PRESENT PASTS
Urban Palimpsests and the Politics ofMemory
Andreas Huyssen
STAORD UNIVERSITY PRESS STAFORD, CALIFORNA
For Nina, again
Stanford Universit Pess Stanfod, Calrnia © 2003 by the Board ofTrsts of the Leland Stnford Junior Univeity. ll rights rerved
Sevel of th says in this book appeard in erlie vesons: Public Cu, peia issu on Chapte! " Presnt Pasts Media Politics Amnesia gobalization12, no I (woo: 2138 New German Crque 69 (Fll1996 r8200 Chapt2 Monumental Sduton Crca Iqu 2• no 1 (Autumn1997 57-81. Chapte3· "h Void of Berlin Harvad Des Magzne Chaptr "e the War Brln a Palimpsest (Spring2ooo 7075 Havad Ds Chapt5· Fea of MichTranformations ofTime Sqre Maae (Wint/Sping1998) 2628 Chaptr7 Unland h Orphan's Tuni in Nancy Pincnthal etDor a Sace (ondon Phaidon2000 90103 New German Chaptr8 Of Me and Mimsis Reading Spiegman with Adoo Crtque 8I (Fall woo 65-82 G Room 7 (Sping Chaptero "Twn Mmoies Aeimags of ne/Eevn 2002 8J
ntd in th United Stats of Amia on acid-free archilqalty pape ibray of Congres CataoginginPbiation Dta Huyssn ndas Inda Hysen Prsent pasts rb an palmpsest and the polits of mmoy p m(Culta mmoy n the psnt Inluds bibliogaphal referen o8047567(pb alk papr) o804745609(loth a pape) Memory (Philosophy 2 itoryPhilosophy 3 MemoySoci pects 4 Ctie and town Psychologa apect 5 Memor in litatu Tie . Sries BD87H89 0c2
2003 2002007737
Original Printing2003 Lt gur blow ndiats yar of ths printng 2
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/5Gaamond ypst by Heathe Boone in
Contens
Illustratns
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Inouon
Peen Pa: Mea Pol Amnea
Monumenal Seuon Co n Ben
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e Vo o Beln
Ae e Wa Ben Palme
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Fea o Me: e me Squae Reevelopmen
Memoy Se n an Expane el e Memoy Pak n Bueno Ae
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Do Saleo Memoy Sulpue Unnd The Orphan Tun
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O Me an Mme: Reang Spegelman w Aono 22
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Rewng an New Begnnng: W G. Seba an e Leaue on e A Wa 38
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wn Memoe Aemage o NneEleven Ntes
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Illustration
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bert Speer, Great Ha (model
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Christo Wrapping of the Reichstag Berin (1995 )
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Christo Wrapping of the Reichstag
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hiip Johnson Haus near former Checkpoint 52 Charlie (1996)
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Former Checkpoint Charie with imitation Statue 5 of ibert (1995)
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Wa area between Leipziger latz and Brandenburg Gate
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3·4 Abert Speer North-South Axis model)
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Instalation in the void left by the dismanting 58 of the Wal (1991)
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Potsdamer Platz around 19 30
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Potsdamer latz construction site with
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Berin Museum with the Jewish Museum (mode)
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Berlin Museum with the Jewish Museum plan)
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3 10 Void inside the Jewish Museum 41
The Reichstag under renovation
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Reichstag cupoa outside view
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INFO BOX
(1995) 67 68
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xii 4·3
ustrations Reichsag cupola, inside iew
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44 The new Posdame Plaz plaza 5.
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Cuen consucion a souhwes cone o Fotysecond See and Sevenh Avenue, sie of he fome Disney soe (2) 90
Even now, whenI try to remember .. the darkness does not lift but becomes yet heavie as I think how little we can hold n mind how eveythng is constantly lapsing nto obvion wth every extinguished life how the wold is as t were draning itse n that the histo of countless places and objects which themselves have no power of memoy is neve head never described or passed on
N Vicory Theae acoss fom ome Disney soe on Foy-second See 2
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Monumen o he Vicims o he Sae Teo (mode)
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Monumen o he Vicims of he Sae Teo (mode)
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The Belin Museum wih he Jewish Museum (gound plan) IJ
6.4 Maya Lin Vienam Veeans Memoia Washingon I08
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The Jewish Museum (1999)
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Dois Scedo Unland: The Orphan' Tunic (997 )
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Dois Salcedo Unland: Th Orphan Tun ic (deail r)
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Dois Salcedo Unnd Th Orphan' Tunic(deail 2)
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Dois Salcedo Unnd Th Orphan Tunic (deail 3)
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he igh om he eah o he moon: an aemp o skech he elaions of gaity If3
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-w.
G. SEBALD,
Austrlitzp. 24
The Crii of Hitory
Hsoa memo oda s no wha used o be. I used o mak he eaon of a ommun o a naon o s pas bu he bounda be ween pas and pesen used o be sone and moe sabe han appeas o be oda. Unod een and no so een pass mpne upon he pe sen ouh moden meda of epoduon ke phooaph m eoded mus and he Inene as we as houh he exposon of hs oa shoashp and an eve moe voaous musea uue. The pas has beome pa of he pesen n was smp unmanabe n eae en ues. As a esu empoa boundaes have weakened us as he expe ena dmenson of spae ha shunk as a esu of moden means of ans poaon and ommunaon In mes no so ve on ao he dsouse of hso was hee o uaanee he eave sab of he pas n s pasness Tadons even houh hemseves oen nvened o onsued and awas based on se eons and exusons ave shape o uua and soa fe. Bu uban spaeepee wh monumens and museums paaes pub spaes and ovenmen budnsepesened he maea aes of he hsoa pas n he pesen Bu hso was aso he mseensne of moden ne eaned fom hso Tha was he assumpon o abou wo en ues hso n he Wes was que suessfu n s poe o anho he
4
Introuction
en o he p and hu aben. neviaby every a o memoy arie wih i a dimenion o beraya orgeing and abene hi i wha he epiemologial dioure o onruivim whih in i egiimae riique o he nauralizaion o radiion and naion oen overhoo i mark uimaey and orrely impie. hinking abou memory in hi way make u reaize ha oday emphai inere in memory doe have onequene or he p he hioral pa one ued o give oherene and egiimayo amiy om munity naion and ae in a dioure ha Eri Hobbawm aed he invenion o radiion hen hoe ormerly abe link have weakened oday o he exen ha naiona radiion and hiorial pa are inrea ingly deprived o heir geographi and poiia grounding whih are-re organized n he proee o uura globalzaion may mean ha hee grounding are wrien over eraed and orgoen a he deender o loal heriage and naional auheniiy lamen. Or i may mean ha hey are being renegoiaed in he lah beween goblizing ore d new produion and praie ooa ulure. he orm in whih we hink o he pa i inreaingy memory whou border raher han naiona hi ory wihin border Moderniy ha brough wih i a very rea ompre ion o ime and pae Bu in he regier o imaginarie i h ao expanded our horizon o ime and pae beyond he loal he naiona and even he inernaiona n erain way hen our onemporary obeion wih memory in he preen may wel be an indiaion ha our way o hinking and iving emporaiy ie are undergoing a ignian hi h i wha he whoe aadem debae abou hiory v. memory i ub liminy al abou bu one wouldn' know i by liening in. d ye he mo inereing pe o he debae i wha i may porend or he emer gene o a new paradigm o hinking abou ime nd pae hioy and ge ography in he wenr enury Pn Pa and Ou Modny
hi book i no inereed in aking ide in he bale beween hi orian and memorian. n my dual role a uura hiorian and ieray rii remain onvined ha he expoion o memory dioue a he end o he wenieh enuy ha added igniany o he way we un derand hio and deal wih he empora dmenion o oi and u
Introuction ural le ue o memory have beome p o publi dioure d u url ie in way rarey ahieved by proeion hioriography alone he ie eay o hi book expore ha onelaion in boh i generaive an i probemai dimenion. At he ame ime we need o akowedge ha he vaue o hioy i oneed oday n way ha dier rom Niezhe' rique o he ahval and he monumen he preure on he radiion noion o hioy a obeive and diin rom memo are o mniold oday ha i would be hard o weigh hem in heir repeive vidiy he riique o hioriography a a ool o dominaion and ideoogy oreuly ariulaed by uh oii hiori o he ae nineeenh enuy a Waer Mehrng in Ger many and laer by Wer Benamin in hi radil hough overaed po lia riique o ll hioriim; he poNiezhean aak on lineriy on auaiy nd on he myh o srcin or eo a ariulaed in he work o Fouau yoard and Derrda he poolonil riique oWeern hi ory a ndamenaly impiaed in imperii and rai Weern moderniyhee argumen are oo wel known o bear repeaing here in deal The aak on he horymoderny nkge h beome uh an e reuein erain ineleual irle oday ha one may wel w o ome o he deene o he embaled enerprieo wriing hio ha o my mind remain an eeni omponen o he power o memoy dioure ie Bu omehing ele il underie he urren poiia and onepul argumen again horography he enighened noon ha one an earn rom hiory ha been o violenly diproved boh a he oi d he poliia eve a we a in i experieni dimenion ha he very le giimay o he hioria enerprie i haen. Who oday an give a onden anwer a a Friedrih Shiller o he queion o wha end one houd udy univer hiory? hough we woud probably r wan o queion onep like univer and hiory in ine wih one or he oher o he abovemenoned rique we woud no doub oninue and engage he pa wih guo. oday urn again hiory i very unike Henry Ford' inamou hiory i bunk. he deire or narraive o he pa or rereaion rereading reproduion eem bounde a every level o our uure Hioy in a erain anonia orm may be deegiimzed a ar a i ore pedagogia and phoophial mion i on erned, bu he eduion o he arhie and i rove o orie o hum ahievemen and uering ha never been greaer
6
Inroucion
B wha ood s he memor archve? How can dever wha hsor alone no loner seems o be able o oer? We know abo he nooros nreabl of memo and he fse promses of ahenc s oen endowed wh he sse oda canno be Nesches creave foren whch wold be nohn more han selecve memor Clea for Nesche he "free spr was he aen of creave foren b sch arsocrac nellecasm s boh ndesrabe and nrealsc a a me when he hrea of socal prodced amnesa s s oo rea o noe Nor can he solon be a smple rern o he promses of he re as he are aan ben arclaed oda n he neolb era dscorse of economc and echnolocal lobaaon Sch rmphalsm of lobal ows s nohn b a form of ncreave foren ha nores he hsor of capals cces and he crashes of echnoloca opas read he lobalaon fanases of he 990s have hemselves become par of he memor archve and s cabne of delsons I s all he more mporan ha a a me when an avalanche of memo dscorses seems o have overwhelmed an earler acvs manaon of he fre we acall do remember he fre and r o envson alernaves o he crren sas qo I js wll no do o repace he weneh cens obsessons wh he fre wh or newl fond obsessons wh he pas We need boh pas and fre o arcae or poca soca and clra dssasfacons wh he presen sae of he world nd whle he hperroph of memor can ead o sefndlence melancho xaons and a problemac prvle n of he ramac dmenson of lfe wh no ex n sh memo ds corses are absolel essena o mane he fre and o rean a sron emporal and spaa rondn of lfe and he manaon n a meda and consmer soce ha ncreasnl vods emporal and co lapses space Meia of r Memo
he essas of hs book whch were wren beween 996 and fa 00 and whch appear here n slhl moded or expanded form aemp o coner sch endences oward he vodn of me and he col lapsn of spaa bondares he read specc rban phenomena ar works and lerar exs ha fncon as meda of crca cral memor oda he focs s exclsve on objecs and pracces n he presen ne
Inrouction
7
of he mos neresn cral phenomena of or da s he wa n whch memor and emporal have nvaded spaces and meda ha seemed amon he mos sabe and xed ces monmens archecre and sclpre er he wann of moderns fanases abo crio x nhilo and of he desre for he pr of new bennns we have come o read ces and bldns as palmpsess of space monmens as ransformable and ransor and scpre as sbjec o he vcssdes of me f corse he major of bldns are no palmpsess a all red once remarked he same space canno possl have wo deren conens B an rban mana n s emporal reach ma wel p deren hns n one place memores of wha here was before maned alernaves o wha here s he sron marks of presen space mere n he mana wh races of he pas erasres losses and heeroopas he cener of Bern and s reconsrcon aer ncaon provde a ke example for he workins of sch an mana Lerar exs have never no even n modernsm been abe o den her palmpsesc nare and he phlolocal problem of dffern ed ons has alwas dsnshed lerare from bdns or monmens he rope of he palmpses s nheren erar and ed o wrn b can also be frfll sed o dscss conraons of rban spaces and her nfoldn n me who makin archecre and he c smp no ex Readn he c of Berln or New York's mes Sqare as palmpses does no mean o den he essenal maeral of exan bld ns Readn memo races n he sclpre of ors Salcedo or n he ar checral andscapn projec of Benos iress Memor Park does no ransform hese obecs no s anoer form of wrn M concern n al hese essas s o respec he ndamenal maeral and formal rad ons of he deren meda of memor I dscss M focs on readn palmpsess s no some mperalsm of rir a reproach somemes voced aans erar crcsm afer Derrda as wel as aans ceran forms of deconsrcve archecre s raher he convcon ha erar echnqes of readn hsorcall nerexa consrcvel and deconsrcvel a he same me can be woven no or ndersandn of rban spaces as ved spaces ha shape collecve manares In a more pramac ven he rban essas n hs book aemp o ndersand he ndamenal emporal of even hose hman endeavors ha preend o ranscend me hroh her maeral real and relave drabl
8
Introduction
One othe thing emains to be said as ook back on moe than a decade of citica wok on memoy My ovea choice of topics and mem ory media in this book is guided by the conviction that too much of the contempoay memoy discouse focuses on the pesonalon testimony memoi subjectiviy taumatic memoyeithe in poststuctuaist psy choanalytic pespective o in attempts to shoe up a theapeuic popua sense of the authentic and expeientia f the 980s wee the decade of a happy postmoden plualism the 1990s seemed to be haunted by tauma as the dak undeside of neolibea tiumphalism The concen with tauma adiated out fom a multinational eve moe ubiquitous Hoo caust discouse. t was enegized in the United States as in Latin Ameica o South ica ae apatheid by the intense inteest in witness and su vivo tes timonies and it meged with the discouses about AIDS slavey family violence child abuse ecoveed memoy syndome and so on The pivieging of tauma fomed a thick discusive netwok with those othe mastesignies of the 990s the abject and the uncanny al o which have to do with epession spectes and a pesent epetitivey haunted by the past Suey the pevalence of the concen with tauma must be due to the fact that tauma as a psychic phenomenon is located on the theshod be tween emembeing and fogetting seeing and not seeing tanspaency and occlusion expeience and its absence in epetition But tauma cannot be the centa categoy in addessing the age memoy discouse t has been all too tempting to some to think of tauma as the hidden coe of a memory te al both memoy and tauma ae pedicated on the absence of that which is negotiated in memoy o in the taumatic symptom oth ae maked by instabiity tansitoiness and stuctues of epetition But to coapse memoy into tauma think woud unduy conne ou un destanding of memoy making it too exclusivey in tems of pain suf feing and oss It woud deny human agency and lock us into compusive epetition. Memoy whethe individual o geneation poitica o pub ic is aways moe than ony the pison house of the past The moe seious politica question emeges when the psychoanalytic notion of tauma is simpy tansfeed to the histoical aena We ae used to distinguishing beeen pesonal memoy and pubic memoy But what happens when we talk about histoical tauma? What is at stake when we conside as we seem to do eve moe fequently, the whole histoy of the
Introducton
9
twentieth centuy unde the sign of tauma with the Hoocaust inceas ingy functioning as the utimate ciphe of taumatic unspeakability o unepesentability? nd what if this assessment is then extendedunde the guise of vaious foms of apocalyptic and anachic thinkngto the hole history of eightenment modenity: modenity as the tauma that vicim izes the wold that we cannot eave behind that causes all of ou symp toms? The newy found popuaity of Hoheime and Adonos Dialectic ofEnlightenment,the cult status of Benjamin's angel of histoy and the tauma wok of Cathy Cauth Shoshana Felman and othes all aise the suspicion that we ae simply eaticuating Feudian phylogenetic fantasies in a diffeent signicantly dake key Ultimatey this is philosophy of histoy enteing though the back doonot via Hege o Max to be sue but via Feud This appoach to history as tauma I woud suggest does not help much to undestand the poitical ayes of memoy discouse in ou time although it may wel epsent one of its majo aticuations At the same time exploations o f memoy in ou wod cannot do without the notio n of histoical tauma The focus on tauma is legitimate whee nations o goups of people ae trying to come to tems with a his toy of vioence sueed o violence pepe tated. But the tansnational dis couse of human ights may give us a bette handle on such mattes than the tansfe of psychoanalysis into the wod of politics and history Fo it is pecisey the nction of public memoy discouses to alow individuas to beak out of taumatic epetitions. Human ights activism tuth ommissions and juidica poceedings ae bette methods fo dealing with histoical tauma Anothe is the ceation of objects atwoks memo ials public spaces of commemoation as they ae discussed in this book Hee the anaysis of how memoy and fogetting peade eal public space the wold of objects and the uban wold we ive in becomes cucial. The e constuction of Bein as the Geman capita afte unication povides a pehaps unique case in which this latte dimension has poduced a paadigmatic public memoy space even if many of the achitectual and plan ning esults have eft us moe than disatised Pehaps fo that eason I could not bing myself to exclude moe popely liteary eadings fom this book Actualy the liteay essays on Spiegeman and Sebald should seve to highlight the diffeence that pe tains between eading texts and eading uban space They also show how contempoay texts that mix language and image foegound the palimp
0
Inouction
sestic nate o all witin to eat eect and in ceatively new ways. Both ae memo texts in th e most emphatic sense wokin in complex ways on the isse o histoy and its epesentationthe histoy o the Holocast in the case o Spieelman and the histoy o the satation bombins o Ge man cities in Wold Wa II in the case o Sebald Both athos ae nda mentally concened with hanted space and spatial imainaies. Both texts acknowlede that contay to the belie o many histoians epesenta tions o the visible will always show esides and taces o the invisible. Spieelman's and Sebalds texts hant s becase they themselves ae hanted. A liteate that is both postmimetic and postmodenist both histoical and attned to the eases o the histoical ecod patakes in the oce play o emembance and oettin vision and blindness tans paency and opaqeness o the wold At the same time we cannot be entiely condent that contempoay memoy discoses and the clt podcts they eneate will ae bette thn tadition histoy in shapin pblic debate in the lon n. The paa dox is that memoy discoses themselves patake in the detempoaliin pocesses that chaacteie a clte o consmption and obsolescence Memoy as epesentation as makin pesent is always in dane o col lapsin the constittive tension between past and pesent especially when the imained past is scked into the timeless pesent o the llpevasive vi ta space o consme clte Ths we need to disciminate amon mem oy pactices in ode to stenthen those that conteact the tendencies in o clte to oste nceative oettin the bliss o amnesia and what the Geman philosophe ete Slotedijk once caled "enlihtened ase consciosness. I hope that in some small mease this book may con tibte to sch discimination o who wants to end p in the land o the lotseates enoyin one's own oblivion beoe the eal oney into the pt h even ben that oney into the past withot which thee can be no imainin e te
Present Pasts: Media, Politic neia
ne o the most spisin cltal and political phenomena o e cent yeas hasinbeen the emeence memoy as a key polit ical concen Westen societies aotunin towad the cltal past thatand stands in stak contast to the pivilein o the te so chaacteistic o ealie decades o twentiethcenty modenity. om the ealy wentieth cen ty's apocalyptic myths o adical beakthoh and the emeence o the "new man in Eope via the mudeos phantasms o acial o class pication in National Socialism and Stalinism to the postWold Wa II Ameican paadim o modeniation modenist clte was eneied by what one miht call "pesent tues. Since the 980s it seems the ocs has shited om pesent tes to pesent pasts and this shit in the expeience and sensibili o time needs to be explained histoically and phenomenoloically Bt the contempoay ocs on memoy and tempoality is mostly absent om mch ecent innovative wok on cateoies o space maps e oaphies bodes tade otes miations displacements and diaspoas in the context o postcolonial and cltal stdies. ot so lon ao in the United States thee was a widespead consenss that in ode to nde stand postmoden clte the ocs had to be shied om the poblem ais o time and memoy ascibed to an ealie om o hih modenism
14
Pt Pt
Pt Pt
uations that are hstorlly dstant and poticaly dstnct from the orgnl ven. In the trnsnaionl movement of memory discourses, he Holocaus os ts quly ndex of the specc hstorl e ven nd begns t nction metaphor for other trumatic histories nd memories. The Hoocaust a a unversal trope s a prerequste f or s decenterng and ts use a powerful prism through which we may look other instances of genocde. The gob and he oca pect of Hoocust memoy have en ered into new constelations tht beg to be anlzed c e by cse. While the comparson wth the Hoocaust may rhetorcy energze some ds courses of trumatic memory, it may so serve s screen memory or smply block insight into specic locl histories.
