berlin. The stones are placed in front of the buildings where Jews were deported and contain the victim’s name, date of birth, date of death, and location of death. These stones serve as a daily reminder to residents of the lost neighbors who had been forced from their homes.
Documentation collects information to educate. We visited the NSDAP documentation center in Munich, which intended to inform visitors, mainly Germans, about the rise of the Nazis, and how the party operated.
Physical manifestation refers to acts intended to remind participants of the past. At the Nuremberg party grounds, we learned how Bob Dylan agreed to perform at the same space where Hitler held his massive pre-war party rallies. Dylan had one condition: his stage must be opposite to where Hitler had spoken so that all the attendees would symbolically show their backs to the Nazis. To note, some locations could be described by multiple categories, as Dachau memorialized and documented the Holocaust.
I see the goal of historical reckoning as a means to achieve a more equitable society. But these efforts are only part of the healing process. Today, we discussed anti-Semitism in Germany with an educator who uses art to tell Jewish stories. She argued that art, and not facts or statistics, is the most effective means to convey modern Jewish identity. These messages are important to prevent German society from perceiving Jews as objects, perpetual victims to Germans’ perpetrators. These two pieces, remembering the past and learning about current communities, lead to a societal restoration that creates more equitable conditions for all members.