Petzold, S (2020) Challenging the politics of German victimhood: memory activism and the contested anniversary of the Dresden bombings since 2005. German Life and Letters, 73 (3). pp. 441-463. ISSN 0016-8777
Abstract
The anniversaries of the bombings of Dresden on 13 and 14 February 1945 have become key events in Germany's memory calendar. This article examines the role that local civil society agents have played in shaping, and changing, local memory culture in Dresden after 2005. It will explore how different memory agents interpreted the Dresden bombings, what significance for the present they attributed to them, what memory practices they adopted, and how these led to a significant transformation of local memory culture. I will argue that the years 2005 to 2016 saw two important shifts in local memory culture. First, the initiatives of local civil society activists, who aimed to resurrect ‘forgotten’ memories and advocated alternative memory practices, resulted in a more diverse and pluralist local memory landscape. A key dimension of this was the diversification of the meaning of victimhood that included, crucially, victims of Nazi persecution. Secondly, these years witnessed a reassessment of the meaning of the Dresden bombings and of the inherently political character of the annual commemoration, linking the legacy of the bombings unambiguously to the fight for tolerance and against right‐wing extremism.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | ©2020 The Authors. German Life and Letters published by Editorial Board and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License,which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Languages Cultures & Societies (Leeds) > German (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 07 Aug 2020 08:10 |
Last Modified: | 07 Aug 2020 08:10 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/glal.12276 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:164096 |