sure whether the ineon success of he m Titics a meaphor for memores of moderny gone wry or whether t rcute he meropos's own anxetes abou he ture dspaced o the pa. No doubt, the word s beg museed d we py our prt n t. Tot rec seems to be he goa So s hs an archvst's ntsy gone mad? Or s there perhaps somehing ese ske n hs desire to p these varous psts nto the present? Somethng that is specc to the structuring of memory nd tem porty oday and that h ot been experenced n the sme way n pat ages? F requeny su�h obsssons wth memory nd he pt are expned a ncton of he aes n de sice but I thnk one h to probe deeper o come t terms wh·ht I w c the cuture of memory" that ha be come so persve n North Anc socetes snce he ate 19s What here appears argey s an ncrengy successfu mretng of memory by heWestern cuture ndustry n the conte of wht German cu soc oogy hs ced our Erbnisgeselchaf cqures more expcty poc
When t comes o present pt memory of the Hoocaust nd ts pace n the resessment ofWestern modernty howver s not the whoe stoy My subpos mke up the current memory nrrtve n s broadest scope and dstngush our tm qute ceary from earer decdes of ths century. Let me jut st few of the sent phenomen. Snce he 1970s n Europe and thewhoe Unted Statesvag we havend thendcpe, hstorczng restoraon of her od urban centers museum vrous nton tge nd patrmony enterprse the wave of nw museum achtecture that shows no sgns of recedng the boom n retro shons nd repro rnture, he ms-marketng of nostga, the obsessve sefmuezaon per vdeo recorder, memor wrtng nd onfessonl terure, he rse of autobiog rphy and of the postmodern hstorc nove wth ts uney negotaton between ct nd cton the spred of memoy prctic n the visu rts oen centered on the medum of photogrphy and the ncrese of hstor c doumenties on teevson, ncudng (n he Unted Ste) chnne dedcted entrey to hsory, the Hstoy Channe On the traumatc sde of memoy cuture and besde the ever more ubqutous Hoocaus ds course we have the vt psychontic erature on uma; the controversy about recovered memoy syndrome the hstorc and current work reated o genocde IDs savery, and sexua abuse the ever more numerous pub c conroverses bout potcy pan annversres, commemortions and memoras; he es pethora of pooges for the pt by church ead ers and potcins n Frce, Jp and the Unted Sttes And ny brngng together memoy entertanmen nd ruma, we hve hd he wordwide obsession wth the snng of a presumaby unsinkabe stemshp tht mrked the end of other gded ge. One cannot be quite
11
nectonand n other pars have of theemerged word. asEspecy 1989 n theposcom ssues of memory forgettng domnantsnce concerns munst counres n Eatern Europe and the former Sove Unon hy re main key poitcay in the Mde st they domnte pubc dscourse n post-partheid Souh rc wh s Truth nd Reconcaton Comms son, nd they re presen n Rwnda and Ngeria hey energze the race debate ha has erupted n Austraia around the ssue of the stoen generaon they burden the retonshp among Jpn and Chna and Korea and they determne to vrying degrees the cuur and otca debte bou the desprecdos" nd ther chdren n post-dctatur so cet n an Amerca, rasng fundmenta quesons bout human rghs voaons, ustice, and coecve responsbty. The geogrphc spread of he cuture of memory s s wde mem oys potic us are vared, rngng from a mobizaton of mythc pats to support ggressvey chuvnst or fundmentst potcs (e.g., post communst Serba Hndu popuism n Inda to edgng ttempts, n Agentn nd Che, to create pubc spheres of rea memory that w : counter the potc of forgetng, pursued by postdctatorshp regm e . ·
ther hrough "reconclioC' ndofcmnestes or though repressve slncng But he ul lne beween mythc pat and rel p t s not l-
, :ys ey to draw-which is o ne of the conundrums of ny politic of
r8
nt at
Pnt
srandale that ou secula culue today, obsessed with memoy a it is s also somehow n he gips of a fea even a teo of fogetting. Ths fea of fogetng aculate self paadigmatically aound issues of the Holo caust n Euope and the United Staes o the apaci in Latin Ame ca Both shae the absence of a pope uial sie, so key to the nutuing of human memoy, a fact that may help eplain the stong pesence of the Holocaust n Agentnean deaes But the fe of olvion and disappea ance opeates n a deent egiste well. Fo the moe we ae asked to ememe n the wake of the infomaton exploson and the maketng of memoy, he moe we seem to be n dnge of fogeting and the stonge the need to foget. At ssue s the disnction between able pats and ds posable data My hypothess hee is that we ae tyng to counteact ths fea and dange of fogeting wth suval stateges of public and pvate memoalizaon. The tun towad memoy s subliminally enegzed y the dese to ancho ouselves n a wod chaactezd y an ncesng n staility of time and the factuing of lived space At the same time, we kow that such stategie of memozton may in the end themselves be tansto and ncomplete. So I mt come back to the queson: why? And especally why now Why this osession wth memoy and he past and why this fea of fogetting Why ae we bulding museums as if thee wee no omoow And why is t that the Holocaust has only now ecome somethng lke a ubiuitous cphe fo ou memoies of the twentieh cen tuy, n ways unmaginale even twenty yeas ago? III
Whateve the socal and polcal causes of the memoy oom n it vaous subplo geogaphes, and sectoings may have been, one thng s cetan we cannot discuss pesona , geneatonal o pulc memoy sepa aely fom the enomou inuence of the new media as ces of al foms of memoy. Th t s no longe possile fo instance to thn of the Holo caut o of any othe hstoca tauma a seiou ethcal and poliical issue apat fom the mutple ways it s now linked to commodition and spec taculaizaton n lms museums docudama Intenet sites phoogaphy book com cion, even fa tales (Robeto Benign's La vita e bl) and pop songs But even if the Holocaust hs een endlessly commoded, this does not mean that each and evey commodcation inevtably ana-
izs s an stoial even ee is no pue space outside of commodiy cltue howeve much we may dse such a space. Much depend thee foe on the specic stateges of epesentaion and commodation pu sed and on the context n which they ae staged. Smilaly the pesumably tivial Ebnglchafmssmaketed lifestyles spectacles, and eetng events s not devod of a sustanve lved ealty that undees ts suface manfetatons. My gument hee s this the poblem is not solved y sim ply opposing seous memoy to tval memoy, the way hstoians some ime oppose hsoy o emoy tout court, to memoy undesood as the sujectve and tiva stu out of whch the hstoan mak the ea thng We cnnot siply p the seous Holocaust museum against Dsneyed theme paks. wod only epoduce the old hgh/low dichotomy of modenst culu�e n a new guise, as t did in the heated debate that pitted Claude Lanmanns Shoah a pope epsentation (becase a nonepe sentaton) of Holoaus memoy agnst Steven Spelegs hnd$ Lt ts commec tivzation Once we acnowledge the consttutve gap etween eaty and t epesentaton n language o image, we mut n pncple e open to may dieen possilies of epesenting the and t memoies Ths s not to say ha anythng goes The queston of uay emans one o e decded case by cse. Bu the semiotic gap cannot be closed by ay othodoy of coect pesentaon To ge a much amounts to Holocaust modensm. ndeed phenomena such as hindl Lit and Spieleg's vsu achive of Holocaust suvivo test mones compel us to thn of aumatc memo and enteanment mem oy togethe as occupyng the sme public space athe than O see them mutuly clusve phenomena Key questons of contempoa cultue ae located pecsely at the theshold beween aumatc memo and the com meca media I s too easy o ague hat he n events ad spectacles of contempoay media societies eist only to povde elief to a soci ad po ltcal body haunted by deep memoies of violence ad genocide pepe ated in s name, o}ha they ae mounted only to epess such memoe o tauma s maketed as much as the fun is and not even fo dient memoy consumes t s so oo to sugget hat he spece of he p now hauntng moden socete n heetofoe unknown foce actualy atc ulate, y way of displacement, a gowing fea of he tue a a time when the belef n modentys poges s deeply shaken We do kow that he meda do no tanspot pulic memoy inno 14
20 P P cently. They shape it in their vey stucture ad form And here-i line with McLha's wellworn poit that the medium is the message-it be comes highly signicat that the power of our most advanced electronic depends etirely o quntities of memoy Bill Gates may just be the latest incarnaton of the old America idelmore is better But "more s now measured i memo btes and in the power to recycle the past Gatess muchadvertised purchae of thelargest collection of srcial photographs eve is a cae in point: in the move from the photograph to its digit recy cling, Walter Benamis at of mechaca reproduction (photogaphy) h reganed a aura of orgali Which goes to show hat Beamins mous gumet about he loss or decay of the aura in modei was away only half the sto; it forgot that modernization itself created the auratic ef fect to begin with. Today digitalizatio mes the oigil photograph auatic. ter al s Beamin aso knew, the cultue indstry of Weimar Germay already then needed the auratic as a marketing strategy. argu So let me idulge here for a momet i the old cultue ndut ment that Adorno mounted aganst what he thought b Benamns to un warated optimism about technologic media. If today the idea othe to tal archve males the triumphalists of cyberspace embrace goba f>tes a a McLuha the prot iteess of memoys mas marketeers seemto be more pertinent i expaing he success of the memory syndrome Simply put the pst is sellig better thn the ture But for how long, oe wonders e the headline of a spoof posted o the ternet US. Depart ment ofRetro Was We May Be RunngOut of a Pat The rst para gph reads At a press conferece Moday, US Retro Secreta Anso Williams issued a strongly worded warnig ofan immiet Naton retro crss, cautioig that if curret lvels of U.S reto consumption are a lowed to cotinue unchecked, we may run entrely out of past by soon as 005. Not to worry. We aready have the maketing of pass hat ever existed Wtness he recet introductio of the Aeobleu poduct line, 1940s ad 90s nostagia cleverly organized around a ctional Pais azz club that eve eisted, but where all the jazz greats of the bebop age e said to have performed a product le replete wth srca diaes, orgi nal cuts on Cs, and oigl memorabla, all avalable the United States at ay local Bares and Noble Original remaes are in, ad ot oly as merchandise as cultura theorists ad citic we are obsessed with
P P representation repetition replicatio and the cultue of the copy with or without srcinl. With al this goig o it seems fair to ak once he memo boom is histo, o doubt t will be wll ayoe have remembered athing at all? If al of the pat ca be made over arent we ust creating ou ow illu sios of the pt while gettig stuck in an evershrinkg presentthe pre set of shorttem recyclg for prot, the present of intime producton instat entertaimet, and placebos for our sense of dread and isecurit that lies barely uderneath th suface of this ew gilded age at noher n de sicl Coputes, we were told would ot knowth dierece be eethe year 000 andthe yea 90 but do we IV
The ctics of late capitalist amesia doubt that Wester media cul tre has aythig left resembling re memo o a strong sense of his o y Drawg o the stadard argument that commodication euals forgetting, they argueAdorea that the marketing of memo generates ohig but amesia I do ot d this argumet covincing It leaves too mch out It s too easy to blame the dlemma we nd ouelves in on the machinations of the culte idust ad the proliferatio of the ew me dia. Somethg else must be at stale that produces the desire for the past i the rst place and that males us respod so favorably to the memoy mrkets That somethg, I would suggest, s a slow but palpable trasfor maton of temporali in our lives, brought on by the complx iters ec 1 tions of technologcal chage, mass media, and ew patterns of cosump to work and global mobly. There may ndeed be good reaons to thik that the drve to memorialize h a more benecial nd geerative dimesio well. However much our curret cocers with memo • may involve a dsplaced fea of the future, ad however dubous the poposiio may now strike us that we ca learn from histo memoy clture llls an mportat nctio the curret tansfomatio of tem porl eperiece hat ha followed the wake of the ew medias mpact on perception ad ssibil. human In the followig, then, I would like to suggest some ways to hk about the elationship betwee our privilegig of memo ad the pst o the oe hand ad the potential mpact of the w media o perception
26
Preet Pt
one simple answer to such a question but memoy-in4ividual genera tional, pulic cutral, and still ineitably nationl memorymust sely e part of it. Pehaps one day thee will even emege something like a goba memory s the dierent part of the wold are drawn ee tighter togethe B any such global memoy will always be pismatic and het'· eogeneou raher han holisic or unve In the meantime we have to ak: how shoud een local regiona, hi nationa memorie e ecred, sructured, and epreened? Of coue is a ndamentally politicl question aout the nature of the pic sphee abot democaynd its ture, abou te changng shape nationhood of citizenship and identity The answe wl depend to a lage degee on lo cal constellations ut theglol spead of memory dicoures indites that something moe is atstke. Some have trned to the idea of he archive a conteweight to the eveinceasing pace of change, a a site of tempo and spatial pesea tion. Fom the point of iew of the archie fogeting i the ltimate tansgression But how eliable or foolpoof ae our dgitlized archies Comptes are baely y years old nd aleady we need"data achaeolo gist to unlock the mteries of eay pogramming just think of the no toious YK poblem that recently haunted our computerized breaca cies Billion of dola wee spent to preen compute networ fom going into retro mode from mistaking the year fo . O con ider the lmost inuperable diculies German authoitie now hae de coding the vat body of eectonic ecodfomthe forme East Geman state a world that disappeaed togethe with its Soietbuit manfame compues and its Eat German oce ystem. Reecting on sch phe nomena a senio manage chaged with infomation technology at the Canadian achies ws recently quoted as saying " one of the geat ironie of the nfomation age f we dont nd methods for enduring preeation of elecronic recod thi may e the era without a mem� oy17 The theat of oion hs emeges from the ery technology to which we entut the vat ody of conempoay records and data hat most ignicant pat of the culturl memory of ou ime The current transformations of the tempor imaginary ogh on by itua space and tme may hgligh the enaling dmenson of mem oy cultue Whateve the pecic occasion, ause o context the inense memory pactices we witness in so many dieen pat of he wod oday
Peet Pt
7
aticulate a fundamenta cisis of an ealier stucte of tempoaliy that mrked the age of high modernity wth is tut in prge and develop ire ment with its celeration of the new a utopian as radically and ducilyothe, and with i nhaken elef in some elo of history Poli icaly many memoy practices today counteact the tiumphlism of modernizaion toy n t aest guie of he dcorse ofgloliaton Cltraly hey epess the gowing need fo spatial and tempolan choing n a wod of inceng x n eer denser netwo of com pressed ime and pacef histoiogaphy hs hedan ealie eliance on teleoogicl matenarates and ha gown moe kepic of nationlit framings of its bect mattetodays critic memoy cultes with thei emphaes on hman rights, on mnoity and gender ies and on e sseing vaious national and intenaionl pss go a ong way to provide a welcome impet for wiing istoy n a new key and thus for guaran teeing a tre of memory In the bestae scenaio, the cutes of mem ory ae inimaely linked in many part of the world to prcese of de mocratiztion and strugge for hman ights to epanding and tengthening the pbic phee of cii ociey Slowing down rathe thn speeding up epanding the naure of public debate tying hea the woun incted in the pt nurtng and epanding liale space ather than deroy it fo he ae of ome tue promise secuing qulity timethoe eem to e unmet cutal need in a gobizing world, and loca memorie ae ntimately lnked to thei aicuation. But the p cnnot gve u what the te h fed delive There l a i no aoiding coming back to he downside of what some old memoy epdemic, and hi rin me back to Nieche whoe econd n tmely meditation on he ue nd aue of hitory oen quoted in contem poay memory deaes may e untimely eer Clealy, the memoy fee ofWeten meda ocietieis not a onsming hitoicfever in Nie sches sene which coud e cued by pducte fogetting It is rater a mnemonc fee caued y the cyevir of mnea that at ime trea en to conume memoy itef Therefore we now need poducie remem bering more han podctie fogeting In etospect we an see how the histol fe of Nietches ime nctioned to invent nation traditions in Euope to egiimiz te mperil nationstae nd to give culturl co herence o conictive ocietie n te te of the Indutil Revotion nd colonia epansion By compaion, the mnemonic convusion of Nort
t at Atantc cuture today seem mosty chaotc, fragmentay and free-oatng acrssur screens. Even in paces where memry practces have a vey clear ptca focus such as South rca Argentna Chle and most recenty Guatemaathey are aected, and t a degree even created byinternatn medacoverage and t memo obsesons. A suggesed earer securng af the pst s n ess risky n enterprse than securng the future Memory ter a be no substtute forjustce and utce tef wll nevtaby be en tanged n the unrelaby f memy But even where cutural memry practcesack an expct pltc focus they do press a soce's need fr tempr anchrng when in the wake f the nfrmatn rvlutinand an ever�ncreasng tme-space cmpressn the relaonshp among pt, pre sent and future s beng transfrmed beynd recgntn In that sense c and natnal memy practces cntest the myths of cyber-captalsm and gbazatn and their den f tme space and pace N dubt some new cnguratn f tme and space wl eventualy mrg frm hs egn New tchngis f transprtatn and cmmuncatn have aways transformed the human perceptn tme and space n moderny Ths was as truefr the ralroad and the teephne the rado and the arpane as t w be true for cyberspace and cbertme. New technoges and new meda are s ways met by anxetes and ear that ater prve to have been unwarranted r even rdculus. Our age w be no eceptn. At he same tme cyberspace aone s not the apprprate mode for magnng the gobal ture. ts nton f memoy s msleadng a fse promse. Lved memory s actve, ave, emboded n the socathat s n ndvduals mes grups natns and regns. These are the memres needed t cnstruct derenta oca tures n a gba wrd. There is no dubt that n the ong run al such memres w be shaped t a sgncnt degree by the new dgta technooges and ther eects but they w not be reducbe to them T nsst n a radc separaton between "rea and vrtua memory strkes me as quxotc f ony because anythng remem beredwhether by ved or by magned memys tsef vrtua Mem ry s aways transtor notorousy unreabe and haunted by frgettng n bref human and scal.A pubc mem t s subect to changep tca, generatn ndvdua. t cannot be stored forever nr can it be secured by mnuments. Nor fr that matter can we rey on dgta re treva systems to guarantee cherence and cntnuy. f the sense f lved
a 29 tme s beng renegtated ur ctemprary cultures f memory we shud t frget that tme s n y he pt s presevatn ad trans msson. f we are ndeed suerng rm a surfet f memory we do need t make the ert t dstngush usabe psts frm dspsabe pasts Ds crmnatin and productve rememberng are caled fr, and mss cture and the vrtu ma are nt nherenty rreconcable wth that purpose ven f amnesa were a by-prduct f cyberspace we must not alow the fear of forgettng t verwhemu. Perhaps t s tme t remember the ture rather than smpy t worry about the uture f f memy
Monumenta Seduction Chrito in Bein
. Any discusson of monumentalty and modernty w nevtably Ringthe aesthetcs of the brg to md the the workmonumental of Rchard atst Wagne: Cmtkunrk theThhstoy of the Bayeuth fes val But the noon of monumentty that Wagne repesents must be o cated n ts concete nneteenth-century hstorc aesthetc and natona context as we as n ts potcal and cutual effects that have come o �mnate ou understandng of the monumental n geneal My purpose S to offer some eectons on the categoy of the monumental tsef whch, t seems to me s beng recoded n the contempoary context of oacous and everexpandng memoa cutue My centl concen then S the ssue of the monumental n elaton to memorygeneatona mem y mmoy n publc culture natonal memory memoy become stone archtectueand the specc contemporary context I wll addess s Germany aer uncaton Gemns have been abong unde the epoach of foget orheeas tg epessng the hstoc past snce 1945, crtcs for soe tme now have atcuated the evese reproach naton of memory. In fact snce the 98s Gemany has engaged n a mmoy mana of truy monumenta proportons Curently there ae sevea hundred pans n the works fo Hoocaust monuments o memoal stes over Gemany How do we
Monumntl Suction 3 read th obsesson wth monuments whch n tsef s ony pat of a much larger memory boom that has gpped not just Gemany and that s much wde n scope than the focus on the Hoocaust would suggest? The ques tons ased by ths conuncture are nvaaby potcal and aesthetc and centrl to them s the categoy of the onumental both n ts spat and pehaps more mportant now n ts temporal codcatons We are facng a paradox monumentalsm of but space or monumenta tendences of any other medum contnue to be much mgned but the noton of the monument as memo o commemoratve publc event has wtnessed a tumphal etun How do we thnk the reaton between monumental as bgness and the commemoratve dmenson of the monument? I w e ate thee events of the summer of 995 to dscuss the fate of monumentl and of monuments n our tme Chrsto's wappng of the Rechstag n Ben the debate about the panned Beln monument fo the mudeed Jews of Euope and Wagner n Bayeuth
I l t
Gemanysumme 995a few months before the hannvesay of natona uncaton he eghtyfouth Bayreuth Festva opened n uy unde the motto "edempton through ove An exhbt at Bayeuths cha Wagner Museum subtted Rchad Wagne and Eotcsm ac compaed the Ftpilpefomances of nnhur itn n Iol Th Ring ofth Niblungand Prlwoks that accodng to Sven Fredrch the museums decto repesent a very speca knd of unty and toaty when appoaced from the ange of eotcsm and ove Fredrch descbed eotcsm and love symbos of a counterwold en egzng Wagne's damatc concepton of edempton2 Bayreuth's need for counteorlds and edempton, t seems s as stong as eve but t ganed a very specc necton n 995 Gemany and edemptony yeas ae The country was n the gp of a elentless monument mana that may not subsde untl eery square me has ts own monument o memoa ste, commemoratng not some countewold of ove but the rel wod of organzed destructon and genocde that had adopted Wagne as one of ts heoes and pophets In todays Gemany redempton through memory s the goa It wa patcu lay strkng durng the events makng the eth annversay of the end
32
Monmntl Sction
Monmntl Sction
