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Volume 19
Spektrum: Publications of the German Studies Association
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Views of Violence
Representing the Second World War in German and European Museums and Memorials
Edited by Jörg Echternkamp and Stephan Jaeger
Afterword by Jay Winter
284 pages, 20 illus., bibliog., index
ISBN 978-1-78920-126-0 $135.00/£99.00 / Hb / Published (January 2019)
ISBN 978-1-80073-647-4 $34.95/£27.95 / Pb / Not Yet Published (November 2022)
eISBN 978-1-78920-127-7 eBook
Reviews
“Without a doubt, this expertly edited volume with its comparative approach offers a significant contribution to the academic research on museums and memorials representing the violent past of the Second World War in the twenty-first century. The collection of essays provides ample evidence of the contested shifts in the contemporary European memory culture and ongoing challenges in establishing a ‘shared culture of remembrance’ of the traumatic war years of 1939-45.” • Monatshefte
“Surrounding us are the material, cultural, social and political manifestations of the Second World War. Views of Violence provides guidance on how to act with and against these sites and sights of conflict to promote visions of peace… Through the work of the authors in this volume, we are reminded of the great duty of care needed to remember this past and its relationship to the present.” • International Journal of Military History and Historiography
“With the conceptually convincing, in the quality of his contributions far above average edited volume, the participants have succeeded admirably in giving an exemplary inventory of the current state of the debate with reference to public war commemoration.“ • Neue Politische Literatur
“…makes an important contribution to memory studies because it focuses on the memory of war and its millions of civilian victims, regardless of their identity.” • The German Quarterly
“Scholars can modestly contribute to a shared culture of remembrance through solid comparative research, an example of which is this volume.” • Journal in Cold War Studies
“This is a very impressive collection that brings together a series of strong, substantial case studies arranged into two thematic sections that – in their strength and consistent quality – constitute a significant contribution to the field.” • Gabriel Moshenska, University College London
Description
Twenty-first-century views of historical violence have been immeasurably influenced by cultural representations of the Second World War. Within Europe, one of the key sites for such representation has been the vast array of museums and memorials that reflect contemporary ideas of war, the roles of soldiers and civilians, and the self-perception of those who remember. This volume takes a historical perspective on museums covering the Second World War and explores how these institutions came to define political contexts and cultures of public memory in Germany, across Europe, and throughout the world.
Jörg Echternkamp is Research Director at the Center for Military History and Social Sciences, Potsdam, and Associate Professor of Modern History at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. He is co-editor of the journal Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift as well as the book series De Gruyter Studies in Military History. He has previously published the books Postwar Soldiers 1945-1955 (2000), Militär und Gesellschaft in Ost- und Westdeutschland 1970-1990, ed. (2021), and Deutsche Militärgeschichte in Europa 1945-1990, co-ed. (2022).
Stephan Jaeger is a Professor of German Studies and the Head of the Department of German and Slavic Studies at the University of Manitoba. His research covers narratives, representations and memory of war in German and European museums, literature, film, and historiography. He is co-editor of the book series Museums and Narrative (with De Gruyter). His books include Performative Geschichtsschreibung (2011) and The Second World War in the Twenty-First-Century Museum: From Memory, Narrative, and Experience to Experientiality (2020).