Eine ikonographische Analyse des Denkmals fur die ermordeten Juden Europas als Ausdruck der Veranderung des kulturellen Gedachtnisses

Masterarbeit aus dem Jahr 2009 im Fachbereich Geschichte Europa - Deutschland - Nationalsozialismus, II. Weltkrieg, Note: 1,5, Europa-Universitt Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) (Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultt), Veranstaltung: Europische Kulturgeschichte, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: The question raised in this thesis is how the architecture of the Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe represents the present German understanding of the Holocaust. Thus it is asked in which way the architectural form of the Eisenman-complex reflects a part of the Cultural Memory of Germany. First of all the terms of Collective Memory and Cultural Memory were scrutinized, followed by an analysis of the historical processes leading to the social self-conception of the Germans in regard of the Holocaust. It became clear that during the 1980ies German societies in BRD and the GDR both underwent a change in the way the Holocaust was remembered. Daniel Levy and Natan Sznaider called this the turning point from the First to the Second Modernity. At this turning point the first functional abstract memorials emerged from the will to confront the public with their understanding of the Holocaust. Remembrance was to become a democratic act of self-reflection. The Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe is interpreted in the light of this new line of artistic forms of remembrance. The conceptual writings of Peter Eisenmann provide the theoretical basis for the analysis of meaning and sense of the memorial. The research presented in this paper utilizes the theories of the deconstructivist philosopher Jacques Derrida and his ideas to the term "mmoire". The aim of the analysis of Peter Eisenmans theories is to show that the memorial is not abstract in terms of non-functional or non-explicit. It is therefore a memorial which includes an "aura" to bind the visitor to the "presentness" of the Holocaust in German Cultural Memory. Despite the "aura" the memorial also gives the visitor a "trace" [Spur] t