of the Naz war o exermnaton that he dscourse of redempon El n had a bu repcd he earer dscourses o restuon rgt rsnn I woud seem ha he Germcn and reconcan mans have eagery approprated he rs par of he od Jewsh sayng the secre of redempon s memory as a strategy or Hoocaus managemen n the 990s. The mos agrant case: he pan for a gganc Hoocaust memoa, a santed concree sab the sze o wo fooba eds wh the names of ns o vcs carv ed n stone n the heart o Bern us nrth of Her s former bunker and hus rgh on top of he norhsouth s hat bert Speer panned o ay eeen hs megaomanac Grea Ha t norh o he Brandenburg Gae and Her's trumpha arch o the souh whch caed or he names o he falen of World War I to be carved .n stone. T e very ste and nscrpon pracce of ths przewnnng Hoocaust memoa mode, whch has snce been dched as a resu of pubc ou cry, thus appeared to uncon both as mmess and coverup o he requse monumenay o match he d anoher e memory, wth mensons o Speers orgna pan. I seems srkng ha a country whose cuure has been shoud gded resor or decades now y a dmensons deberae anascs anmonumenasm to onumenta when t comes to pubc comemoraton of te Hoocaus for he reuned naton . Somehng here s ou o sync. Bu n anohe perspecv , ths embrace of he monumenta may �o be a ha surpsg. Recalg Rober Muss observaon that here s nothng as nvsbe as a monumen, Bernand wth a o hs memoracrazed Germanys opng for nvsby. The more monumens here are, the more the pas becomes nvsbe, and he easer s o orget redempton, hus, through orgetng. Many crcs h ave descbed Germanys curren obsesson wh monumens and memoras as t e n so sube attemp at Entorgng,the pubc dsposa o radang hsocal wase. Monumena nvsbty, at any rate was a stake durng another cutural eve tha sumer n Bern he wrappng o the Rechsag maor � Chsto by he arss and JeanneCaude. Ths archecturay medocre massv bu ng of 8 5 rst housed the German paramen n he days o he eman Empre and then payed a cruc roe boh n the foundg ad he o p g o the Wemar Repubc, whch was procamed from ts wdowss 98 and guted n he famous Rechstag re of
33
f
IGR Alb S Gra Hal Md Cu Arhu Sld
Lba, Cumba Unvr
193 3, aer he Nazs' rse o power. t er 9 4 sood as a run and a memora o he faed repubc. Havng een turned nto a museum o recent Geran hsoy and used as a cereona space, was to resume s symboc potca vaue wth he naona unty ceebraon of Ocoer 990 For two weeks n he summer o 99 hen hs udng became emporary nvsbe s nvsbty an nernaonal meda even and popuar ove es ha ceebraed Germany and Bern as ony he al o he Wa had done sx years before. For a bre oent German hsory en oyed the power o he Nbeungs lm. The proxm o monumena memoy o monumena forgetng was there for everyone o see Beaucaon and packagng he pas were at se boh n Chrsos po ec and n he awadwnnng Hoocaust monument. Berns shortem redempon rom hsory t seemed oned Bayreuths redempton hrough ove n eedng he underyng desre or orgeng Predctaby enough some exuberant crtcs have caimed ha by ransormng a monumenta wor of arctecure no a gganc scupure, Chrsto and eanneCaude turned a monumen of German hsory nto
Monumntl Suction
FGRE Chri Wang h hag Brlin (199 h uh
3
myth Wth suh Wnen bendn of hstoy myth nd the monu ment we e no one sused to nd the ojet desbed n omnent Gemn t joun s Gmtkuntwrktht mde the Gemn t nto the ntenton t of t een befoe the Bonn o enment moed to Ben uh deuson exubene s mthed ony by the nsoune wth whh Wne Adof Htes utue heo s ed uon to tute t ms fo Ben The oem oud esy be ontnued but ts onte ue I woud suest s mted. Wht I he ued so f mounts to symtomt eeye ew of those thee utu eents n the summe of 99 edemton thouh oe edemton thouh memoy edemton thouh foettn. No doubt some woud fee the nteetu ostue stenthened by suh e dutons of omexty. Fo othes the e questons emee ony now Isnt ths whoe shotuted ument one mht s stutuy emnsent o f smst ntWnensm tht oses deent hsto ot nd esthet estes n us nd teeoo mode tht den tes Wnes ous entey wth ts onsequenes n the Thd Reh? Futhemoe doesnt ths nd of oh ete ts own ood onsene by ben oey ntfsst yes e the end of the Thd Reh nd of ot oetness a lmn?And thd snt t nd of Gsmtkritiktht eodues wht t tts nmey the dsuse tot tnsm tht undees the onet of the Gsmtkuntwknd tht ms so muh of Wnes theoet nd t wtn To od then eodun wht one tt deent oh seems to be ed fo. e most eed tht the oyoyenewed Rehst whose oos osted fom shnn se n sunht to muted y on oudoeed dys to bush ue unde the sothts t nht ws seeney nd t tmes unnny beutfu ts st monumenty both dssoed nd entued by htness of ben tht on tsted sty wth the su memoy of the heyset now eed htetue Cn one ey se of edemton om hstoy when the ub dsussons bout the hstoy nd menn of ths budn wee nee moe ntense thn n the heted debes tht ed n men n the med nd n the ub t e bout the mets of Chstos oet The dox s tht n yes st the e Rehst my he been moe ns besuy nd hstoythn the eed budn ws now. Ven e s not the sme s an. In e dsuse nd ub on
Monumntl ducton
Monumntl Suction
tet Chrsts veg fct as a strategy t make vsbe t ve t revea what was he whe t was vsbe. Cceptay, the veg f the Rechstag ha ather satay eect t mte the vce f ptcs as sa, the memry f speeches frm ts wws f the rasg f Germa r Svet ags ts rf a f the ca ptca rhetrc se. Ths pee p a space fr reect ad ctempat as we as fr mem y. The trastress f the evet tsefthe artsts refse t prg the shw p ppar emawas sch that t hghghte the temp rat a hstrct f bt space the tes reatshp betwee re memberg a frgettg. the stgy vee bg tsef pr ce a memry qte deret frm that marked by the athtara scrpt abve ts prta VOLK, e gve t the Germa pepe frm hgh The ew ayer f pbc memry s that f a geey ppar evet f thsas f pepe mg ar the bdg day aer ay ceebratg a symb f Germa demcracy a s frag a trastress The wrappe Rechstag ths became a m met t emcratc ctre stead f a demstrat f state pwer Eve f e sh t verestmate ths pbc eect f Chrsts prject t des prve a ctervce t thse wh have merey crtce the Hywzat f avatgarst art practces r have rece the whe evet t Bers esperate ee t sprce p ts terata mage. Thkg abt ths crtca a atmmeta mes f Chrsts prject I was reme fWagers w prvegg f the tra stry, the ephemer the prvsa Ths whe he rst mage a per frmace f Sigi he wrte hs fre Uhg that the theater f pks a beams erecte y f the cc a meaw ear Zrch, w be smate after three days a the scre bre. I a smar ve whe t came t bg the theater Bayreth Wager aways emphasze the prvsa atre f the archtectre, a Bayreth as a bg tre t ee t be as atmmeta as Chares Garers Pars pera cmpete the same year f 875 was mmet Wag er's bref cabrat wth the archtect Gttfred Semper shpwrecke precsey becase Wager rejected ay mmeta esg fr hs Fest spehas, whch came t be ppary kw as the Bayreth bar. If the esg f the Gmtkuntwkca be see as a mmeta m f the ftre the t s t sme etet cterbaace by Wagers vey mer sesbty f the prvsaty a ephemeraty f stt
7
IGR 3 Chr Wrppng h hg Cur Arhur Sld
Lb Clumb Unvr
taze art merty Mmeta esre a the cscsess f the ephemera, the trastry are easy tes Wagers m, a fact that, amg ther thgs, may epa Baeare's eary terest Wagers art The ry f crse s that Bayreth bec me me ta ts w ways a that Wagers art has becme eshe st ae, a package precsey the ways he f mst bjectabe the cmpser Gacm Meyerbeer, hs emess whse cmmerca sccess Pars Wager ver cease t ere as ecaet a stere prsttte a Germa The sccess f Bayreth hwever s eret frm what happee t the sbseqet mersms a avatgares as we crprat t the ctre str. Bt there s st a eeper kage betwee Wager a the emerget mersm f hs tme The grwg recgt sce Baeare f the prvs, the trast the ephemr a, yes, the fashabe as key parameters f merty ge erates at the ppsg ed f a tese axs the esre fr astg mmetay what Pa Ear cad, a trasatabe phrase e r sr de rer. I Wager, the aety prce by ths tes re
_
Moumtl Suctio
Thrd Reh we shod remnd orselves ha monmenal as an aeshe aeo s as hsoral onnen and nsabe as an oher aeshe aeo Whle he monmena ma alwas be b and awesome wh ams o eern and permanene dern hsoral perods obvosl have dsn experenes of wha ovewhelms and her desre for he monmena wl dffer boh n qa and n qan. Ths he sedve power of eran forms of nneeenhen monmen ed as he were o he poa need of he naona sae and he lra needs of he boreose learl do no mah or aeshe or poa sensbles b ha does no neessar mp ha we are free from monmena sedons per se One we fos on he hsora spe of monmenal I od wel mane arrvn a a onlson ha he denaon of monmenalsm wh fassm and he oapsn of he desre for he monmenal wh masohsm and sefannhaon od beome eble as self an hsoral ex raher han as a nversa ond on or a meahsora norm On f we hsore he aeor of monmena self an we sep o of he doble shadow of a ksh monmenalsm of he nne eenh enr and he beose anmonmenasm of modernsm and posmodernsm ake On hen an we ask he qeson abo monmena n poenal new was
Wha hen of he dsorse of he monmena n Waner? I wl fos here on he lnkae beeen monmenalsm and he ver promnen dsorse of ahere n Waner's proramma ra and heorea wrns whh I hod o be enral o Waners overal aeshe proe In hs brllan sd of Baale enled Agist AchitctuDens Holer has poned o how he searh and desre for he monmena n modern s was he searh and desre for orns. owhere s hs learer han n he nneeenh en The searh for orns beame nevabe one he pola eonom and ndsral revoons had ben o srp awa he reos and meaphsa seres of earer aes The nneeenhen dsorse of orns was poded b wha Geor ks aer ermed "ransendenal homeessness as he coitio moand o whh he opposed he opa of an neraed vlaon We have ome
Moumtl Suctio
o read hs nneeenhen obsesson wh orns and her mh rondn as fln he lr emzn needs of he posrevolona boreos naonsae n he p of aeleran modernzaon A he same me as he exampe of ks ndaes he searh for orns and a new emeren lre od aso ake on an anWesern anap als and anmodern neon. The obsesson wh orns and mh was no s reaona sae deoo or s lra deooa reeon. Is rh as Adorno ared was ha demonsraed how nneeenh en modern self onra o lbera and proressve beefs remaned bond p wh he onsve dale of enhenmen and mh Waner s a ase n pon. To beer ndersand he lnk amon mh he monmen and orns s mporn o remember ha for he nneeenh en nd on ra o or own me he monmena was rs and foremos emboded n he monmens of lassal anq monmens ransmed more oen han no n framenar form Alhoh lassal monmens provdedE ropean naons wh an anhorn n her ral roos hnk of he rann of Greee over German) he searh for naonal monmens rs reaed he deep naonal pas ha deenaed a ven lre from boh Eropean and s nonEropean ohers ever more monmens were nearhedShleanns exavaons and he romane of arhaeolo a ahed o hs name are paradma herehe monmen ame o aanee orn and sab wel as deph of me and of spae n a rapd hann wod ha was experened as ranso proon and nsable. nd he pma monmen n he nneeenh en's admraon for las sal and prehsor anq was ahere Ths was no ondene ha Heel paed arhere a he ve bennns of ar. Mon mena arhere espeahnk of he l of obelsks pramds emples and memoral and bral owersseemed o aranee permanene and o provde he desred blwak aans he speedp of me he shn ronds of rban spae and he ransorness of modern lfe Rhrd Waner wa ve mh of hs nneeenh en no gistar here lke he moderns Baale b nhesan ; nogist orns b ve mh n searh of hem; no n favor of he pleasres of ransorness and fahon as Badeare w) b volenl opposed o hem and n prs of a new and permanen re ha wold brn o fron wha he aled he arwodhora ask kusltgschichtlich
42
Monmntl Sdcton
Ab)f ms a nep ay magnae wn Fen mens
sse T see a as pefmng a wsal mssn s nee a peay Geman penmenn a ese fm e vepvegng f a an e n e pess f sapng nana eny n a pe pe eng e fman f e Geman nansae Ts nn f as ms sn ane Wagnes sefmage f e gens ae pn y s Noth (nee) gve e GemanVlka new le Anyw Wagnes nepn f a ama an ms papaes n s wespea nneeeneny magnay f mpa ae e sabe gns an my gnngs f e nan A e same me e senas mnmenay f s as pje w e a ms eay n essays f e ae 18 40s an eay 8s k sape agans e akp f Wagnes vfes ppsn a ean kn f nneeeneny mnmenasm Hs wn mnmena pe f ngng lfe e a f e e an a a w ansen e en sage f eaene an pn an w be ensne n e an na Ftpf Baye was eay peae n assmpns e jen f meess asss nms a fa n s eyes aknwege e v empa an spaal neness f a a an sen ejen f e szng ae syes a e ae e pns f y an fasn Ts we ea n Te Ak f e Fe She [aheue] prod he uldng whh eale eh had dued fm he fel need f eau he ee gehe he ndvdual dea f hee w adng he wann fanc u f a ele lngng f alean he he eve nan le f uldng hughu he wd n he me d nneed he n hhe flw he ae f Fahn whe fvlu aw he need mu mae he wn eaue he nwhee hea he a f nne eaul Nee.
In s genee pes an s mens pwn f e nneeen en ys sessn w s syes s passage an e ea as a kn f qe vnt lf Vennas Rngsae w eame s ena e emegene f aea mensm n Asa a few eaes ene F Wagne as f e n e se Venna menss fms f e mnmenae asss an e ssfae j se e emans f e pesen b Wagne en aae tese emans em seves n a nvesazng mnmenazng e I s easy see w Wagnes qe f e mnmena aeay
Monmntl Sdction
3
anpae Nezses eens n mnmena sy b was Nezse w n ne f s psmsy pbse agmens m 878 s pne e neyng nan n Wagnes g agans mnmenay: Wagne gs e mnmenal eeves n e nvesay man In a smay nay way Wagne ses a nvesazng an my mage f aee gn s wn ams an aese mnmenay aeqae an emegng new e a f e ms ama as e new Gmtkntwk.F e vey nn f e Gmtkntws my ams namenay aea Te meap f aee nns ke a emv n a Wag nes key pgamma s"A an Revn "Te Ak fe Fe Opea an Dama an A Cmmnan my Fens wen a e me e was nepazng s eagy Despe s en an qe f e mnmena an f asss nms s pmay me f e awk f e fe s Geek agey an e my f Angne emes e fnng sne f Wagnes egy f ase an eeemng ve as e penn f e apse f te esng sae s ea Wagnes eams f a aaly new e B n a mve yp a f psHeean a sy e nmave aae f Geek agey s fame y a sa naave f eay an eb a eeves s mnneeeneny spn fm a ey f apalsm as eaene pn an pn f e Geman Vlk. Ts nn f eay an e s aae n e s pages f "A an Revn: Handnhand wh he dun f he Ahenan Sae mahed he dwnfal f Taged A he fommn ef ang a huand ne f eg leavage, wa heGesamknswrk f Taged dnegaed n ndvdua fa Ave he un f ag a w head he f he mad laughe f Ahane, he mae f mede ad a he e end, eve mue f A d efe hlh wh ead wh gm men he hme un he eeng a f human engh and eau
Wagnes wn mnmena am e fm e ns f agey an eeae eGmtknwkagans 2000 yeas f w sy peeve g a Hegean ens s s peae n a w n ns n n e e n e eep pas If weve e gn self s aeay nepaze as n s a magne w e pjee fe f e Gmtkntwkw av a sma fae An en Wagne akes a sen sep a ansaes e sa ps f e se an fa f
44
Monumental Seduction
cuures ino a painy myhic dimenson ha poss some dsasrous end ng aready in he very ac of foundaon In a key passage from The Artwork of the Future he compares he ruins of ragedy o he runs of he ower of Babe: Just as in the building of the Tower of Babel when their speech was confounded and mutual understanding made impossible the nations severed from each other each one to go its separate ay: so when a nationa solidari had pit into a thousand egoistic particuarities, did the separate arts depart from the proud and heaven-soaring buiding of Drama which had lost the inspiring soul of mutu understanding.14
The heme of buding a new cuure and creang he ar adequae o he comng age s aways predcaed n Wagner on desrucon and runs. The discourse of ruins is nscribed ino Wagner's projec from he begnnng and no ony since his Schopenhaueran urn, as some woud caim. Wagnerian musc drama rses programmacay from he runs of opera, jus as he "fues ower of pure Humanlov' (a reference o Angone, Segmund and Seg nde, and Siegfred) sprang "amid he runs of ove of 12, sex, of parens sibings In a eer eraogy o Uhg of which menionsand heofe of he projeced forNovember he rs me, 1851, Wagner has hs o say abou a performance of heRing:
I c ony conceive of performing it after the revolution only the revolution can provide me with the artists and th audience Inevitably the next revolution must bring an end to our whole theater business The theaters must and will all colapse this is unavoidable From their ruins I wil then call up what I need only then wil I nd what I need. I shall erect a theatre on the bank of the Rhine and issue inviations to a great dramatic festiv Mter a year's preparation, I shall produce my complete work in the course of four days. With this production I wil then convey the meaning of this revolution in its noblest sense to the people of the evoution. This audience will understand me; the current audience is unabe to.16
Thus n ae 1851, ess han a monh before Lous Napoon's 8h Brumaire, Wagner magnes he fuure as a Bonaparis aeshec pusch aced wh Bakunnan anarchs desre and reacionary German popusm. Jus as Louis Napoon camed he mane of hs grea unce, Wagner's ambi ion was o b e perceved as a successor o he wo owering arss of he precedng period Goehe and Beehoven. Bu his reveas precsey he de
Monumental Seduction
45
sre for monumenalty, a monumenay characerzed by an nense nfe rory compex oward hese predecessors whose achievemens Wagner of en despared of machng. Thomas Mann spoke eoqueny of Wagners ar as of a "monumenaed . . . dieanism. 7 Bu conray o he mon umena works of eher Goehe or Beehoven, Faustand he Ninth Sym phony respecivey, Wagners fanasies of he fuure are aways predcaed on deah, desrucon, and disaser, boh in hs heoreica wrings and n hs musc dramas. The new word promised by Segfred woud rse from he runs of Vahaa, runs of a case of he dead o begin wih: archec ure as bura se and memora of heoic deah or faure sandng a boh he begnnng and he ending of me. The key funcon of hs vson of monumenliy emerges here guaranees he presence of he dead wihou whose sacrice here can be no new cuure. The emov of archiec ure in runs provides myhc cosure o Wagner's romanic ques: wha s beng bu s aways aready a omb a memora o faure and dsaser. Wagner's anpahy oward he monumena as casscs norm s grounded in hs maging he monumena as rn ony, for ony runs have perma nence. This is where a nineeenhcenuy dscourse of he monumen as ruin mees wih Aber Speer's ruin heoy of archiecure, whch had he express inen o bud n such a way ha he greaness of he Third Reich woud si be visibe n is runs a housand years hence I was he as sage of a Romancism of runs in whch an orginay meanchoy and conempave mpuse was ransformed ino an mperalis projec o con quering me and space. Here, oo Wagner appears Janusfaced, ooking boh backard o Romancsm and forard o a voen, engung fuure The smuaney of he desre for permanence and he anicpaon of de srucon s remniscen of Eas Canes reecion on Her's hesaon over wheher or no o desroy Pars. In Mases and Power,Cane read Hiers diemma as he wofod degh n permanence and desrucon characerisc of he paranoac Of course, Wagner saw himsef as he "penpoenay of down, and n anoher eer o Uhg of Ocober 22 1850, shory aer pubshng "Judaism in Music he wroe "In oa cam and wihou any hoa I assure you ha he ony revouon I beeve in s he one ha begins wh he bunng down ofParis9 n he end Paris ws no burned, no even by he Nazs Bu he German sae has coapsed four mes in one cenury And ye, forunaey, he new monumena cuure Wagner inended o found wih his musc dra
Monumnl Sucon
on he rns of he sae never arrve nor he new Asophanes who wo s ng an aghng aop he rns ofWagnersGmkunwrk. Insea Bareh as an exempar seor of he nernaona opera nsr s we an ave We have he Ring ofh Niblung as a om book an he programnoe esrpon of a 980s Me proon as lls on h Rhin. We ma no nee anoher Arsophanes an ha ma be js as we B wha hen of he monmena oa? Or own wa of enong an aeshes of monmenafwe an brng orseves o am ha n some forms he monmen an be enoe an ms no be reee a a ossseems o me aeqae emboe n Chrsos wrappng of he Rehsag: a monmena ha an o who permanene an who esron one ha s namen nforme b he moerns spr of a eeng an ranso epphan b ha s no ess memorabe or monmena for The an proes monmena ha an of even a greaha ra even ssemnae memorae b hewas mea was monmen an anmonmen a he same me B he Chrso proe was an ar even a noma nsaaon I was no esgne as per manen b spae b raher as s empora ssoon Ths s eebraon begs he qeson of wheher a monmena arhere s possbe oa or even esrabe Ths brngs me o a na reeon ha opens p anoher se of qesons nheren n Chrsos proe an mporan o he sse of mon men n or re In 94 n New York he paner ernan Lger he arhe an own panner os Ls er an he hsoran egfre Geeon ae for a new monmena n arhere. In her on ahore programma saemen ene Nne Pons on Monmen he arge agans he pseomonmen of he nneeenh enr as mh as agans he pre nonasm of he Bahas an he Inernaona e Ther heses are nforme b he emora onvon ha here s a egmae esre for monmen pb spae Monmens are seen as expressng he hghes ra nees of a peope an hs he ahors amen he evaon of monmena whn moernsm Toa her manfeso reas ke a ash aemp o rensrbe a emo
Monumnl Sucon
47
ra monmenay no he moerns proe an mpes ha an be hsore as beongng sqare whn he New De era The fa ha s rheor now sons hoow s esmon o he frher ene of mon mena pb spae n he pas eaes. Neher Rem Koohaass reen rmphsm of exra arge n hs book SMwh s eebraon of bgness n pannng nor he few sess new pb monmens sh as he Venam Memor n Washngon an he he fa ha we are wang n van for he resrreon of a pb monmena Perhaps he wrappng of he Rehsag whh an now be seen on n reprobe mea mages on posars Tshrs oee ps an he Inerne s smpoma of he fae of he monmena n or posmoern mes has mgrae from he re no he mge from he maera no he m maera an mae no he ge omper bank so ofen n mea pos he Nas ha he rgh nsn when he masssrbe mages of peer's moes n he form of posars The monmena ee of arhere o s as eas perhaps even beer be aheve sa b a hghange oang imgof arhere o nee even o b he rea hng. or ears afer he war man Germans msaken beeve ha peer's Bern proes ha aa been b an hen esroe n he as sages of he war Ths an some ears aer or own monmen seon ma be no onger e p wh rea b spae a a eran no wh he mammoh shoppng mas n he me of nowhere nor wh nernaon arpors an her mass raon of peope an ommoes boh of whh are phsa nope &om he raona se of pb pae he vng No woner hen ha some w ook for he n pb spae on he Inerne or ve own monmena seon ha hos he promse of onqerng boh me an sae an ha gves new meanng o MLhan's phanasm of an eerona ne goba re Monmena oa ma a be n berspae an he nformaon hghwa The Germans a an rae n seamess an obvos onn wh an oher monmena Na proehe bng of he Aobahna Infobahn an Deshe Teekom n a reen a n he Nw rk Tims has esrbe who hesaon as he fas ane o he fre Mon mena s ave an we We ma n fa have o onser a monmena of mnaraon for he wor we web s n prnpe he mos ggan nerakng of or age as promsng o some an hreaenng o
48
Monumntl Suction
oter a any monmentalm a eer been Sgncantly oweer, te elekom a cannot o wtot a natonal monment: t ent te Branenbrg Gate a a traemark for mae n Germany Weter te nfor mato trfc to te ftre wl be n te fat ane or weter t wll gener ate bra am on a mon menta cae reman to be een Only te ftre wl tel weter t wa wort beng ece
The Void of Bein
gt year aer te fal of te Wl een year after te ncaton of at an Wet Germany, an jt a coe of year before te na tranfer of te natona goernment from Bonn to te cy on te Sree Bern a cty tet frantcay beng wtten an rewrtten Berln a eft ben t eroc an roagantc ole a a ont of te ol War an trggle to magne telf a te new catal of a rente naton te cty a become ometng lke a rm trog wc we can foc e of contemorary rbanm an arctectre natonal enty an tateoo torcal memory an forgettng Arctectre away been eely nete n te ang of oltcl an natonal entte an te reblng of Berln catal of Germny ge gncant cle to te tate of te German naton aer te fal of te Wal an abot te way t roject t ftre a lterary crtc I am natraly attracte to e noton of te cy a tet of reang a cy a a conglomeraton of gn Mn of tao avno maeoly ggete Inviibl Citi,we know ow real an magnary ace commngle n te mn to ae or noton of ecc cte. No matter were we begn or con of te cy of gn weter wt Vctor Hgo reang Pa nNor m Pri a a book wrtten n tone wt e Dbn' attemt, n Brn Anto
52
Th Vis ofBrli 53
Th Vi ofBli
FIG -1 Philip Johnson Haus ner former Checkpoin Charlie (1996)
IG Forer Checkpoin Charie wh imiaion Saue o f Libery ( 1995).
