Culture of Remembrance

Erinnerungskultur (from German), or Remembrance Culture, is the interaction of an individual or a society with their past and history.

In the strictest sense, Remembrance Culture is all the behavioral configurations and socially approved or acquired manners of a society or group used to keep parts of the past in their consciousness and thus deliberately make it present. The central theme is not the display of historical and objective knowledge but primarily collective and subjective perceptions of historical connections to the past from a current perspective. One can distinguish between private and public Remembrance Culture as well as their respective regular and event-based elements. The striking thing about a Culture of Remembrance is the fact that collective perceptions shape subjective ones. Social conflicts, relationships and problems influence a Remembrance Culture. In a pronounced Culture of Remembrance, less emphasized elements are likely to be forgotten. Family albums, genealogical research or anniversaries with personal or familial significance are examples of private or subjective forms of Remembrance Culture. Works from a Remembrance Culture can officially be designated as cultural artefacts or cultural monuments if there is a long-standing public interest.

Particularly within the public Culture of Remembrance, expressions can be found in a variety of initiatives and approaches, for example the archiving of information, its scientific renovation and finally public documentation and other media presentation. Apart from these forms which are more linked to the event itself, other crucial forms of Remembrance Culture are memorial sites, commemoration days and monuments. Certain events, like for example the Historians Dispute provide a rather constant discussion platform for it in the short term but there are many intense social discussions surrounding it from different topic areas. They very quickly touch on political interests and for that reason they are also subjected to a potential instrumentalisation through current affairs. Thereby, questions concerning the Culture of Remembrance, thus the perception of it is closely linked with questions regarding authorizing claims to power and that of creating a national identity. In many cases, this leads to the government ritualization of the Culture of Remembrance and determines a number of taboos in society. The politicization of Erinerungskultur is above all noticeable in regime changes, in which the previous understanding of past events is altered under new leadership. An obvious example is the way in which we approach monuments, which commemorate heroes from past regimes in the past. They however are not honoured in the same way following a change in regime.

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