Silke Arnold-de Simine, ed. Memory Traces: 1989 and the Question of German Cultural Identity. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2005. 343 pp. $67.95 (paper), ISBN 978-3-03910-297-6.

Reviewed by Jon B. Olsen (Department of History and Art History, George Mason University)
Published on H-German (November, 2006)

Ever since the landmark publication of Pierre Nora's Lieux des mémoire (1996), academics from a wide variety of disciplines have made serious attempts to examine the role of memory. This trend has been especially prolific in the field of German studies and its end is not in sight. As Silke Arnold-de Simine, the editor of this volume, explains, the goal of the series in which the title appears is to understand that "memories can be perceived as traces, as indications of something that has disappeared, but has nevertheless left its marks and therefore in some sense still prevails" (p. 12). Following this mode of inquiry, each contributor has selected a case study and attempts to locate traces of memories that have played a role in influencing post-1989 German society.

Simine's introduction is an excellent starting point for anyone looking for an overview of memory studies, providing a strong theoretical overview of the competing and complimentary interpretations of scholars such as Aleida Assmann, Jan Assmann and Pierre Nora. Her contribution goes beyond simply summarizing the current trends in approaching memory, but walks the reader through the theoretical landscape in a way that stresses the function of memory in society, politics and culture.

On the whole, the contributions to the volume are first-rate. Not surprisingly, some are stronger than others. Rolf Parr's chapter on national symbols, such as the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gate and the "Train of German Unification," among others, although well written, does not really offer anything new to our understanding of how national symbols shape reality or to what extent these symbols have had a significant impact on German identity. Friederike Eigler's contribution is by far one of the best in the collection. Her examination of Martin Walser and Zafer ?enocak juxtaposes Walser's advocacy for more respect of private memories against ?enocak's plea for a more inclusive model of collective public memory, each of which would involve a redefinition of German national identity.

Marc Humber's chapter on renewed interest in the Mann family following reunification is insightful and does a good job of linking this interest to current political and intellectual trends, but suffers from a lack of readability and the overuse of quotations. One of his stated purposes is to analyze the Mann family as a "many-voiced site of German memory," which is an interesting proposition, but also leads his essay in a multidirectional narrative that is never fully drawn back together. Anne Friederike Müller's contribution, on the other hand, is a well-focused examination of how the personified memories of older German writers, through the characters they create, contributed to the "communicative memories" that a society uses to make sense of the present. Of special note is her reaffirmation of the idea that each social group has its own memories, which are created through discourse and dialogue and compete with other memories for a place in a nation's collective memory.

Ruth Owen's examination of memory within the genre of poetry is an interesting departure from the more common linear historical approach that dominates the field. In contrast, Owen stresses the emotional flashpoints of 1989 and 1990, which were given voice in lyric poetry and captured in time. The Wende poems are marked temporally, geographically and thematically by their content and transmit a wide range of both positive and negative experiences. Obituaries and epitaphs that proclaim, mourn, celebrate and deride the death of the GDR dominate this snapshot of lyric production. Birgit Haas also took up the concept of the Wende in her examination of post-1989 drama works. More to the point, she highlights the lack of general interest in drama during the post-1989 period, attributing this downturn at least in part to the fact that politics itself had entered the theatrical realm. Her analysis of the themes that dominated Wendedramen, such as Mauershow, the colonizing of the GDR, the Wende as a wrecked marriage and the Stasi is straightforward and rather uncontroversial. Haas concludes that the gap separating the works of East and West German playwrights is less distinct than the common perception and depiction of the "ironic West" and the "self-pitying East" would indicate; in fact both groups share many more common traits than is usually assumed.

Bernhard Malkmus's chapter focuses on a critique of W. G. Sebald, with a special focus on his work Austerlitz (2001). Malkum offers a very theoretical interpretation of Sebald's works and attempts to expose the existence of a "third space of intermedia" (p. 214) that arises as a result of convergence of narrative text and visual subtext. Although Malkum's analysis of Sebald is highly sophisticated and well-written, it is difficult to connect with the other chapters in the volume because the chapter is heavily rooted in a solely West German narrative of memory and all but ignores the East German experience of memory creation.

The next two chapters both deal with the reception of GDR history in post-1989 Germany. Andreas Böhm's chapter looks at the growth of the museum industry and alternative histories as seen in recent literature and film, focusing on Ein Garten im Norden (1998) and Goodbye, Lenin! (2003). His treatments of both are good, but they lack an in-depth analysis of the broader social impact of the novel or the film. Likewise, Jonathan Bach's piece on the afterlife of the GDR as seen through GDR-related internet sites is intriguing, but suffers, like Böhm's piece, from a lack of broader social contextualization. Nonetheless, Bach explores the internet as a new genre for the creation and propagation of memory. Most interestingly, Bach raises new questions regarding the role of technology in the creation of collective memory or the process of collective forgetting, as the case may be, and the role of non-experts in the collection and dissemination of historical information.

Finally, the last two chapters of the volume deal with memory in the public sphere. Simon Ward's contribution focuses on visual images of the past and "unintended monuments" (p. 282), such as the Kaiser Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, the Topography of Terror, the Palast der Republik and the regeneration of Potsdamer Platz. In each case, Ward illustrates how each site acquired its unintended purpose as a result of how it is used and remembered. Russel Lemmons's chapter on the controversy regarding the fate of Berlin's Ernst Thälmann monument between 1990 and 1995 is an excellent example of an explanation of how social groups and the memories they represent compete for dominance in the public sphere. Lemmons begins with an overview of how the Thälmann monument came to be and then focuses on the very public controversy concerning its post-1990 fate. Unlike the Lenin monument, Thälmann monument was preserved by the government of Berlin despite worries over the appropriateness of keeping a monument to a figure that stood at the center of the Socialist Unity Party's claim to legitimacy.

Collectively, these essays make significant contributions to our understanding of how memories are created, negotiated and communicated within post-unification German society. In fact, to follow Müller's argument even further, scholarly works that examine post-1989 memory are themselves active participants in the shaping of the collective memory. Memories begin as personal experiences, but are shaped by the social structures within which humans live. New memories are created through television, literature, film, newspapers, personal dialogue and even scholarly essays. The human desire to constitute a shared experience is a complex phenomenon. Each of these essays has brought us one step closer to understanding this process.

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Citation: Jon B. Olsen. Review of Simine, Silke Arnold-de, ed., Memory Traces: 1989 and the Question of German Cultural Identity. H-German, H-Net Reviews. November, 2006.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=12578

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