Phoo auhor.
Courey Eisabeh Feicella.
cnuy d gby a muc on vb ma o bu pac a on mag and mmo pd and upud by aumac vn. Pa pamp pa rblock,Bn now nd n a nzy o u pocon and n n w gna mmoa obon o 1990 n md o quay nn dba abou ow o ngoa Naz and commun pa now a a dcoom o Cod Wa av vand. T cy obd w accua and pannng u a d ba a ncon a pm acng pa o uban dvop mn a un o cnuy. o n md o a govnmn and copoaonun budng boo m o uy monum na popoon. Nong goa an o ca capa o wn cn ury bu von nd pny aund by pa. Bn a man and omo oca x mad a muc no mo by abnc a by vb pnc o pa om pomnn un uc a dcnc a nd o amou Kundamm o Wod Wa I bu and apn ma n many o budng. wa n mon a coap o Ea man a a ou nby o pa o cy w pap mo acu a
cy a o o ong ad ood n dad y o om o poc n cnuy. Emp wa and vouon dmocacy acm anm and Cod Wa a w payd ou . ndby cd no ou mmory da o Bn a capa o a dconnuou upud ory o coap o ou uccv man a Bn a gound o ary ponm and vo agan od od Brn a p cn o vban cuua avangadm o Wma and mnaon by Nam Bn a command cn o wod wa and ooau; and nay Bn a ymboc pac o EaW cononaon o nuca ag w mcan and ov an ang a o down a Ccpon Car wc now bng und no an cn bun cn wacd ov mpoay by a owng poogapc cuo o Pp Jonon and a unn gdd au o Lby pacd aop om Ea an wacow a a conng and xaang m a o Wa Bn md auad w mmo ya nc n av ao aug u mup on abou poc o wu ong m pod and on py namng o n Ea Bn a w gvn
Th VfBrl
a ther resoast and oen dededy antsoalst ast the dsmantng of monuments to soasm the asurd deate aout tearng don the DRs Paae of the Reu to mae room for a reudng of the Hohenzoern aae and so forth. Ths as not just tnerng th the ommunst ty text. It as a strategy of oer and humaton a na urst of Cod War deoog ursued va a ots of sgns muh of t hoy unneessary and th redtae ota faout n an ast erman ouaton that fet nreasngy derved of ts fe hstory and of ts memores of four deades of searate deveoment. ven though not a the ans to dsmante monuments nd to rename streets ame to fruton the damage as done. DR nostalga and an usurge n ouarty for the revamed Communst Party (PDS ere the nevtae ota resuts even among many n the younger generaton ho had een atve n the ooston to the state n the 98s orgettng s equay rveged n an oal ad amagn of 996 teray rtten al over the ty ERIN WRD-ERN ECOMS. But e omes hat Instead of a roer oj et e get a vera l vod. Ths hrasng may reet se reauton for n the urrent haos of u annng adoor shemng and ontradtory otng th many arhtetural deveoments (Sreense and Aexanderatz among them st hangng n the ar and ther feas and nanng nseure noody seems to no exaty hat Bern eome. But the otmst su text of the ess s qute ear and raday oosed to Kar Sheers 90 ament that t s the trag destny of Bern forever to eome and never to e. Too muh of the urrent onstruton and annng atuay as the very dynamsm and energy of turnoftheentur Bern that Sheer ever the utural essmst amented Sne muh of entra Bern n the md990s s a ggant onstruon ste a hoe n the ground a vod there are ame reasons to emhasze the vod rather than to eerate Berns urrent state of eomng.
The noton of Bern as a vod s more than a metahor and t s not just a transtory ondton. It does ary hstora onnotatons. Already n 935 the Marxst h osoher Ernst Boh n hs Erbch r Zt desred fe n Wemar Bern as ntons n a vod He as referrng to the vauum e y the oase of an earer nneteenthentuy ourgeos
Th VfBi
55
uture hh had found ts satal eresson n the heavy ornamental stone arhteture of Berns unque aartment udngs the ejoratvey aed Mtkr(rent arras th ther mute ngs n the a ther soaed Htrhrenosng nner ourtyards aesse from the street ony through tunnee arhays. The ostWord War I vauum as ed y a funtonalst and to Boh nsustanta uture of dstraton: Wemar modernsm the move aes the sxday ye raes the ne modernst arhteture the gtz and gamour of the soaled sta zaton hase efore the 1929 rash Bohs hrase funtons n the vod aso artuate d the nsght that n the age of monooy atasm ut ty sae oud no onger ommand the reresentatve funtons of an earer age As Breht ut t n those same years hen he dsussed the need for a ne ostmmet reasm reay tsef had eome ntona thus requrng entrey ne modes of reresentaton. A tte over a deade ater t as e to fssm to transform Bern nto the tera vod that as the andsae of runs of 194. Esealy n the ener ofBern Brtsh and Ameran omers had joned fores th Aert Seers reng rs to reate a taua rasa for ermana the re named ata of a vtorous Reh. d the reaton of vods dd not sto then; t ontnued through the 950s under the headng of Srg hen entre quarters of the od Bern ere razed to mae room for the smst versons of modern arhteure and annng araterst of the tmes The major onstruton rojet of the ostar erod the Wa needed another vod that of the nomansand and the mneeds that ound ter ay through the very enter of the and hed ts Wesern art n a tght emrae of West Bern tsef alays aeared as a vod on Eastern uroean mas: West Bern of the Cod War as the hoe n the astern uroean heese. Lese eather mas on West erman teevson for a ong tme reresented the DR as an asene a an sae surroundng the rontstadt Bern the atalst heese n the rea exstng vod. When the Wa ame don Bern added another hater to ts nar ratve of vods a hater that rought a shados of the ast and soo revenants. or a oue of years ths very enter of Bern the threshod eteen the Eastern and the Western arts of the ty as a seventeenare asteand that extended from the Brandenurg ate don to Potsdamer and Lezger Patz a de streth of drt grass nd rem nants of former avement under a g sy tat seemed even gger gven
The Vid ofBerlin
FIGUR J.3 Wall area between Lepziger Patz and Brandenburg Gate Cortesy Architecture Slide Library Coumbia Uniersity
the absence of any highrise skyline so characteristic of this ciy. Berliners called it aectionately their "wonderful ciy steppes, their prairie of his toy 5 It was a haunting space crisscrossed by a maze of footpahs going nowhere One slight elevation marked the remnants of the bunker of Hitler's SS guard which aer havng been reopened once the Wall came down was soon sealed shut again by the city authorities to avoid making it into a site of noNazi pilgrimage Walking across this space that had been a mined noman'sland framed by he Wall and that now seed occasionaly as a staging site for rock concerts and other transitory cultural attrac
3·4 bert Speer North-South s Model Courtesy Archtecture Sde Library, Columbia Unversity.
IGU
Th VifBrlin
Th VisfBrlin
9
head" that stil sep to be caed upon to represent the invisibe wal in the the novelist Pe arated East and West Germans and that was antcpated b 6 ter Schneder long before the actual wa came down. ha becoe Bern o cener ep h o Snce hen, he rebdng Wih he new a ajor oc o a dcon abo he Berin o oorrow. o he Rechag in goernen qarer in he bend o he er Spree nex Lepzger Patz the north and the corporate developments at Potsdamer and a new center of at the southern end of this space Bern wi indeed gan corporae and goernena power fuBut how mportant should the ciy center be for the ctes of the themselves in ture? After al the city as center and the centered city are question toda Bernard Tschum puts it wel when he asks,
FU 3 5 Instltion in he oid le y he dismnling o h e Wl (991) Phoo: uhor
on I co no hep eeeng ha h aa aa ha once een he e o He Rech kanze an he pace o e occpe Spee egaoanac nohoh ax wh he Gea Ha n he noh an He pha ach n he oh he powe cene o he epe o a hoan ea a o e copee 9. In he e o 99 when o o he Wa ha aea een e oe acone o o o o o n an pece he aea wa e w he Wa ee o e heMurspchthe wa pek e an ecoae wh coo anga pape eae ha wee owng an ng n he wn he powe ake he o a econ na e an a eoa. The naaon nceae he ncann eeng: a o aae wh ne hoy wh eoe o achece oh an n gae e o he ee o eae a wa he eoa a epy page gh n he cene o he ene cy he cene ha wa an awa ha een a he ae e he e heho eween he eaen an wee pa o he cy he pace ha now n e anohe ae o gncaon eee
FIG 36 Posdmer Pltz round1930 Couresy Arhieure Slde Lrry
Coum Unersy.
6o
Th VidofBrlin
ho an rchiecture whose histoi role was to geneate he appence of sbe Images (monuments ode et. deal with tody's culture of the dispeance of unstable images (twenyfouimageperseond cnem, video nd ompute geneted imges)? For some world wide web surfers and virual ciy aneurs, he buil ciy i self has become obsolee. Ohers, however, lke Saskia Sassen he New York urbanis o r Dieer H omannAxhelm, a wellknown Berlin archiecure criic, have argued persuasively ha i is precisely he growh of global elecommunicaions and he poenial dispersal of populaion and resources ha have creaed a new logic for concenraion in wha Sassen calls he global city. Indeed, he ciy as cener is far from becoming obso lee Bu as a cener, he ciy is increasingly aeced and srucured by our culure of media images. In he move from he ciy as regional or naional cener of producion o he ciy as inernaional cener of communicaions media, and serices, he very image of he ciy iself becomes cenral o i � success in a globally compeiive world. From New Yorks new Times Square wih is culure indusry gians Disney and Berelsmann and wih is ecsasies of ashing commercial signage, o Berlins new Posdamer Plaz, wih Sony, Mercedes, and Brown Boveri, visibiliy equals success. No sur risi gly, hen, he maor concern w ih developing and re key es he hear o Berlin seems o be image raher han usbuldng age, a�r �civeness for ou :is s and ofcial visiors raher han heeroge neous lvg space for Berl s inhabians, erasure of memory raher han is imaginaive preservaion. The new archiecure is o enhance he de sired image of Berlin as capial and global meropolis of he wenyrs cenury, as a hub between Easern and Wesern Europe, and as a cener of corporae presence, however limied ha presence may in he end urn ou o be. Bu ironically, he concern wih Belins image, foremo on he minds of poliicians who desire nohing so much as o increase Berlin's abiliy o arac corporaions and ouriss, clshes wih wha I would describe as he fear of an archiecure of images. IV
This ension has produced a very sharp debae in which he bale lines are rmly enrenched beween he defenders of a naional radiion and he advocaes of a conemporry highech global archiecure. The
Th Vidofen
61
radiionaliss champion a local and naionl c oncep of urban culure ha hey call "criical reconsrucion. Is represenaives, such as Hans Smmann, he ciy's direcor of building from 9 9 o 996, and Vicor Lampugnani, former direcor of Frankfurs Museum of Achiecure, cal for a new smpliciy ha seems o aim a a mix of Karl Friedrich Schinkels cssicism and Peer Behrens's once daing modernism, wih Heinrich essenow as a moderae modernis hrown in o secure an aniavangardis and aiWeimar poliics of radiionlism. Berlin mus be Berlin, hey say. Ideniy is a sake Bu his desired idenity is sympomaically dominaed by preWorld War I archiecure, he Mitkasrnand he noion of he once again popular radiional neighborhood, aecionaely called he Kiz.In he lae 970s, he Kizemerged as counerculure in rundown, closeoheWall quarers like Kreuzberg where squaers occupied and resored decaying housing sock. In he 980s , i was embraced by he city's mainsream preseraion eors Now, i dicaes key parameers of he new archiecural conseaism. Forgoen are he archiecurl and planning experimens of he 920s, he grea Berlin esaes of Marin Wagne and Bruno Tau. Forgoen or raher repressed is he archiecure of he azi perio d, of which Berlin, afer all, sill harbors signican ex amples from he Olympic Sadium o Gring's aviaion minisry near Leipziger Plaz. Ignored and o be quicky forgoen is he archiecure of he GDR, which many would us like o commi in is enirey o he wrecking ballfrom heStalinalall he way o saellie housing projecs like Marzahn or Hohenschnhausen. Wha we have insead is a srange mix of an srcinaly lefis Kizromanicism and a nineeenhcenuy vi sion of he neighborhood divided ino small parcels, as if such srucures could become prescripive for he rebuilding of he ci as a whole Bu his is precisely wha bureaucras like Hans Simmann and heoriss like Dieer HomannAxhelm have in mind wih criical reconsrucion Prescripions such as ciy block building radiional window facades a uniform heigh of twenywo meers (he riualisically invokedaujoh), and bilding in sone are vociferously defended agains all evidence ha such adiionalism is wholly imaginay. Building in sone, indeed, a a ime when he mos sone you'd ge is a hin sone veneer covering he concree skeleon underneah. There is no much of ineres o say abou he oher, he corporae side, o f he debae Here we have inernaional high ech, facade ecsasy,
62
The ids of Bein
The i ofBein
pefeence fo mosly anal hghses an oos of compuegeneae magey o convnce us ha we nee o go wh he fuue. Bu hs choomy of Sone Age vs. cye age s msleang: he gh s ove mage an mage alone on oh ses of he ssue. The new naonally coe sm plcy s us as mageven as he mage ecsases of he hghech camp excep ha poss anal mages of a naonal pas agans equally anal mages of a gloa fuue. The ea Beln of oay s concs an aspa ons emans a vo n a eae ha lacks magnaon an vson. Take Hans Smmann an Vco Lampugnan. Lampugnan sap poves of ea sy pcues . supecal sensaon . . omene lgh ness . . . wl gowh . . . nosy new ne peaon. Smmann n un poess ha "Leanng fom Las Vegas s ou of place n a cena Euo pean cy a pogammac saemen as much ece agans posmo ensm n achecue as s qe laanly anAmecan n ehaon of consevave eman Kuii. Bu hs aack on a wenyve yeaol founng ex o f posmoen achecue an s epue mage polcs s sangely ou of place an ou of me. Las Vegas posmoensm has een efunc fo some me an nooy has eve suggese a Beln shoul ecome casno cy. The hen oec of Smmanns moazng poes s Wema Beln. Fo Beln n he 920s we mus ememe e ne s moeny as qunessenally Amecan Beln as a "Chcago on he Spee an as such ffeen fom ole Euopean capas an f feen also fom he Beln of he Wlhelman Empe The emace of Ameca was an emace of pagmac echnologcl moeny funcon alsm mass culue an emocacy. Ameca hen offee mages of he new u memoes of Wema achecueEch Menelsohn Wale opus an he Bauhaus Buno Tau Man Wagne Hannes Meye Mes van e Rohesmply o no gue n he cuen eaes aou a checue n Beln. In he anmoensm he consevaves hemselves have gone posmoen. Small wone hen ha Smmann's pefeence fo cc econsucon s self pmaly concene wh mage an a vesng he mage of ul space ceang a sense o f aona eny fo Beln whose vos mus e lle an he moe nangle ye eco nomcally ecsve nenaona mage of he cy n an age of gloal se vce economes uan ousm culual compeon an new concena ons of wealh an powe. Bu he ese mage s ecely pe914. The ccal econsuconss fanasze aou a secon Gndeei
GU 3 oame az oso se whNFO BOX995). Coesy
Eisaeh Feea
sian gous to the founing years of the Secon Reich aer the Franco-Prus War Never mind that the gold rush of the rst Gronderzeit quickly coldepression. a longterm of beginning the and lapsed with he crash of 1873 The issue in central Berlin, to use Venturi/Scott Brown/Izenour's by now classical postmoern terms from Learningfom as Vgas in this ver dierent context is about how best to decorate the corporate and govern mental sheds to better attract international attention: not he ciy as mul �e tiply coded text to be lled with life by its dwellers and its readers but t city as image and design in the seice of displaying power and prot Ths on project a in fruition to come aly underlying goal has paradigmatic Leipziger Platz called INFO BOX a huge red box on blac stilts with windo: fronts several stories high and with an openair roof terrace for panoamc
vewng.
This NFO B OX, attraction to some ve thousand visitors per day, was built n 995 as a temporay installation to serve as a viewing sit ono the construction wasteland studded with building cranes hat surrounds it it With its multimedia walls, sound rooms, and interactive computers,
The i oBelin
The i ofBein
seres as an exbton and advertsng ste for te corporate developments by Meredes Sony and te A+ T Investment Grop on Lepger and otsdamer lat cyber aner n "Vrtal Berln 2002, " yo can enoy a ytrog trog a compter smlaton of te new otsdamer and Lepger lat developments or arrve by ICE at te tre Lerter Ban o£ Yo can watc te constrton ste on a wraparond ampeatrcal screen nsde wle lstenng to an anmated Dsneyed Berln sparrow delver te prod narratve cast n a yply streetsmart slgty lowerclass Bern ntonaton Or yo can admre plater casts of te maor arctects te lt of te master blder s alve and well as smlarm al te more so as arctects ave become mere appendages n todays word ofrban development More mage box tan nfo box ts spae oers te ltmate paradgm of te many Schausteenvewng and spectacle stes) w te ty monted n te smmer of I996 at ts maor Bausteenconstrton stes) Berln as a wole advertsed tself as Shaustee te slogan "Bh nen Bauten Bouevastages bldngs bolevards) and moned a l tr program ncldng over wo ndred gded tors of constrcton stes egt ndred ors of msc acrobatcs and pantomme on nne openar stages trogot te smmer From vod ten to mseenscne and to mage mages n te vod: Bein wid Berln beomes mage Is t only pererse to compare te gae from teINFO Box's terrae onto te constrcton wasteland ofotsdamer lat to tat oter gae we all remember te gae from te prmtve elevated wooden later met) platform erected near te Wall west of otsdamer lat to allow Western vstors to take a long look eastward aross te deat strp as emblem of com mnst totataransm It wold be perverse only f one were smply to eqate te two stes And yet te memory of tat oter vewng platform wll not go away as t sares wt te INFO BOX a certan obnoxos trmpalsm te polt trmpsm of te Free World n te old War now avng been replaced by te trmpalsm of te free market n te age of orporate globaaton eraps te box and te sreen ae or tre er al te ompleted developments on Fredrcstrae tat maor commercal artery crossng nter den Lnden look frgtenngly smlar to ter former ompter smlatons wt one maor dfferene wat appeared ary sometmes even elegant and generosly spacos n te smlatons now looks oppressvely monment massve and forbddng especaly wen experenced nder
te leaden Berln skes n mdwnter all t te revenge of e real In addton some of te new fancy mls on Fredrcstre meant to ompete wt te KaDeWe Kauaus des stens) and te soppng area on and near Krrstendamm are not very scessfl and Berln already a sr pls oce spae for rent as more s beng blt day by day Ts m fea fr te ftre of otsdamer and Lepger Plat: st as teNFO BOX mmobles te aner facng te screen te tgt orporate strtres despte ter gestrng toward pbl spaces and paas wll encag and onne ter vstors rater an reate anytng lke te open moble and mltply coded rban cltre tat once aractered ts pvota tra b be teen te eastern and western parts of te ty Tere s good reason to dobt weter Helmt J ans appy platc tent overng above te entra plaa o te Sony development wll make p for te loss of rban lfe tat tese developments wll nevtably ental
r
v
Lookng at te fores and pressres tat rrently sape te new Bern one may well fear tat te ensemble of arctetral soltons proposed may represent te worst start nto te twentyrst entry one cold magne for ts ty Many of te maor constrcton proects t seems ave been desgned aganst te y rater tan for t Some of tem look lke orporate spaesps remnscent of te conlson of Cose Enountes ofthe Thid K in Te troble s tey are ere to stay Te vod n te center of Berln wll ave been lled Bt memores of tat antng space from te monts and years after te Wall ame down wll lnger Te one artect wo nderstood te natre of ts empty space n te center of Berln was Dane Lbesknd wo n 992, made te followng proposal Rike oe said a eeyig is aeady ee We oy ms see i ad poe i We ms deeop a fee fo paes sees ad oses w eed o sppo Tae e ope aea a e osdame az sgges a wideess oe omee og wi wi eeyig a say s. Te see simpy eds i e ses Wodef e l s aea is e es of oday's diie aa aw: oody waed oody paed ad ye s my impaed i a o mids d ee o mids is mage of e osdame a oid w e mai fo deades Someg ike a ao e easy eased ee f e wo e • aea wi e deeoped
66
The VfBen
The VfBen
Of cose w Libeskin escbes ongenceek s o s ivne nl w s noing b e pesse of soy cee is voi ce Posme Plz in e s plce e sion bombings of 19445 wc lef le of e ol Posme Plz sces sning e blng of e Wl in 1 961 wic eqie fe ceing of e e; e eing own of e wl in 1989 wic me s wole e be ween e Bnenbg Ge n Posme Plz ino pe of is oy Belines qicky embce ws voi le wi isoy n memo l of wic wil be ese m less sngine bo e powe of memoy n Libeskin by e new conscion. n ig ofLibeskins own ciecl pojec oweve wic s ccly n ciece of memoy even is sggesion o eve e vo s ws n e ey 1990s ws no js omnic n mpccl Fo Libeskn gve ciec fom o noe vo ns Belin e isoic vo le by e Nz escon of Beln's iving Jewis lfe n cle. A iscssion ofLbeskns msem pojec gby e sn ge mos neesng new bling n Bein s ppopie ee no only becse gves een necon o e noon of Bein s vo n e lion o memo n o isoy b becse oweve necy ses e sse of Gemn nion en n e eniy of Belin Wle l e oe mjo bng ses i n Belin oy e neviby ne b e ps on Lbeskins biling emps o ice memoy n o e lonsp o i in s vey sp ognizon.
n 1989 js few mons befoe e W ccke Dniel Libeskn spsingl won compeiion o bil e expnsion of e Belin Msem w e Jews Msem s i s wkwly n e ppop ely cle. Te Bein Msem ws one in 196 s locl isoy msem fo e wesen p of e vie cy clely ecion o e bling of e Wll wc me e fome locl soy msem e M ksces Msem inccessibe. Snce e m190s e Belin Msem s Jews secon ocmens e oe of Gemn Jewy n e iso of Beln Wi e new expnsion e msem ws o onsis of ee ps genel soy of Ben fom 180 o oy Jewis soy in
FIG 38 Bei Mem wih he ewish Mem Moe. Coesy Bo
Die ibesi
Bein n n inbeween spce eice o e eme oJews in sociey wic wol ice e elons n cossoves beween e oe wo componens. Lbeskins popos ws s ciec ing s i ws conceplly pessive n even og miple esisncespoliic esec economic o be ovecome e msem s been bl n celebe is opening in Sepembe 001 Te expnsion ss nex o e ol Beln Msem boqe pce se o ose e Belin Cmbe Co befoe i becme msem in 196 Te o n e new ps e ppenly isconnece n e only ennce o e expnsion bing is negon fom e ol bling. Libeskins sce s ofen been escibe s zigzg s g nng o becse is o ose Jews collecion s fce S of Dv e imself clle Beween e Lines Te mbgiy beween n cieclly spil n ley menng one es beween e ines is nene n i sggess e con cepl coe of e pojec Te bsic sce of e biling is fon in e elion beween wo lines one sg b boken no peces ivie ino fgmens e oe mlply ben conoe b poenlly gong
68
Th Vi ofBli
FGUR Bln Mus um wh h Jwsh Muum an Cousy Bo
Dnl bkn
on ad inntum chitectuy this ongitudna axis tansates into a thn sce o empty space that cosses the path of the zgzag stuctue at each n
esecon and that eaches fom the bottom of the buding to the top t s seaed to the exhbtion hals of the museum t cannot be enteed but it is ccssibe to viw fom the sma bidges that coss it at evey evel of the budg t s a to an abyss extending downwad and upwad at the same me Lbesknd cas it the void hs facted and mutipy inteupted void nctions ke a spne to th bui? t s both conceptu and itea d cleay it signies as a od sges absence, the absence of ens Jews, most of whom pe-
?
ed m t e Hoocaust a ardvoid it sgnes histoy a boken hstoy wthout continuity the histoy of Jews in Gemany of Geman Jews, and theefoe aso the hstoy of Gemany tsef which cannot be thou of as sepaate fom Jewish hstoy in Gemany Thus, in ne wth the ogal demand of the competition the void povdes that nbetween space between ens hstoy and ewsh hstoy n en insepaabe as
�
Th i ofBrli
they ae, except that t does t in a fom adicaly deent fom what was oginay imagned by the competition y eaving this inbetween space vod, the museum's achitectue foecloses the possibiity of ehamonizng GemaJewsh histoy along he discedited modes of symbiosis o assim iaton ut it also foecoses the opposte view that sees the Hoocaust as the inevitabe teos of Geman history Jewsh ife in Gemany has been ndamentaly ateed by the Hoocaust, but it hs not stopped The void thus becomes a space nutuing memoy and eecton fo Jews and fo Gemans ts very pesence ponts to an absence that can neve be ovecome a uptue that cannot be heaed and that can cetany not be ed wth musea stu ts ndamenta epstemoogica negativity cannot be ab sobed nto the naatves that w be tod by the obects and nstaations n the showooms of the museum The vod wi aways be thee in the minds of the spectatos cossng the bdges that tavese t as they move though the exhbtion space The spectatos themseves wi move con stanty between the nes Oganzed aound a void without images, Lbe sknds achtectue has become scipt Hs buidng itsef wites the discon tnuous naatve that s en nscibes t physicay nto the very movement of the museum vsito, and yet opens a space fo emembance to be atcuated and ead between the ines Of couse the voids have been juxtaposing in this essay ae of a fundamenty dieent natue One s an open uban space esuting fom wa destucton, and a seies of subsequent histoica events the othe is an achtectual space, consciousy constucted and sefeexive to the coe oth spaces nutue memoy, but whose memoy The very noton of the void wi have dieent meanng fo Jews than it wi fo Gemans Thee s a dange of omanticizing o natuazing the voided cente of ein just as Lbeskinds buidng may utmatey not avoid the epoach of aestheticizing o monumentizing the void achtectualy ut then the vey aticuation of this musel space demonstates the achitects awaeness of the danges of monumentality huge as the expanson is, the spectao can neve see o expeience it as a whoe oth the vod inside and the buding as peceived fom the outside eude the totalizing gaze upon which monumenta eects ae pedicated Spati monumentali is undecut n the nevitaby tempoa appehension of the buiding Such antmonumental monumentaiy, with which the museum memoazes both the Hoocaust and Jewish fe in ein stands in shap contast to
Te Vids ofBein
the usefcoscious moumetaity of the ocial govemetsposoed Holocaust Moumet, which is to be built at the othe ed of that highlychaged space bewee the adebug Gate ad eipzige Platz o those who fo good easos uestio the abiliy of taditioal moumets to keep memoy alive as public o coective memoy ibeskid' s expsio of the eli Museum my be a bette memoial to Gema ad ewish histoy, the histo of the livig ad of the dead tha ay ocia fueeal Holocaust moumet could possibly be achitectue the, Libeskids museum is the oly poect i he cuet eli buildig boom that explicity aticulates issues of atioa ad loc histoy i wys petiet to postuictio Gemay. its spatial emphasis o the adical uptues discotiuities ad factues of Ge ma ad GemaJewish histoy it sta i oppositio to the citical e costuctioists attempts to ceate a seamless cotiuiy with a pe914 atioa past that woud ease memoies of Weima, Nazi d GDR a chitectue i the pocess. a chitectue of memoy it also opposes the postatioalism of globa copote achitectue a a Potsdame ad Leipzige Platz a achitectue of developmet that hs eithe memoy o sese of place to begi with a uitetioal maifesto, the museum poits to the coceptua emptiess that cuetly exists betwee a ostalgic pe94 udestadig of the ciy ad its post22 etopic co poate maig The histoy of eli as a void is ot ove yet but he pe haps a city as vast ad vibat as eli will maage to icopoate its ltest white eephats at Potsdame ad Leipige Platz ito the lge uba b ic. f Pais is able to live with Sace Coeu, who is to say hat ei caot stomach Soy Cop? Oce he cue image fezy is ove the NF BX dismaled ad the citical ecostuctioists fogotte the otio of the capital s a motage of may histoical foms ad spces will easset itself ad the commitmet to the ecessaily palimpsestic textue of uba spae my eve led to ew ot yet imgiable foms of achitectue.
FIG JO Vo h wh Muum Couy
D Lb
Afer the "
Aer the War: Berlin as Palimpsest
When the Geman Rechstag, enovated and cowned wth a stun nng glass cupola by S wasBeln nauguated sesson of palament on Noman Apl 19 , Foste 9 99, the Republcwth wasaatplenay wa n Kosovo A fact that could only have caused evulson ten yeas ago now met wth boad publc appoval. Two months late d decades afte the Geman Wehmacht last moved hough these ugged Balkan mountans, beatng a eteat fom so utheasten Euope, Geman gound toops have oved nto a southwesten swath of Kosovo as pt of NATOs peace keepng sson, and they ae celebated as lbeatos by the Kosovo Aba nans t s the cunnng of hstoy that all ths should be happenng unde he stewadshp of a socaldemocatc chancello and a Geen mnste of foegn aas, epesentatves of the very poltcal foces that vocfeously opposed NATO and the GulfWa n the ealy 990 s But t ndcates how uch the Fedeal Republc of Gemany has expanded ts geogaphc and poltcal hozons snce uncato n 990 Ten yeas afte the fall of te Wall the Beln Republc s pat of a new constellaton n Euope No majo antwa demonstatons have ocked Beln as they dd dung the Gulf Wa, when whte bedsheets ut teed fom Beln balcones pgs blood was splled by deonstatos n the steets n angy potest and the county was caught up n convulsons
73
of pacsm At that tme of mountng nneGeman tensons, the East Geman and West Gean Le coud evel n the common antAmecan slogan no blood fo ol The scene n all Gemany then was n stak con tast to the publc suppot the GulfWa enoyed n London o Pas Today, Gemany s poltcally n sync wth othe NATO captals, even though opposton to the Kosovo Wa s stong n East Beln among the suppotes of the evamped Comunst Paty, the PDS But especaly n the st month of the bombng campagn, the epublc emained eely quet, and commentatos marveled at the supsng change of heattat seemed to have ovecome Geman publc opnon whch used to be qute adamant n ts pncpled antwa stance But s that ely what t sa change of heat? Sue t he decson to on the wa eot was now ade by a socal democatcGeen coalt �n govenent bedevled by a oc sta n domestc poltcs and bady need of poltca success And though some called Schde the "wa cancello, many on the Le and among the Geens gudgngly kept up he suppot fo the new govenent But undelyng the acceptace � ofemany' s ole n the Kosovo conct was soethng else The two meangs of Gemanys categocal peatve "neve again have come nto econclable conct wth each othe ove Slobodan Mlosevcs pesstent poces of ethnc cleansng The "neve agan of deployng Geman toops n an outofaea msson not geaed towad puely defensve gos stands aganst the "neve again that ecognzes Gean esponsblty fo the Holocaust, emphatcally equng acton at the advent of any ciss en e motely emnscent ofe Holocaust The antmltay mpeatv e not to de ploy Geman toops outofaea thus clashed wth the mo mpea :ve to nteene n the Blkan genocdeIf the poltcs of memory have domated the Geman consensus of "neve agan, ten t w pecsely emoes of Wold Wa II that whttled away at the undestandable eluctane to use Geman toops outofaea: televson mages of endess steams of egees eeng ethnc ceansng women and chlden packed nto tans fo�de o taton, stoes of mass executons ape, lootng, and wanton destucton Of couse, t s not entely clea what Gemans eembeed. Was t the egees fom Nazsm and the vctms of Geman occupaton? Or dd vewes have Gemans n mnd, Gemans as egees fom the Red Amy, expellees fom Slesa and fom Czechoslovaka O was t both olled nto one the poblematc unvesalsm of vctmhood ateve the case may
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Afer he Wr
be , the stength of memoy legiimized the inervention fo the vast ma joiy of Gemans, even at the pice of having o betay one of thei wo most dealy held convictions. Fo many, it was a painful choice to make and a blow o he selfigheousness tha had accued to the oint litany of "no moe wa and no moe Auschwiz ove the yeas s the bombing campaign failed to poduce insant success, voices of poest aose and became inceasingly vocifeous They wee fed by he old aniAmeicanism of he Le and by a new, equally antimeican Euonationaism on the Righ, bu conay o he Gulf Wa, hey lacked boad public esonance. Nevetheless, NATO's blundes beahed new life into he "no moe wa position No supisingly, one fault line divided the es oluely aniwa sance of the PDS fom he poNATO posiion of the ohe paties, a eplay of he continuing EsWest divide within Gemny Bu a i so appeaed not ust among intellectus, who afe al had been divided abou he GulfWa as well (Hans Magnus Enzensbege and Biemann agains the antiwa Le in 1991) but beween antiwa inellecuas such as Pee Handke and Kaus Thewelei on t he one hand and publicly suppoed govenment policy on he othe The dieence is hat in 1991 he pointevention lieati boke wih the national aniwa consensus, while his ime the opposiion to interention emained the minoiy voice. Even as thee ae good easons o be skepticl in pinciple abou a militay human ights intervention and ciica of longtem Westen policy in the Baans, insisting on he pinciple of national soveeignty in he face of Milosevics seial was of ehnc cleansing had to appea ouight cynical A new politics of memory and histoical auma has emeged at he coe of tansalanic cultue in he past ten yeas, and in he case of Kosovo, i won the song ye uneasy suppot of the public despie seious doubs about he univesl applicabiliy of human ights inervenion in he aas of soveeign staes. But his was Euope, he continen whee he Holocaust had ken place Euope would have lost all political legiimacy in is dive owad unication had it lowed he Sebian genocide to coninue Hee, the Geman poliics of memory and he poliics of he new Euope meged The poliicl change is stunning. The Kosovo W has shaken up Geman politics, and it will have an impact on the new Euope A a minimum, the Bakans and its Muslims have now been ecognized as a consitutive pa of a unied Euope. Ten yeas ae the fll of he Wal, which was geeted at he time with a mix of
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genuine iumph and subliminl feas of a esugen Geman naionlism, he emeging Belin Republic is a Euopean epublic and Belin a Euo pean capial among ohes. And the new Bein, he nw eunited Gemany is new in ways hadly imagined ten yeas ago when the iumphists of na(selbsbewue tional soveeignty deamed abou a selfconden nation tion) hat would naly ovecome its pas, while the deactos of natonal unication pained the hoo vision of a Fouth Reich. Today, Gemany is neihe. Two wee afe Geman toops moved ino Kosovo, the Gemn paliament med he Belin Republics commitmen o commemoate the Holocaust The muchdebaed though still contovesil Memoia to he Mudeed Jews of Euope will be buil in he very hea of Bein Only time will ell whehe this memoia will nutue commemoaion o fose oblivion, but he decision o go ahead wih he poect is poliically signican, even hough he decision iself was eached wih a sense of exhausion ae a welveyearlong debae. II
If memoies of the pas and an evolving pesent have mixed in unfoeseeable ways in he politics of he Belin Republic, then the same cn be said about he achitectul econsucion of Berin as Gemanys capial t a ime when many building poecs ae coming o fuiion, he assessment of he new Belin has become moe uid and ambiguous han i was ve yeas ago. The stiing achiectu debate hen pied he adiiona ists of citical econsuction against he iumphiss of posmoden high tech, and both faced he adical skeptics who diagnosed a oal lack of any pesuasive uban o achiectua vision on eihe side of tha debae. Today he boundaies ha separaed he vaious facions seem bled Citical econsuction wih its esicive egulaions and is ideology of building in sone has nve become as dominan a Pocusean bed fo he new Belin architectue as some had feaed Some highech poects have been absobed ahe well ino he ci bic. nd even though hee may sill no be anthing esembling a cohesive uban vision, a deceneed newok of new building sites and changing neighbohoods is emeging tha is inceasingly being acceped by he public and ha has begun o shape he image of Belin as a paty ceative, paly imid mix of old and new The ebuil Reichsag may serve as an emblem fo this mix of he e
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Afer the lr
4.1 Reicha under enovaon. Achec Noman oe (998) Phoo: auho. FIGUR
ative and the timid at this time Its facade and shell are the only residues left from Wilhelmian times: p to threemeterdeep stone walls, pompous colmns, a lot of monmenta stone permeated by historical reminis ences. The inside of the biling has been totaly rippe out and pragmatically, though coldly, refrbshe in muted materials an olors, but the grati left by Soviet soliers in 194 5 are still visible and highlightd on several walls The only real· arhitectral attraction is the Reichstag s cupola, destroyed by arson in the rst year of Nazi rule and redesigned by Norman Forster as a giganti glass dome, odly reminisent of a beehive or an oversize spae egg The doble winding ramps on the inside are publily accessible, providing panorami views of the srounding city and setting the open inte rior spaces of the building into slow motion for the walking spetator, a veritable aner dans lair" Bu it is espeially the illuminated ome at night that has been embraced by the media and the publi as a symbol of the new Berlin. oster's overall renovation may not satis on pely aestheti grounds, but it scessflly embodies the tensions between the
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GUR 2 Reichsag cupola, ousde view Achite Noman Foser (1999) Phoo: auhor
nloved imperial past (the building's outside shell), a bureauati fn tiona present of the German repblic (the plenary hal for the Bndestag), and the esire to have a ashy iage o demoratic transparency marking Berlins relaimed stats as capita At times in the early 1990 s, it seed that the old wol overwhelm any ne depatre The consensus was that Berlin ws primaily a mem oy spae, hanted by the ghosts of its past Berlin as the center �f a dis ontinos, uptred histoy, site of the ollapse of four suessve German states, comman enter of the Holoaust, apital of German commnism in the Cold War, and ash point of the EastWest on frontaton of the nlear age Obsessed with its memories as they were stirred p aer the fall of the Wall, the iy simutaneosly plnged into a frenz of urban planning an arhitetral megaprojects that were to oi the new beginning and to garantee Berln's metropolitan image for decades to coe Ghosts o the pst and the spirit of tue glory strggled on the same terrain wihot rospects for reoniliation With the emer gene of major new bilding plans in the historica center of Berlin for the
Ar t r
43 hg uo d vw hoo uho.
79
governent qarter and the Reichstag, the corporate center at Leipzge and Potsdaer Patz, the restoraton of Pariser Patz, the eerging pans for the sesinse, Aexanderpaz, and for the preseraton of the t nist rans of the arMarxee (forery tanaee, now Frank rter lee), presence and asence, eory and forgetting entered into a fascnating ix. Heated conct erpted even over the argnlia of ran reorganzation. Const onents in ast Berin were knocked down and street naes were changed, trggering a pc deate aot the egaces of the sociaist state and the potics of forgettng. oe wanted to raze the ast Geran Paace of the Repc, paged y asestos t qite popar aong ast Beriners, and n ts stead red the Hohenzoern Paace, whch was oed ot n Word War and razed y the co nsts in the 950s. Tak aot the vods of Bern ecae coon pace. The vast epty space in Bern Mtte etween the Brandenrg Gate n the north and the Potsdaer Patz n the soth, which had een occped y the ne strp and the Wa, now ceared away, captred the agnation. Visity and nvsiiiy ecae categories of archtectra discose aot the it egaces of the fascst and conist states. Whch dngs shod e gven over to the wrecking a and which shod e retzed once the governent oved fro Bonn to Bern? ven the nt past, ert peers egaoanac pans for the tri pha northsoth xis and the transforaton of Bern nto Gerania as capt of the hird Rech, exerted ts power over any visions of the f tre Ths the pans for the new governent strip in the end of the pree Rver jst north of the Rechstag stdosy avoded a northsoth ayot, optng nstead for an eastwest axs that had the additona advantage of sggesting reconciiation etween the two parts of the city separated fro each other for so ong y the Cod War Bt then Christos wrappng of the Rechstag n 995 provided a stnning reprieve fro the rden of dark eores. he dalectic of the visie and the invisie fond ts ex erant and ceeratory expression n this teporary instaaton that chared Beriners and the word an that now nds its conterpont n Noan Foster's radant gass doe. Bt visity and nvisiity, eoy and forgettng have yet an other dension n the deate aot reconstrcting the Geran capitl At stae s the qeston of the center of the centered city any saw the vod eft y the dsanted Wa in Berins dde as a scar that ight
8
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nv hl th rhttuly hstly Hstly f us ths sp nv ws nt Inst t mr th bunry btn th Brn st f th Bnnbug t n ts wstn xpnsn thugh th Tgtn stt n byn. vn th Rhstg but s th mp l plmnt n th 8s ws bnn fm th nn sntum f mp Bln hh bgn nly st f th Bnnbug t Aht tuly ny ly nw vsn f ths sp by th vnsh W ws quly b by th pltl lg f vlpng th nw gvnmnt stp n th pbgn n by th hsty ppv f th pt vl pmnt pns t Ptsm n Lpzg Pltz Th mpty sp n th nt thus hs shun but t stll suggsts v smthng tht mns uns n th ubn txt In tn wy ths v ght n tp f ps nthsuth xs njus up th v tht uts thugh th fmus zgzg stutu f Dnl Lbsns Jwsh usum Lbsn's v s n httu n x f th stutn f Blns Jws n th h ultu ung th Th Rh Th v btn Bnnbug t n Ptsm Ptz n th th hn btn th gvnmnt mll n th pt h quts my n th n nt sgn th lss f ptnt nw ubn n t tht ws nt t b. It th uggsts tht Bn nnt b nt n th sm wy tht Lnn Ps Th nng pw f ths symbl sp n th ht f Bn s nly xbt by th ft tht t s psy n ths v just suth f th Bnnbug t n vry ls t wh Ht's Rhsnzl n st tht th Bln Rpub s t bul th ml t th u Jws f up A twlv yrs f pub ntvsy mutpl mp ttns hngng us pltl nuntns n butf f svl f th ptpnts n th bt but th plts sthts n pups f suh mnumnt th mml sgn by Pt snmn s bynthn l f sm 500 stn slbs f ng hght n mplmnt by umnttn nt wll ny b t Th p mnty bt ws unnsp but pltl sn ws n t lgtmz th pjt mtly n t put n t pub wnglng vryby gnzs tht th n b n pft sutn t mmzng th Hust n th unt f ts pptts But t must b mmmt thugh n t f plt w n wth mmt mnt t th mt futu vn thugh ny mnumnt w lwys
8
un th s f bmng just nth stmny t fgttng ph f nvsblty Thus n th vry nt f th nw Bln th wl b n tnl mml t mn ms gnst humny tht ultmt up tu f Wstn vztn whh hs m t b sn by sm s m blmt f th wntth ntuy s whl us n th hus f mnty tht w nw nhbt wth nmus tptn
Tl f th vs f Brln hwv sms lss ptnnt nw thn t ws fw ys g In th ubn tbu s fntss f th ly 0s hv f fst nthussm but bulng th nw Brln fm sth s gvng wy t m pgmt ut Nt mtphs f th v but mptnss s th ssu t tm whn s mny nw n ptmnt bulngs stll lng f upnts At th fl lvl nn utns hv f sng b f mny pns mntng utlztn th thn stutn f svl mj fsst bungs n th ht f Brln (ngs vtn mnsty n th Rhsbn Ovbwn mgs f nw gbl Bln s pt f th twntyst n tuy hv m wy f m mst ty Wht s nw mgng s th m ntgung ntn f Bn s plmpsst spt tytxt tht s bng wttn wh pvus txt s psr ts st sus umnt l f t sutng n mplx wb f hst ms tht pnt t th ntnung htgnus lf f vt ty tht s s mbvlnt f ts bult pst s t s f ts ubn tu Bn s nw pst th pnt whn th bt fus pmly n th vst pt nstutn st t Ptsm n Lpzg Ptz gnt vlpmnts by Dml Bnz n ny m g s ths t th ubn fb s whl Th mlng f Ptsm Pltz tht myth tf hub f th Wm Rpubl mnys Py Cus n Tms qu l nt n sm fgn nusn n symbl f l b thngs t m. Ptsm Pltz hs n bn mll n th httu suts s pt th pplng Its ltnshp t th nghbng ultufum wth th ttsbblth th Phlhmn (bth by Hns hun) n th Nu N tnlgl s vn Rh) s l n Th nw Ptsm Ptz wll nv mth th myth f th squ s n mbm f Wm mnty Th ntv f Pts
8
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IU h w otsm tz z hoto: uho
dae Plaz as he magna ene of a meopols expes n s aades, whh, as a wosor dab shoppng mall sued wh mnbouques and fasfood uns, esembles he nsde of a pson moe losel han a onsume paadse. d e, Posdame Plaz n s new nanaon has eeved a supsnglposve pess, and he publ seems o aep wh open ams. To some, he s nssene on mananng he old see plans fo he Posdme Plaz aeahas uned ou o be a blessng n dsguseFo he naow sees, alles, and pazzs alow fo a ean nens of see lfe, as long as one oges ha s hesee lfe ofhe lae wenehenu ha of he pedesan shoppng mall. Ohes feel ha he opoae nd ommea buldngs ae deen enough n sze, mael, and desgn a leas o sugges a eal ubn spae. If s a mal, o hem s aso sll Posdme Plaz. uh wll depend on how hese buldngs age and how aave Posdame Plaz wll eman s a publ spae one s uen novel has won o I eman skepa, bu Posdame Plaz oda ma well embod he suual eonlabl beween onsume soe and publ spae. A an ae, he Posdame Plaz developmen, he whe elephan of
Ae he
83
Beln eonsuon, has been oned b ohe aheua aaons. Thee now s a web of ses of ver deen sze and non ha eshes ou he aheual landsape of he new Ben: he new Pase Plaz us eas o he Bandenbug Gae, n ena no lass Beln; he Hakeshe Hfe, an magnave eulzaon of one of he mos fabled mulple nne ouads of he old Beln; he Aldo Ross omplex o apamen buldngs and oes a Shzensae, wh s souhensle ouads and oloful and vaed faades ha loosen up he blok buldng pesp ons of al eonsuon; he faspaed enovaons a Penzlaue Beg, n he old Jewsh quae known as Sheunenveel, and n ohe neghohoods of Eas Beln. In a, Eas Beln s aheuall a an advanage. Sne he pove o he Es Geman sae pvened wholesale desuon of old housng sok, he peseaon and esoaon of ne bohoods s now possble n a wa foeve baed o mos of he wesen pas o he . The polal ons beween as and Wes Belnes, howeve, lnge on. The have even nensed as he new s slowl akng shape and as pas o Eas Ben ae beng gened. Bu hen n one wa o anohe, he easen pa o Beln was alwas sepaaed fom s wesen pa, and he uen wal n he head ma us be he laes manfesaon o a long adon. Aheuall negleed n mos ds ussons ae of ouse hose sos mass housng poes (Plaenbau n as Beln known fom all ove Easen uope. nd e would be que hallengng o magne was of negang housng poes suh as azahn, Hohenshnhausen, and espeall Hellesdof no he new uban fab, now ha he have los he goundng n soas noons of olleve lvng. hehe he wll sand as uns of soalsm and uban dea o whehe he an be moded n some eave om, onl me wll ell. The lage queson hee s o wha exen he soals ex wll eman pa of he fashangng pampses ha s Beln. anel Lbesknds plan fo Alexandeplaz poned eavel n ha deon bu has no hane of beng eazed. A mx of he old and he new, he eave and he mdhadoes no seem all ha bad a onsellaon fo a ha has neve had he luse of London o he aua of Pas. Buldng on s hsoal deeneedness as
84
Afer the �r
n rhitetural urbn spe nd mintining the ity s pimpsest of many different times and histories my ctuly be preferabe to the notion of a centered Berlin tht woud inevitaby revive he ghosts of the past not ust in the minds of Germns but in the imgintion of Germanys neigh bors east nd west Berin s plimpsest implies voids, ilegibiities, nd er sures, but it so oers rihness of traes and memories restorations and new contrutions that wil mrk the city s ived spe. Bernhard Schlink uthor of the bestseling nove The Readeris ertainly right in suggesting ht Berin stil lcks physicl and psychologil enter I see this as an dvntage nd in that sense the tie for the rhitectur sighseeing tours orgnized by the ity in the summers of the lte 1990s my not be inppropriate er all: Berlin-one Stadt, Berlinopen iy
Fear of Mce: The Times Square Redevelpment
I
Cats the longestrunning show on Broadwy was approahing its
twentieth yer at the Winter Garden ust a few bloks north of Times quare in the lte 990s, but the fer of mouse hd beome the doinant trope in the debte bout the Times Squre redeveopment Listen ing to some critics wax poclyptic bout the eects of Disney's invsion into the inner snctum of New York ity's popar culture reminds me of how muh the Nzis hated Mickey s a symbo of the pollution of u thenti German culture To the Nzis the mouse ws dark thy a carrier of disese a threat to the body poitic and to the body of the nation 1 Within Germany of the 930s of course the mouse ws the Jew In the 1940 pro paganda m The Eteal jew the Jewish dispor is represented s swrms of migrting rodents invading, destroying nd ontroling every part of the globe It ws a theory of globlization avant lere:intensey prnoid conspiratoril and murderously ideologica Reacting to the su ess of Disney movies in Germany the Nzis focused on Mickey's bak ness warned of the "negroidiztion ( Vrnieung) of Germn culure and thus conted Disney with their ttck on jzz s tht other mode of American ie unGerman cuture tht needed to be exised: Louis rm strong nd Benny Goodmnthis backJewish combination represented the utimate overdetermined cuturl thret to the ryn re Given their
86
Fea Mce
FeaMce
phb bt mc th Nzs wr nbl t s hw wll Dsny t nt thr wn dlgcl prjct clnlnss ntrbnsm chvnsm xnphb cmbnd wth prvlgng f grnd spctcl nd mss ntrtnmnt s t ws rgnzd y Gbblss mnstry f llsn Th Aryn ty cld hv cm t lv th lttl Amrcn bst bt th mtch btwn Dsny nd Nz Grmny nvr cm t pss Th Nzs hd thr wn vrsn f Dsnyrld wrld wtht mc t b sr bsd n ddly srs mnmntlsm rthr hn n cmcs bt ls prdctd n cntrl spctcl smlcrm nd mg lmn In rchtctr t ws Albrt Sprs Grmn th nw cptl f h Thsndr ch dsgnd n th lt 930s nd schdld t b blt by 9 50 Wll Amrcn nd Brtsh bmbrs clrd th grnd fr Grmns nrthsth xs n th cntr f Brln bt n sch wy s t grnt tht t wld nvr b blt Instd Grmny lk vry bdy ls n Cld Wr rp gt Dsny And jzz nd bls nd rck n rll T Grmn tngrs n th 950s ll ths Amrcn cltrl mprtsnly ltr dcrd s Amcn cltrl mprlsmwr brth f frsh r Thy pnd wndw t th wrld nblng whl gnrtn t dn tslf ntrdtnlly n th mdst f th rbbl nd rns l frm th Thrd ch vn rdng Mcky Ms nd Dnld Dck cld cnt s n ct f rsstnc t tht thntc Grmn pplr cltr tht hd srvd th Thrd ch ws frcfd n th schls n Vedchrs nd dmntd th lm ndstry n th frm f th HemamDsny nd ts ctsts cmplctd sty nt sly rdcbl t hmgns plt
Of crs th cmprsn btwn tdy s Dsny crtcs nd th Nzs s nfr Anthr tm nthr pltcs tr ngh And yt hw wll th Nz mg f th ms ts crtn Tms Sqr mgnry nt tht f th Sqr f tdy bt tht f tm be th crrnt rd vlpmnt sx shps slz drgs prstttn chld bs rbn dcy Frtyscnd Strt mbdd t ll vr snc wv hd th rrcncl bl ntgnsm btwn th dlgcl clnp crws f th ght nd th rmntcs f mrgnlty n th ft Bt s n th cs f th Nzs mythc mg f bttr pst s cnjrd p n thr cs t fnd ff
chng Thrght hstry ths trp f nstlg hs prvn t b s sn glrly ttrctv s t hs bn lsv n th lng rn fr t s nbl t nchr ts mythc ntn f thntcty n th r wrld Athntcy t sms lwys cms ftr nd thn prmrly s lss In cty cltr pr tclrly th rsstd nw s bnd t cm h bss fr nhr glrd pst sm tm n th ftr Thrfr t sms prfrbl t sd wth Brtlt Brcht gnst h gd ld dys nd n fvr f th bd nw ns Fr t ws nt vdnt t ll tht th mr prsnc f Dsny n Tms Sqr wth str nd tht wld trnsfrm tht whl spc nt nthr Dsnylnd Nw rk r ll nt Anhm nd th r cnt trnsfrmtn f Tms Sqr nvlvs mch mr thn jst th prsnc f ntrtnmnt cnglmrts sch s Dsny Brtlsmnn nd Vcm n ts crrnt ncrntn t ny rt Tms Sqr sms lt mr ttrctv thn wht ws bng plnnd mr tn yrs g Hv w frgttn Phlp Jhnsn nd Jhn Brgs fc twrs whch chrtly wnt n hld r th 98 7 nncl crsh thr hn trnng Tms Sqr nt n c wstlnd ppltd by gry gys n thr pc sts th rcnt rdvlpmnt drctd by brt Strn cknwl dgs th spc s cntr f thtrs ntrtnmnt nd dvrtsng cltr Tht s smthng t bld n It s lmst lrdy trdtnl
Ths s n t t mbrc Dsny s pnc nd Dsnys prsnc n Tms Sqr my ndd b n ndcn f rbn dvlpmnts tht r nt ltghr sltryBt w shld sp fthm n drnt ky Th rctn t ny rt shld nt b ght twrd sm ntn f rsd l r ncntmntd hghr cltr pstn frm whch n wld thn g n t lmnt th rlntlss cmmrclztn f cltr nvkd wth th Dsny nm Th Tms Sqr rdvlpmnt s symptmtc f rrnttn f th xs f cltr dbt Th ssrs r n lng b twn hgh nd lw lt nd cmmrcl cltr s thy wr n th pst mdrnsm dbt f th 90s nd 1980s bt thy crck pn n th vry rlm f th pplr tslf vn th 930s dbt btwn Adrn nd Bnjmn n mss cltr whch hs bcm stndrd rfrnc pnt fr ll hs pplst crtcs wh smply t th ld hrrchy n ts hd cn nt b rdcd t th smplstc dchtmy f hgh vs lw
88
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Wa a a w Squar, my vw, rafrma f a fabd ac f uar cuur a ag wc gba ram cglmra ar rdcvrg vau f cy ad m f ur fr r marg rag. m Squar rd vm rjc w lam f a ldr, mw au
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c m Squarwr algdy ay cara f 194 r grmy, Xrad, ad dcayd f mr rc vag aga w ar cag bu ur y wa cag wl a rm f cmc, rafc, ambac, ad vbracy ym bc cr f aaa. Surly, r wll b mal vr w m Squar, ad r wl b mr m arg raura ad , bu yu can v blam all f a Dy. al a vadd urba cr ad r ay. Ju wa arr arqu (bul Ragan ra a a frr aga Frycd Sr az ad yu wl d Nw ry aaaa wlly ub urbazd urba ac, cml w rdcabl grry, mal car ad dud gd lvar. L a vrcal Gard Sa Parway, ga lvar racg ly u ad dw rr yu qucy yur da vrc grd. A am m vr ca uburba r f m ug vw avaab a urba c: frm gr rvlvg bar can arama f m Squar, asg blbard, g crwd dw blw cay, ram f car ad x, cy a arcal arad f cr, mvm, ad lg. vw by lf rf a ral ubur ba lgr a aba, w ar cg bac cy a ur ad cumr arc f ram ad cac. a wr largr rblm mrg. I wa I wud d crb as cy a mag. I a rblm Nw Yr ar w r ma jr ad wcury c rugglg maa r r a cr f bu ad cmmrc wl a am m ra frmg mv mua vrm fr a cragly gbalzd cuural urm. dcur f cy a mag f rba lca ad dvlr ryg gara rvu frm ma urm, frm cv, ad frm cmmrca ad c ra. ral w d f urba lc ar ac ac fr culural cum, bcbur mual v, ad cacl f may d, al dd lur a w c f cy ur, urba vacar w a rlacd dr lurly aur w wa way gurd a a dwllr rar a a a ravlr frm afar. Surly r a dwd f cy a mag, a muum r m ar Bu d y cmar curr m Squar dvlm Sy ad Dam r dvlm f Brl Pdar Plaz lay uc wrr a a
Fea ofMice
91
arty t o rest The famous hu eween the east and west of Bern s n great danger of ecomng a hghtech ma The new Potsdamer Patz s eng ut on a ste that has een for y years, a wasteand rst de stroyed n World War I and then cut through y the Wal Tmes Suare on the other hand has not ost ts uran enery and vrancy nor s t ey to do so n the future ore toursts, yes, ut then erha aso growng theater audences agan and a the susdary economes that mght revtalze the area. one of ths however reures s to ceerate the new Tes Suare as an art nstaaton, the utmate ncarnaton of a commercal oard cuture that has now ecoe ndstngushae from rea art as an artcle n the New Yr esrecenty suggested a t too trumhanly arer n ths century, the Austran anguage crtc ar raus had a ont when he nssted that there s a derence eween an urn and a chamer ot and dvded hs contemorares nto those who use the chamer ot as an urn and those who use the urn as a chamer ot But f t s now comon ractce to do oth at once whch seems the case n much ostmodern cuture, then erhas we shoud reconsder such dstnctons Dstnctons are mortant to make when dscussng the transformatons of uran sace rought on y the new serce and entertanment economes There are good reaons to eeve that Tmes Suare w reman a ste of uran d versy rather than ecome a mere coony n the Dsney ere ets not forget hat Dsney's eas at the corner of Fortysecond Street and Seventh Avenue s temora. Dsneys ew York exerment may yet fa and he oce towers may st e ut7 Whch mght even make a Dsney Tmes Suare nto an oject of nostalga Co
IGU 5 C oco t ow o of oyo a vth Av of fom Dy to (200. Poo: to.
Setemer 00 ore than four years aer ths text was rst re sented at a symosum on Tmes Suare at Couma Unversys radu ate Schoo o f Archtecture, Pannng and Preseraton Tmes Suare has st not found ts nal new form Three cororate towers at the corners of Forysecond Street and Seventh Avenue were ut aer al durng the oom of the ate 1990s and the fourth one s currenly under constructon a resut the uch malgned Dsney store across Fortysecond Street from the ew Vctory Theater renovated y Dsney has dsaeared
Fea ofMe 9
an e Dney paranoa of a few year ago now ee even ore overblown I ye anoer rony a e conerave ae of e 99 o r anaan of e nury o reay Te Square for Snow e a only reule n rerecng e pornograpy rae o unlkely place lke e Hacrun aon rc an even o e area aroun Grace anon reence of qual of lfe ayor Ruolp Gulan Tere are goo reaon o nk a Dney wa never a goo ac w real urban pace. Bu e real rea o a lve eroolan urbany a we now know eanae froenrely oer quarer. Te even of Sepeber II wll ve e ory of cyan no ju of cy no a before an an aer No only a e kylne of ouern ana an been cange forever bu o a e oec an global agnary of New York a a wole. never que uneroo wy oe love e ol eey Te Square o uc. Bu I o uneran ow e arcecurally lan f no ugly wn ower of e Worl Trae Cener wc a been rongly op poe by o New Yorker a e lannng age coul for o any be coe an eble of New Yorka arker of oe for e cy nab a powerl age oflaewenecenury Aerca for nernaonal our an bune an an con for bo e bene an e owne of gloalaon Ter collape a le a gapng ole n our von of e cy lke a renal negraon n e agnaon. Alreay ere are voce uggeng a Te Square be urne no a all o proec fro car bob Bu urnng ublc urban ace no a new kn of gae negboroo woul ean a e error ave alreay won A any rae e precon afer Sepeber I a e era of e kycraper a ene now beng callenge by e rereeelopen of e four corner of Foryecon Sree an Seven Avenue Now a roug uc of e 99 Te Square a conrucon e. No ore an Dney arrvl n New York erle e en of eropolan culure wll e bobng of e wn ower cloe e caper on e arcecure of all bulng
IG 5 Nw Vto at oss om om Ds sto o
Fo-so S. oo ao.
Mmo St a x add Fid
Memoy Sites n an Expanded Feld: The Memoy Park n Buenos Aies
I Stuggls over public memoy involving histoica trauma, genocide, human ights violations and thei aeeects abound in the wod today. Monuments memoils, public sculptures commemorativeits, s nd mu� accleted pace the world ove. The poe seums ae being ceated at an ofsuch sites to suppot public memory naratives rather than simply to freze the past is vey much at issue verywhee, and thee ae no esy solutions to be had Memo politics is wit large at the national nd internationlvels, not just in the United States and Euope but in st sia Austia South ica and Latin America. In one way or another issues of memoy no longer simply concen the past but have become part of the vey political legitimacy of regimes today and they shape the ethicl self-undesnding of societies visvis thei conicul histoy and the world If, in the ea lie twentieth centur moden societies tied to dene their modenity
and to secue their cohesiveness by way of imagining the futue it now seems tha the majo equied task of any sociey oday is to tke esponsi biliy fo its pas Whethe this knd of memo wok wil esult in some nw code of internationa ethics emains questionablebut it does indicate something about ourpresent that poins beyond the ynicism of enight ened flse consciousness and mee Repolitik
9
Pint and image media contibue libealy o the vetiginous swirl of memoy discouses that circulate globally and loclly We ead about Chi nese and Koean comfort women and the rape of Nanjing; we he about the"stolen geneation in Austlia andthe klling and kdnapping of chil den' duing the dity war in Argenina we ead about Tuth and Reconcl iation Commissions in South rica nd Guatemla nd e have becme witnesss to an evergowing number of public apologies by politicins fo misdeeds of the past Ceainly he voraciousness of the media and their appetite fo ecycing seems to be the sine qua non of locl memoy dis couses cossing boders enteing ino a netok of cossnational compa sons, and creating wha one mighcl a global culture ofmemoy Some hisoianshave expessed thei discomfot with the sufeit of memoy in cntempoay cutue, aising seious questions about the deph and the ees of ou obsessions with memo Othes vey explic itly lment wha they see as the pesent being held hostage to the pst te al the desie o oget lwas seems o gow in popoion to the dsie to rememb, especially when poblematc spectsof a nations pas are at stke Memoy and amnesia lways eist side by side and emain pat of a politic stuggle Bu the debate about the surfeit o ven excess of mem oy in contemporay culue ignoes one important factor: especilly since 1989 and in societies ha nd hemselvs in a compl process of tsition {South ic, Latin Ameican countries, China) discussions abou how to remembrthe past have morphed into an inteationl debate about hu man rights, estituion and ustice epete with NGOs (nongovenmental organizations extradition equests and posecution acros borders This debate depends on the recognition of specic pasts s much as it is elly concened with the futue My hypothesis here is that huma ights ac tivismin the wold today depends very much on the depth and breadth of memoydiscourses in he public media And hen here is something ese to conside Howeve dierent the mode o medium of commemoaing may be in each loca or egion l cse, ll such struggles about how to emember a taumatic pst of genocide, acia oppession, and dictaorship play themselves out in the much lage and moe encompassing memoy cultue of this tun of the centu in which nationa parimony and heritage industries thive nostlgias of all kins abound, and mythic pst ae being esueced o ceated Memoy poliis indeed seems s much a gobl poject s it is aways oclly o na
Mmo t a add F tionaly inected. Memoy projecs may construct or rvise nation nar ratives (South Africa, Argentina, China), but these narratives are now in variaby ocaed in a space somewhere beween the goba and he oca This in-between space needs to be studied in its own right The memoy park in Buenos resI want o discuss here is a case in point for a sor curreny unfoding in Argenina, but being marked by what I woud c in shorhand a traveing crossnational memory discourse
II Two brief words about my notion of the expanded ed and its methodoogica impications Memoy sites have been discussed in terms of monuments and countermonumens, memorias and museums ransi� toy interventions in urban space, pubic art and even marked sites in a andscape My tie is o course meant to be reminiscen of Rosaind Krauss's structuraist reading of"Scupture in the Epanded Fied1 That welknown essaythe of 1979 was an ambiious attempt to create a theoreica map or some of most chaenging scuptura practices of the 960s and eary 1970s. Whe m observations on the memory park projec n Buenos Aires and its forma and aesthetic dimensions wi ike Krauss's essay be concerned with he reationship among scupture archiecture, and and-· scape I do have something dierent in mind with the noton o the e panded ed. The epanded eld here not ony referso the art-hstorica terms structuring Krauss's mode It aso refers to pitic hstory (both in its impicit tracngs and in is expicit articuation) and thus o empora it and memor, neither of which was centra o Krauss's work at at time which was concerned with e logic of scuptura form�
Second I woud aso ke to expand on Pierre Noras notion of u d mmor, ransated as "reams o memory in the American verson.' Certainy, Noras udo have a tempora and historica dimension For the ux d mmor emerge ony once coective memoy has ost it power. Thus Noras approach conveys a romantic sense ofloss and mean choly that I nd counterproductive in the case I am concerned with For him the u mmorcome into being ony aer themux m mo at energized an earier socia and cultur ormation have vanished ut as the retreating sea at ow ide eaves isoated shes and rock on the sandy botoms a probematic natur metaphor that Nora actuay shares
Mmo t a xadd Fd 9 w Habwachss classa work on olecve memoy. Moemportant vey and this is the second point of my variance from Noras otherwse suggesive workhis proec of mnemohisto is ndamentay tied o he in idea of nationa memoywhereasI am precisey interested in the ways which gobal dimensions intersect with he naiona or the oa in he cn struction o memo ites in the contemporary word The epanded ed I am ting to construct thus invoves the cossng of borders not ony with regard to artistic medium Krauss but aso in reation to geographies, po itic, and he discourses of raumatic memory hemseves Nora) n his way, eu mmore today unction not ust in an panded ed but in a ed atered by gobaizaion.
III
(
So et me briey introduce l Parque de a Memoria in Buenos Ares, or which ground was broken in eary 2001. The proect or this park emerged o the intense and ongstanding gle about in theArgentina fate of theou daardo the thirty thousand or sopoitica who disstrug appeared before and during the miitay dictatorship o the years 197 to 98J. Ever since 9· the pubic proests and weeky demontrations o e Mothers and Grandmothers of the aza de Mayo in Buenos Aires have kept the teror of the Argentinean state against its own popuation in the public eye Internationa coverage o these protests, beginning with the soccer wod championshp of 198 has povided a knd of securiy ban ket at least or some of the protesers during theyears of th dictatorship ise. Neither direct threats nor vilicaions o the mothers a the mad women of the Paa de Mayo(Las joa were abe to distract this group of courageous women fom their goa of estabishing what happened to the disappeared who was responsibe for ther incarceration and death and who should stand trial or basic human rights vioations. When civiian rue was reestabished after Argentinas war against Britain over he Mavinas had gone awy investigative commissions, doc umentations retroactive aws, and amnesties under presidents Aonsin and Menem in the late 98s and eay 990s attempted to absolve gen tinean society fom its responsibiity or the state terror.But neither he 1986 aw that became kown a theuoaFul Stop Law) for initiat ing new prosecutions nor the 198 law ofobda b or Law o Due
Mm it i p Fi Obedience, nor ven he gener amnes of 1990 ha Menem granted he members of he various junas ried in 1985 was able o sop he moth ers from seeking jusice hrough he cours. For rape, hef, and the lsi cation of civil satus of he kidnapped children of he disappeare d were not covered under any of hese atemps achieve what enem caledrecon ciliaion. Thus he paien and persisten work of the mohers and grand mohers o nd he mssng children wih he help of genetic databank has forced he couny to keep facing he reliy of sate error, and his a emp was heped in995 by a series of specacular confessions by miiar men regarding heir own partcpaton n kdnappngs, orture, and mu der. Thus neiher he legl conc regarding how and whom to prosecute nor he culura and poliical conic of how o commemorae has ever died down hs even inensed in recen years. Thus whie here have been many events over he years such as performances and public demon sraions commemoraing he disappeared, oral histories, tesimonies, and the inernaionally accaimed lm Th Ocl the park projec, sponsored by the cit of Buenos res, isone of he rs maor instances in whch public memo of the error is given permanen shape in an urban seting in Agenina. A he same ime, here isa global dimension o the local conroversy about he pas. It is he dscourse abou he Hoocaus and abou Hoo- caus represenaions and memoy ha haunts or shadows the rgentinean debae. The poin is no o compare he Holocaus· he Argentinean sae eror agins lefist "subversion, a poiis bon fom the pahology of he Cold Wa combinedwih an ideoloy of purit and cleansing of h naiona body ha arguerie Feiowiz has receny described in persua sive deail in her bookA xic r3n his conex, one is of course reminded of the long history of aniSemiism among the Argeninen eles; one could menion here ha Argenna seved s haven for Nazis like Eichmann and engee or one could poin o he disproporionaely high number of Argeninean Jews among he disappeared But the rela ionship o Holocaus discourse is no by way of comparson of he mili a dictaorship wih Nazi Germany.t i s raher by poducive inscription of cerain tropes and images, ehicl and political evaluaions. Here s in some oher cases Holocaus discourse ncions like an inernationa prism ha heps focus the loc discourse abou.parcin boh s egal and is commemoraive aspecs.
Mmy t p 99 Thus from he very beginning of he ocil documentaion of the drty war waged by the mltary una on ts own populaon, the memoy of he Holocaus has played an imporant role in he Argeninen dis course. The ie of he rs ofcial colection of esimony, published in 984 by CONADP, he Agenine Naiona Commission on he Disap peared ws Nunc m Nvr Ai)an eplici and emphaic reference o Holocaus discourse. The bombing of he sraei embassy in Buenos Ais in 1992 and the impac in the folowing year of Seven Spieberg's lm chir Lit in rgenina represen oher instnces in which Holo caust memoy made its mark on the nternal Arentinean debae. nd i is no coincidence ha the scholly memory debae emergen since he mid 99s has drawn time and again on scholars of he Holocaus and has taken many of s cues fm the internaonal debae abou Holocaus rep resenaions and commemoration Wha mean by productive inscription of Holocaus discourse hen is simpy his: s in Souh fri or gain dierenly in Ausraia, he poiics of Hoocust commemotion (what o remember, how to remember when remember), so prominen in he globa media nd in the counries of he norhern transalantic since he 980s, has ncioned like a motor energiz ing he discourses of memo elswhere ere is reason o wonder wheher whou he pomnence of Holocaus memoy since he 980s, mos of he memo discourses he wold over woud be wha hey are oday. Distinctions of couse need to be made bu maybe we should hesiate before we lament the relaviaon of he Holocaus when aaches tslf like a oating signier to hisorially vey dierent siuaions. We should lso be awe ha references o he Holocaust may ncion s memoy screens in radicly opposing ways either enabling a srng memoy dis course and bringing a raumaic pas o light or bocking any suh public reckoning by insisingon he absolue incommensurabiiy of he Holocus wih any oher hisoria case. i s the uniqueness argumen i tselfha may ncion in a poiially reativiing wayrelaivizin, i, ha atrociies om mied n he present, posHolocaus world Bosnia R Es Timor). While much of he sruggle for public memoy in genina now anspires in he cours and focuses on reclaming he idenities of children born in captivity or kdnapped fom heir murdered paens he emergen naion debae abou monumens, museums nd memorial sies i s be coming the errn �o which Agentina grapples wih is ps nd aemps
100
Mm Sits in an Expandd Fild IOI
Mm Sits in an pand Fi
oonstruct what Jan smann would call cutural memo. Lega and cu tul dimensions of this struggle tusreinforceand needeah other Thatis
why he debate about a memoy park within striking ditance of the in mous ESMA he Mechanil Shool of the Nav and a major torture
hmber dung the diy w be indissolubly tied to ams articulated aganst members of he milita in the ourts nd in the public sphere In c
deed, therew a debate about ESM itsel whether to erase e building • entirely a proposal by President Menem that triggered mssive public
protest or transform it into a museum of the terror which naturally met t
wih strong oppositon by the mlitay In ht e meantme, the Parquede a · Memoria gains its symboic weight in the context of ongoing legl and the attempt to articuate a national memoy of state teror At the same time, its design itsef speak powerllyto the issue of the sinU!tae}
globl nd loa horizon of contemporay memoy culture
IV an obsever fom a distance and a nonLatin mericanist, I m not in a posiion to anayze the ocal controversy and public debate about ,
the redsign of the cosnea norte,the north shore ad the universiy rons where the park is to be built, in all its historicl and political But a fwthings mut be said. The vey poject of the park itself has become a bone o f contention not just, to be pected b\ween the milies but amogthe itay and the regime'svictims and their fa
ofthat regime themseves who wory hat the park may become just other gure for ofrgetting Thus someoppose the park project because
wanted to transform the ESMA itsef into a museum of the teror, a
posawhose time may come several decades from now at the eariest surprisingy,he idea w stilborn Othersthink that the park is too to the ESMA and wil therefore be shunned by those most
by the teror Yet others gue that projects such as the park or a woud take away from the active politia strugge still being waged by Mohers and Gadmoters of te Plazade Mayo. And then there are forwhom even a memoy park is too much memo of the Clealy, this debate gos t the heart of Agentina's inescapable need o
pubicly wih the egacies of state terrorism during the milita
a need that s exacerbated by the current nancial and politicl criss
county. s such the debate about the memory park ha become pat of a omplex oca hist of cover-up nd amnes, pubic potest and ontin uing lega struggle, and he nature of the park and what is to be commem oated in it has itself become a boneof contention At stake, as always in such ses, is the power of a commemorative he of the site to keep the s alive opposed to entombing it in realm unspoken of a past that is made to disappea yet once again. •�Of course, many have written eoquently about the faught question of how to represent historica trauma, how to nd persuaive meansof public remembrance, and how to construct monuments that vade the fate of imminent invisibiliy How can such a monument be made to nction as part of a nework of urba relations rather than standing disconnected fom ciy life and ultimately refeing ony to itsel None of the variou answers suh as countermonuments, transitoy monuments, or disappea ng monuments can ly satis. Ultimatey the memoy pak project may ot satis either, bu the design for the "Monumento a la victimas del ' terrorismo de Estado, a proect ofBaudzone Lestd ara Studio and he sociated achitects Caudio Ferrari and Daniel Becker, does rase a : ew dimension of commemorating national trauma in globa context. Their design model, which won rst prizni a competition of1998, strkes to me a one of the more interesting and potentially satisfactory solutions is dicult poblem Many of the most compelling pojects tonurture and to secure pub lic memoy involve inteventions in urban space This is only naturl, be cause cities remain the main battleground on which societes aticulate their sense of time past and time present. Once embodied in memoria sites as active parts within an urban fabric remembrance of traumatic events seems less susceptbe to the vagaries of memoy Memo has thus chance to inscribe itsef into histo, to be codied into national con sciosness Cities, aer al are pimpsests of histoy, incarnations ofime ; n stone, sites of memoy extending both in time and space The creation ·of an urban memoril siteto a national trauma such as the Parque de a eo1ia is a lieu d mmoir in a sense dierent from that advanced by Nora i is a residue and reminder of a shamel and volent nationl more in the spirit of Derek Wlcott who wote in his Caibbean epic the weight ocities that I found so hard to bea in them the ofTime By resisting the desire to forget the memorial s a site of t
w
102
m d F
FIGUR 6.1 Mnun the Vs f h Sa Trrr M Cusy Bauzzn Lar, Varas Su Bun Ars
ineenion in e pesen may become an agen of poliicl ideny o day. Fo memo is always of e pesen even oug is osensible con en is of e ps. Sil one mig ask: ow can ee be a memoy con sensus abou a naionl auma a pied e majoity ofa sociey agains a elaivey small minoiy dawn fom ll enic and soca backgounds, a divided e naionl body ino pepeaos and vicms, beneciaes and bysandes? Te ask jus seems oo dauning. Tere ae severl cosely connected reasons wy e pak's design is so pesusive and moving Te reasons ae topogapic poliical and aes eic, and ey do ve a global dimension A lready ndiced, e pak is located n e immediate neigbor-
my xdd Fd 3 ood of e ESMA wic seved s a cenl oue cabe of e mili ay dicaosip, and c e iver a cies su symbolic nd is oicl signicance fo e ciizens ofuenos Aies Te diiona mean ing of e La Pata as source of life is now ovelad y e c e rive ecame e gve fo undeds ofdeaad- eay brown opqu ws a symol of e uneievaity of drugged nd tortured bodies dumped from aplanes and swep ou o e sea Sepaed fom a set of universiybidigs y e srigt ine te coast road and from of a eelined pawy of sbs of coloed concree, e monumen cus deep ino the elevaed grassy surfaceof e park a fces e iver in e alf ound is ike wound o sc runs e ful dimeer of e af circe nzgzag formaion from e sraig line of one wkwy to wad noter pved pat tat frames e wole eng of e prk e soe Visiors wil ene e monumen underground from e city sde of te wl and move roug e gg sucue uni e sie reeses tem owd t rvrand t shorene wakway. Te open view oward the ive is a key eemen in e desgn wic is classicaly modens in is geomeric congurion and felciousy mnimaist in ts lack of orna menaion and monumenal miion I is orougly imued wi an aesec sensiiliy bu neve approaces e risk of aeseicng u maic memo n s syled smplcy of desgn i oes a place of eec ion o itsistor-reetio on te relationsip betwen river and city isory nd poics. Wa I ave descibed as a wound cu ino e ea is famed along is igag aecoy y fou nonconinuous wls a will cy e naes of te disppeared Te walls made of Paagonian popyry e locaed eac on only one side of e sloping walkway us ceaing pespecive nd guiding e gae down e amp ae an focing e visio o ead uning back and fo fom one side o e oe. Te iges elevaion of e acial elevaion is six mees and e lael wlls go down fom fou o one mees in eig Tee will be iy ousand nme plaues and ey wll be seuenced lpabeiclly nd by ye. Many nae paues will emain empy, nameless, us commemoaing e violen voidig of idenity a was e oues' plici goal and a ways peceded ds ppeaance. No doub more names will ave o be added in yeas o come as e documenaion of e sae eo epnds Tese wals wi ei inscibed nmes wil documen e een of
Mmo a pdd ld
Mmo t d F
105
nun. i l p f gb lg f 1968, g wi ing d udn in Mxi Ci nd Si inn Clki pp i d nd gi p v
Ti d dinin f f i puil d· pud in glb nn f i iu nd ign Su i n plii fn 96 n i n di c Hu T r p pn up gb izn dwing n w np inf ulu F i nn inidn i in dign n f w n ppl w f uful il i f n dd Ji Muu uil in Bin b Dni iind nd Vin Vn Mi (VVM) dignd b M Lin in W ign Agin pin n u Agninn
Mnument hVs he SaModel Ctesy Budne esad, Vras Stdi Buns Ares
GUR 62
stte terror nd provide site for mourning boh personl nd fmilial well s socil nd ntionl Ning nmes is n ge-old nd strtegy of memoriliztion, bu the nming in ts monument is no he rdition heroic nd mrtyrologicl knd We re not eroes of wr or mtyrs for the fthelnd We re remembering nd wokers, women nd men, ordiny peope who hd soci vision odds with h of he ruling elites, the church nd the miliy shred by mny young people cross he globe t th tme ut th led imprisonment torture ape, and death only in a few countries of word. Thus te memoy prk in Buenos Aires is more hn
wi w in Vin n u idl din nd in up din p iniil i R pwul nn pn up in pi u d Agninn in g nx f nw inninluluf nd i nlin in uilding i i nd nun Tu fu f Libkind uu nd f in i il pppid ndnfd in V nu n pi dra i i n iiin i iu u n f f ii knwldg w l uul plii i iningl nd glbl diiO nd pi Ti wa ld u f 960 iin f u nd u wld bnd Cld W id wi k ll in uni f un n And i i u gin d n g in igliin pdu nw f f lli ill nd iin f n fuu n d b nlibal idlg nd di iupli M f p p in p f n iginin f n u Bu l g bk nun dign nd i nne T wi ind d i Bin building "bwn lin. T igg uu f wi Muu i d n in gi u p id ing
06
Memory ites in an Expanded Fiel 107
Memo Sies in an panded Fiel
FIGR
6.4 Maya Vienam Veerans Meora, Wngtn Cey Archtece SldeLin, Libay, Coumbia Uvey
beeen: beteen Buenos Aies and the La Plata ve, but the space be weenthe ines te memoy space l aays be fragle and depend on epetation It s a space or readng-reading te names on the wal andeading te past. Ony en te visto appoaces the ve l eg biyend he te sense o dsappearance akes ove Tee ae no acitectura void n te Vaas design a thee ae nthe besknd budng. The voids o absences ae n the lie o the city and n o o te ve and hey ae maked on those name plaques that stll empty The zigzag stuctue te o coue vokes totued dscn tnu. dscontnuous all thn so deent om he contnuous oMaya Ln's angled als, suggest agmentaton And gven that the s cu into the eat athe ha sng above t a a buildng t he addtonl emphatc sense oa ound to the ath o a sc to the o the naton much moe so than te VVM Thee s aothe eso both te bknd buildng d e Va monument ae to be en m blowdescent nto the undeold the wold o specte o memoes that need to be peseed t secue the contnu adf·
63 T Bel Msem wt te Jewh Mse Go plan Cte B Dae Lbsk
GUR
·
museal space The buldng k to be read "beween he lnes Achecmonu ' ture becomes scrpt. Analogously, but qute derently, he Var ment travees a space beween wo lnes, the stragt lne of the pedestr the and cit the pathay separating the monument and the park from round lne that forms the other alkay aong the shore The monument he: can then aso be read beteen wo nes, on one sde of whch you have cty and on the other the rver Memo of the dsaparecis ntevenes
ro8
Memory e in anEanded Feld
Mem o Stes a Epaded Fe
6.5 FIGUR
(1999). Co
T wih Mum
BUr D n e
uey
a Lekd
t of ocl l. lo d an nv b rd, t ond ll not l, bt t onnt povd pac fo t knd of cto. ay to go on lvng and to fd t docratc pb pt onc t t V.V. a qly pol Bot o l a blo fa lvl tog t aya Ln trt n t pl a od opn-angld topogapy do not qt ggt t volaton of o portat bot fat ll t nrbd na at llo fo pronl and natonl ong In bot vtor ato lk long t tajctoy of t all tat boe a pa fo contplaton, prap pryr. It an to b tr t onnt n Bno ll gv to t knd of ovng poplar daton t VV. t y br dpotng or pctr, lt ad andl r t na of to o lot tr lv n an tatly tl Cold War n trp gon ary a a tat dd at abot t a t tatAt gntnan ltary bgan do capagn of natonl pcao and poltl canng Fnally, anot parlll lnk t Pa d a oa to tJ n Brln and t oal n Wngton l tr prot
9
nt trog xrcatgl otv dbats ad draot pbl on tovy a plannng tag. n Wangton dbat d to a do addton to Ln' nal and powly actv ok a blnt g atv lp pad on a pdal a ntan o V.V.. a ob voly at t o adoal xptato o awa oal. n Bln i oo ay o tl ow conly wi il n ton ft and t oovy ov o to l xbton al til n lwig. Only w l ow Monueto a la Va d oo d Eadow b acptd and d by pb. l og I dont Jam Young's hyprbolic agnt ha an b of ay onn o oal pot ay b pl d ba t na ag at cpbl dbat an nta coponnt of fo any oa pot o a od pb p and to bco pa of a oa and polal agnay ub onnt ntnnt ta t t bolvad and pb ic pa of ciy of Bno A a of o Eopan ct nd as t ta novt Rob o ad at notng ay b s n vbl a onnt. Wat l ad n nd, tog gatv clpt o a pdt at old pact, ov, bn rplad by t pfd contcton of ory t n t pndd ld a o bn clpt landcapng, actctr ad dgn and r ncopoa to nto an ban fabr tt appl fol ontrcton ad p av xton ra t qa non fo a oy t to anta a vbl prn n t ban pb p. o Vaa pro ll to ta. B t l b p to gntan pbl to bac t and to a lll ltat ppo.
Doris Saedo' Memory Sre
Doris Salcedo's Memory Sculpture
Unlnd: he Ophan' Tunic strange lotn wa palpably pnt, most you would hav id. -Paul Clan
A
rc yar hr b h urprg mrgc pommal ar of wha would avly call mmory culpur: a kd of culpur ha o crd o paal cogurao alo bu ha powrfully crb a dmo of locazabl v corporal mmoy o h work Th a arc pracc ha rma clarly dc from h moum or h mmoral plac h muum or h gally rahr ha publc pac. addr h dvdual bholdr rahr ha h ao or h commuy hadlg of maral ad o� cp rla o a pcc rado of allao ar ad mphac rlac o a xpral dmo much l cod by grc covo ha hr h moum or h mmoral would b Mo um arcula ocl mmory ad hr fa vably o b oppld or o bcom vbl Lvd mmory o h ohr had alway locad dvdual bod hr xprc ad hr pa v wh volv collcv polcal or graoal mmory. Acpag rud Nzch ackowldgd ha mpl fac wh h ad "ly ha whch do o ca o hur rma mmory Sculpur xpadd oward al lao ad corporag mmory rac rl o h rado of h
culpd huma body h work quo howvr h huma body vr forgo hough u a ab ad luv a would b ay mmoy of h pa Sculpur by ar uch a Mrolav Balka from Polad la abakow from Rua Rachl hrad from glad Vva Sudaram from da or Dor Salcdo from Colomba hu prform a kd of mmory work ha acva body pac ad mporaly mar ad magao prc ad abc a complx rlaohp wh hr bholdr Thr hr prc courac our culur rumphalm abou mda mag ad lcroc mmaralzao vrual pac ad hy pak compllgly o h cocr wh mmory ad abc ha hav mrgd doma h pa dcad or wo h work h maral obc vr u lao or culpur h radoal bu workd uch a way ha arculammoy a a dplacg of pa o pr org a rac of a pa ha ca b xprcd ad rad by h vwr hu op up a xdd mpac challgg h vwr o mov byod h marl prc of h culpur h muum ad o r o dalogu wh h mpor d horcal dmo mplc h work A h am m h culpur do o fall for h dluo of auhcy or pur prc h u of o old or dcardd) maral ad hr arragm hy dplay a awar ha all mmoy rcollco rprao oppod o much avagard arc pracc h cury h h kd of work o rgzd by h ooof forgg mporal bly dcddly poavagard far o oly h raur of a pcc proal or polcal) pa ha may of cour vary from ar o ar rahr work aga h raur of pa lf whch projc rma dolubly lkd o h maraly of hg ad bod m ad pac would lk o ugg ha h varou form of mporal ad paaldplacm h culpur of uch a Salcdo Sudaram Balka ad Whrad mark a pcc plac h broadr culur of h 990 a culur ha would b frvolou ad magl o cl popomodr bu ha vrhl gcaly dr from h pomodrm of h 90 ad 98 Th o o ay ha uch mmoy culpur ar omhow xprv of om ud oalz g Zeiet;dp a hard pommal laguag h work a oo dr rm of h polc hor ad local ha gav r o hm o ugg howvr ha hy ar par of a largr problmac
Dori Saedo Memo Scuture
FIU 7 Dos Sao
Unnd The Orphan' Tn (997 Cousy:
Dos Sao
whih is the restrtrig of the sese of spae ad time i or age of mass media yberspae ad obalizatio Respetig the speiity of eah i divid artists work this essay foses oy o oe otstadig example of what all memory slptre a work by Doris Saledo he work is oe of three i a series of slptres etited nnd 7), ad rst exhibited far from their pae of srci i the New sem i New York City i 1 8 f the ad is the site of life and tre of ommity ad atio the "lad wold be its radial egatio a poeti eologism it impiitly retrats he promises otaied i its igis ti k "topia the opae of a imagied erative ftre hs far from embodyig the imagiatio of aother ad better word adis the obverse of topia a ad where eve "orma ife with l its otradi tios pais ad promises happiess ad miseries has beome ivabe a artist workig i a oty that is beig tor apart by a selfperpetatig ye of vioee ad lawlessess Saledo eaves o dobt as to the idetity of this lad that seres as her meaholy ispiratio t is her homelad Coombia
Doi Sacedo' Memo Scuture
I3
f sh a readig of the work's tile sggests a expiit ad straight forward poitial art pratie othig old be rther from the trth Saledos slptre aptres the viewers imagiatio i its expeted hat ig visa ad material presee i a way that does ot easiy reate o its mysterios tite ad sbtitennd The Ohan Tunic he hatig effet is ot there at rst sight as the viewer approahes what from a distae looks ike a simpe remarkable tabe with some eve srfa es t omes belatedy nachrich,as Fred wold say t deepes as the viewer egages with the work he mted bt expressive power of this sptre grows slowly it depeds o dratio o sstaied otemplatio o visa i gisti ad politial assoiatios wove togeher ito a dese textre of derstadig d it raises the qestio o f sptre as material obet i ovel ways that sidestep the mh debated isses of abstratio vs gratio obethoo vs theatriaizatio plasti atio or istllatio f assial sptre aptres the saiet momet or rystaizes a idea or idel form from the ow of time the Saedos memory slptre oks itsef oy withi the ow of ime bease temporality itsef is i sribed ito the work t dramatizes its materials yet holds o to a emphati otio of work obet slptre rather tha dissolvig work ito performae t embodies a expaded temporality ad as obet it per forms the proess o f memory The Ohan Tuniis obet trov kithe table sed ad absed material reside ad witess he obet that ap pears simple ad assmig at rst sight begis to ome alive po oser ispetio ts omplexi has as mh to do with »hat is there before the spetaor's eyes as with what is abse hat whih heimih is ad fami iar the everyday piee of fritre beomes unheimich,ay bt the homely is both presered ad deied i the unheimich, st as ad is i the Ceaispired tie of d F or oe realizes that what looked like oe tabe with dieret level srfaes is ataly made p of o tabes of dieret legth widh ad height violety ammed ito eah othe the smaer somewhat wider ad higher table shiig i a whitish mios gray the oger tabe dark brow with blakeed marks of heavy se Both tables are mtilated Where they ash ad are moted ito eah other the ier wo sets of legs are broke o s the spetators gaze sas the srfae the whitish shie reveas it sef to be a silk overig the ti very thi atral silk that overs the srfae ad rs dow the side boards ad overs the wo remaiig egs
Il4
Dois Salcedo' Memoy Scutue
Dois Saedo' Memor Scutue
l5
come the uncanny is not tied t o individual psychoogy, no ae we meey dealing with a negative aesthetic in an Adonean o avantgardist sense of distoion o defamiiaization At sake is athe he conscious atistic tanslation of a national pathology of vioence into a scuptue hat aticu lates pain and deance by bearing witness The wok is not simpy thee as object in the pesent, even though it is very muchofthe pesent It leads the viewe back to some othe time and space that is absent, yet subty in scibed into the wok: Celans stange ostness that is papably pesent" Dois Sacedo's at is th e at of the wtness, the atist as seconday witness to be pecise, the witness to ives and ife stoies of people foeve scaed by the expeience of vioence that keeps destoying family, community, nation, and ultimatey the human spiit itself. Fo some yeas now, Slcedo h taveed the land,eaching s out and istening to the stoies of people who have witnessed and suvived gatu
FGU
7 Dors Sedo Unlnd The Orphan Tunic (detal r).
Couesy Doris Slcedo.
The silk is so thin that the eye is dawn to the cacks visible unde neath, gaps between the ve wooden boads that make up the tables athe ough suface, and othe smalle cacks and gouges attibutabe to the tabes fome use. The sik fays ove the gap between the middle boads, suggesting pehaps that the tabe is stil expanding, and it fods into some of the smale cacks as if it wee gowing into them, attaching itself ike a potective skin to the unevenness of the wood. Examinng the suface of this table is like looking at the pam of a hand with its lines, fods, and winkles The effect is coseness intimacy, and at the same time a sense of fagiity and vuneabiiy that contasts with the studiness of the wooden table. Suddenly the tabe appeas to be no moe than a tace a mute tace. But a tace that has now been so heavi y woked ove by the atist that it has acquied a poweful anguage. It speaks a anguage that is aesthetically compex without being aestheticizing and subty poitical without esoting to a diect message. Sacedos wok on the homeiness of the kitchen tabe that has be
7-3 Dors Sedo, Unlnd: The Ohan' Tunic(detail 2) Courtsy Dors Sedo
FIGUR
8
ois Sacedo Memo Sutue
bee muaed No he eas of he vaous muaos ae he housads of hoes ded hough he suface wh a d b befoe he ha coud be sched hough The vey dea of he pasag abo voved gves oe pause Wha a uey absud acvy, schg ha, ad os of , hough a woode suface Bu s oy absud? O s pehaps aso a emac of medg? If he abe sads fo commuy, famy, fe s poa exeso, he he schg of ha, he ogac ace f a huma body, of he vcm of voece, hough he abes suface s e he headg of pa ad s memoes hough he suface of hsoy Bu pehaps he mos sug pa of he scupue s he hc bad of ha ha oos as f wove acoss he abe jus a he heshod bewee he s uc ad he bae suface of he bow abe Hee he uc ap peas sched dow ad hed dow by he ha, secued paceha, s, exue, body, a come desey ogehe hs pa of he scupue I s cose o whee he wo abes ae ammed o each ohe, cose o whee he fou mdde egs have bee boe off , he heshod ha maes he abe sucue oo vueabe Hee mgh cave f pessue wee apped fom above Ad pecsey hs euous heshod seems foed by he bad of ha, desey wove fom oe sde of he abe acoss o he ohe sde ad dow o he sde I mas he ed of he uc o oe sde, he ed of he bae bow suface o he ohe; becomes hc exue Ha appeas hee as povdg segh, whe he abe seems vueabe a magave evesa of he basc aue of he maeas Howeve absud hs poec of schg ha hough wood s, aso has a a of deace dees he mpacaby of he wood, bu aso dees he absu dy ad gauousess of voece Coomba Le a of Sacedos wo, Te Opan Tunic s abou memy a he edge of a abyss I s abou memoy he el sese, boh he co e of specc memoes of voe acs ad memoy as pocess ad as sucue as he wo ees o daogue wh he vewe Ad s abou memoy a spaa sese, appoxmag , eve que geg o , compeg he vewe o evae somehg ha emas eusve, abse he voe deah of he mohe ha e he chd ophaed, he opha pese oy ha esdua uc, whch ow seems moe e a shoud coveg pa of he abe Foeve abse ae he commua o famy eves ha oo pace aoud hs abe, he chas, he peope, he food ad d seved hee I f he peope, especay he dgeous peope, be
ois Sacedo' Memoy Scutue
9
og o he ad, as Sacedo has suggesed oe of he ae eews, he Unndmas he absece of he peope fom he commua se Bu s a oced absece acheved hough deah ad dspaceme If Unnd Te Oan Tuni s adequaey see as a memoy scupue, evaby he queso w ase wha of hope, wha of edempo? Ad wha d of a pocs of memoy, f ay, does Sacedos asc pacce mpy? Cealy, he wo dees a pocs of edempo, ad suggess deace a eve boade sese:deace s of ay dec epeseao of a sefpepeuag voece woud be oo egmzg o ca poca; deace aso of a ceasgy specaculazed cuue of memoy ad s obsesso wh pubc ses of commemoao, moumes, ad memo as Sacedo ows how pubc moumes ad memoas ae boud o seve as cphes of fogeg hough aesheczao o dec poca comme He wo does o us mechasms of pubc memoy, whe a he same me despeaey deses o uue such memoy Ths s he mm hope he wo does sugges Scupu fom, ahe ha mou me o memoa, he wo addesses he dvdua specao, scbes s compex message, ad eaves he specao moved by he memoy of a powe mage Bu he eay of vioncia,we ow, coues uabaed Thee s o ed sgh fo he cyce of voece ha feeds o sef Coomba, e Choos devoug hs ow chde ee myh Fay, hee s Sacedos deaceo shoud oe say ovecomg of he always pese dage of aesheczao, due pmay o he use of smpe, eveyday obecs ad maeas Ad ye, eve f ou gaze s o aesed aeshec peasue, Unnd Te Oan Tunichaus us s compeg beauy ohe successl asc wo acuag hsoca auma uque meda ad maeas, Sacedos scupue moves he specao o he edge of a abyss oy hy veed by he beauy of he pece sef The ve, howeve, s dspesabe fo us o come face o face wh he auma ad o become wesses of a hsoy we mus o goe emoy scupues such as he oes by Dos Sacedo ae cuey beg poduced may dee paces he wold Ida ad Souh Afca, he coues of he fome Sove boc ad La Ameca The wos may be ueced ad coded o vag degees by heWese a sysem, whch s sef becomg goba, bu he scbed ados ad memoes w be vaaby ocl ad spaceboud, chaegg he be hode o egage wh hem The demse of he uomeca mode pv
120
Dois Sae Memo Scutue
egng he laes avangade acualy facaes ahybd egng of de en es and deen spaces n asc pacces and he ecepon The geogaphc and epoal splneng of conepoay a wl of couse geneae pobes ofegbly when such wos ae hen exhbed n ohe places ha have ohe hsoes u hen a has always neaced bene cly wh ways of eadng, coenay, and nepeaon ha coud becoe geneave of he specao's dalogue wh he wok Readng n a gobalzng culue eques new slls and new knowedge, and woks such as Slcedos fose a dogue beyond he fones of Wesen a. u apa fo he nvaably specc hsoes, locaes, and copoeal eoes ha he woks ask he behode o ace, as a edu by self eoy sculpue asses he need fo a sowdown, and deands ecognon o f he basc ae of eveyday fe. scupue nsss on he nsupeable aealy of he wod, of objecs as wel as of bodes s nscpons of e and dspaceens of space need o be ead paeny. They ae usualy no o be found on he suface, n he way of docuenay o pocally expc a. Ths copcaes ecepon. The vewe ay have o ely as uch on assocaon, analogy, nneaon of he wok as on explanaons ha ay o ay no be oeed wh capons, caalogues and evews. Paly, of couse, he ass wl wan o ge o he agnaon of he vewe hough he anguage of he aeas, he suggesveness of angs, he uses of space and conguaon. f he wok s successful n engagng he aenveness of he beholde, f suggess eanng ye e fuses easy consupon, f yeds peasue n s aeshec conguaon whou denyng cognve gan, hen does s ob. woks agans he sucues of fogeness n ou conep oay wold, whehe such fo gefulness s enfoced by a ay sae and s syse of dsappeang people (Salcedo, ggeed by he ansfoaon of a foely couns socey n whch publc and pvae eebance and fogeng ae hown no uol (alka o Kabakow, o sply bough abou by he planned obsoescence of obecs (and peope? n he consues of ou own Wesen socees Such a also coness he danng of space and e n hypespace. nuues he basc huan need o ve n exended sucues of epoay and n ecognzable space, howeve hey ay be oganzed. And enches he beholde by dawng us no s sow wok on he ndssolube eaonshp aong space, eoy, and bodly expe ence. Lus uuel once sad You have o begn o lose you eoy, f
Dois Sacedo Memo Scuue
121
only n bs and peces, o elze ha eoy s wha akes ou lves. The a of Dos Sacedo and ohes wokng on eoy and space n scupue and nslaons heps us no o foge ha and, pehaps, o look wh fesh eyes a he way we ouseves negoae space and eoy n ou own eveyday lves.
OfMi and Mimsis 123
Of Mie and Mimesis Reading Spiegeman with Adorno I s bcomng h El Ws of h comc book At Sglman
Since he 980s he quesion no longer is whhbu raher how o represen he Holocaus in lieraure lm and he visual ars. The earlier convicion abou he essenia unrepresenabiliy of he Holocaus ypi� cally grounded in Adorno's famous saemen abou he barbarism of po� ery aer Auschwiz and sill powerful in some circles oday hs los much of is persuasiveness for laer generaions who now of he Holocaus only hrough represenaions o begin wih: phoos and lms documenaries esimonies hisoriography and cion. Given he ood of Holocaus rep� resenaions in all manner of media oday i would be sheer volunarism o sick wih Adornos aesheic requiremen of a ban on images ha rans� laes a heological concep ino a very specic ind of modernis aesheic I seems much more promising o approach he issue of Holocaus repre� senaions hrough anoher concep ha holds a key place in Adornos hough a of mimesis In his recenly published book eniled In h Shaw f o Caoph Gman Inua bwn Apoaps and Enlihnmn, nson Rabin bach has persuasively shown how Adorno's undersanding of Nazi ani� Semiism is energized by his heory of mimesis. More imporan however he has linked Adorno's discussion of he role of mimesis in ani�Semiism o Hokeimer and Adorno's hisorical and philosophical reecions on mimesis as par of he evoluion of signiing sysems as hey are elabo
raed in he rs chaper of he Diali of EnlihnmnHere Horkheimer and Adorno discuss mimesis in is rue and repressed forms is role in he process of civilizaion and is paradoxic relaionship o he Bivbohe prohibiion of graven images A he same ime he con cep of mimesis in Adorno (and ake i ha Adorno raher han Horkheimer was he driving force in ariculaing his concep in he co auhoed work) is no easily dened as severa recen sudies have shown. I acually ncions more like a pimpses in ha i parakes in a leas ve dieren ye overlapping discursive regisers in he ex rs in relaion o he criique of he commodiy form is powers of reicaion and decep ion a horoughly negaive form of mimesis(Mimsis ans hsecond in relaion o he anhropologicl grounding of human naure ha as Adorno insiss inMinima Moaais indissolubly linked o imiaion; hird in a biological somaic sense geared oward surival as Adorno had encounered i in Roger Caillois' s work some of which he reviewed for he Zish Soziashunfour in he sense of idenicaion and projecion indebed o Freud's m and booand las in an aesheic sense and wih srong resonances of Benjamin's lnguage heory in relaion o he role of word and image in he evoluion of signiing sysems I is precisely his mulivlence of mimesi I would argue ha makes he con cep producive for conemporay debaes abou memory rauma and rep resenaion in he public ream Thus i is more han merely a paradox ha mimesis seres Adorno o read Nazi aniSemiism whereas i seres me o undersand he ehics and aesheics of approaching Holocaus memory in our ime n his essay hen I will focus on one specic aspec of memory dis course namely he vexing issue of in Timohy Garon Ashs succinc words) if how and when o represen hisorical rauma My exampe for he reresenaion of hisorical rauma is he Holoc aus a opic on which as aready indicaed Adorno had provocaive hings o say ahough he never said quie enough abou i Bu he issues raised in his essay perain as much o oher insances of hisorical rauma and heir represenaion: wheer we hink of he dsapaidosin Argnina Guaemala or Chile he solen generaion in Ausralia or he posaparheid debaes in Souh ricain all hese ces issues of how o documen how o represen and how o view and lisen o esimony abou a raumaic pas have power lly emerged in he public domain
�
128
OfMice and Mimesis
momen of unadueraed despar a dsrups e norma frame of e neewng rocess e quesonng and answerng bckerng nd a gng beeen faer and son. Tese pages gve esmony of e emoon break down of boh faer and son a Ajas bur: n As case s overad by a knd of suvor gu n e second degree once removed rom e orgna rauma of s parens.Te memores o Auscwz do no ony cam ja ey aso enveop e son born years aer e war. Tus A draws msef rougou s epsode n srped Auscwz prsoner garb wc gves a surrea quay o ese sarky execued woodcuke groesque mages In s momen of secondary Hoocaus rauma Spegemperforms a knd of saa mmess of dea n e sense of oger aoss work of e 930s wc Adorno read and commenedon crcy n s corresondence w enjamn Spegeman performs a compsve magna mmess of Auscwz as a sace of mprsonmen and murder a mmess owever n wc e vcm e moer becomes a perperaor we e rea erpe raors ave vansed. Tus a e end of s raw and parayzng passage A ncarceraed bend magnay bars reproaces s moer for avng commed e erfec crme: You u me ere . . sored a my cr cus . . . cu my nee endngs and crossed my wres . I You MU DD me Mommy and you e me ere o ake e rap!!! (I1 03) Te drawngs re expressons e ex crude oug n a ceran sense "auen c bu s easy o see a Spegemans comc woud ave urned no dsaser ad e cosen e mage and anguage mode of "Prsoner for e aer work. I coud ony ave urned no psycocomksc Spegeman dd need a deren more esrangng mode of narrave and gurave rep resenaon o overcome e parayzng effecs of a mmess of memoy error He needed a pcor sraegy a woud manan e enson be ween e overemng reay of e remembered evens and e enuous ways eusve saus of memoy se£ u as an nser n Mausese pages funcon as a remnder abou e represenaona dfcues of eng a oocaus or posHoocaus soy n e form of he comc. u ey aso powerfuy supor Spegemans srae o use anm magey n e aer onger work Te coce of medum e anma comc s us sef conscousy enaced and used n e narrave sef. Drawng e soy of s parens d e Hoocaus s an anma comc s e Odyssean cunnng a aows Spegeman o escape from e error o memoyven pos memory n Maranne Hrscs sensewe mmecay reenacng
OfMice and Mimesis 29
u e queson ngers. Wa do we make of he ngusc nd c ora punnng of Maus Mauscwz and e asks n reaon o mmess Te decson o e e sory of Germans and ews as a soy of cas and mce as predaors and prey soud no be msread as a nauraza on of sory as some ave done.Spegeman s no e Godagen oe comc book. Aer a e comc does no preend o be soy More se rous mg be anoer objecon: Spegemans mage sraeges probem acay reproduce e Naz mage o e ew as vermn as roden, as mouse u s smpy a mmcy of racs magery And even f mmcry does mmcry o racsm nvaraby mpy s reproducon or can suc mmcry sef open up a gap a derence a depends on wo performs e mmng and ow Mmess aer a s based on smude as mkng smar (Aneichunn Adornos ermnoogy) e producon of "e same bu no que as om aba descrbes n anoer conex And Aneichunmpes dfference. Tus Spegeman msef draws e readers aenon o s conscous mmec adopon of s magey Te very op of MausIs copyrg page feaures a Her quoe "Te ews are undoubedy a race bu ey are no uman And MausII rg afer e copyrg page begns w a moo aken from a Pomeranan newspaper arce from e md930s Miky Mous is th most msab ia . . Hthy motios t y it you ma a y hoorab youth that th ry a th o mi th atst batia a th m kom aot th a ty of aim Away wth Jwsh brutizatio o th o! Dow with Mky Mous Wa th Swastika Coss
Mausus gves copyrg were s due Adof Her and e Nzs u a may s no be enoug as an swer o e objecon More cruca s e way nwc e mmess of anSemc magery s anded Here woud be enoug o compare Spegemans work w e 190 N propaganda move The erna jew wc porrayed e ews word conspracy s e nvasve mgraon of paguecaryng swarms of rodens wo desroy eveyng n er a. Suc a comarson makes cear ow Segemans mmec adoon of Naz magery acuay suc ceeds n reversng s mpcaons we smuaneousy keepng us aware o e umaon and degradaon of a mageys orgn nenon. Insead of e er represenaon of desrucve vermn we see perse cued e anms drawn w a uman body and wearng uman coes
4
OfMice and Miesi
how beyond the mutipy fractured ayering of anguage and narative time, the vey pictoriaity of the anima comic is signicanty disrupted as we We see Art in proe, sitting at his drawing tabe, but now drawn s a human gure wearing a mouse mask It is as if the image track coud no onger sustain itsef, as if it had coapsed under its own weight Artie's mimicy reveals itsef to be a sham The mask reveas the imits of his project The ruse doesn't work any onger The task of representing time in Auschwitz itsef, ust begun in the preceding chapter, has reached a crisis point This crisis in the creative process is teingy connected with the commerci success of Maus I: the Hoocaust as part of the cuture industry Crisis of representation and crisis of success throw the author into a depressive meanchoy state in which he resists the marketing of his work (transations, m version, T through a t of tota regression He avoids the annoying questions of the media sharks such as: What is the message of your book? Why shoud younger Germans today fee guity? How woud you draw the Israeis? II42) by iteray shrinking in his chair from frame to frame unti we see a sma chid screaming I want I want my Mommy! II42) The pressures of historical memory are ony intensied by Hoocaust marketing, to the point where the artist refuses any further communication The cuture industrys obsession with the Hoo caust almost succeeds in shutting down Spiegelman's quest The desire for a regression to chidhood, as represented in this sequence, however, is not ony an attempt to cope with the consequences of commercia success and to avoid the media This moment of extreme crisis, as cose as any in the work to traumatic sience and refusal to speak, aso anticipates something of the vey ending of Maus II On the vey ast page of Maus II, as Vadeks story has caught up with his postwar reunication with Anja, ironicay described by Vadek in Hoywood terms as a happy ending and visuay rendered as the irisike fadeout at the end of sient ms, Artie is again put in the position of a chid 27 In a case of mistaken identity resuting from a merging of past and present in hi s father's mind, V ladek addresses Artie as chieu Arties own oder brother who did not surive the war, whose ony remaining photo had aways stared at him reproachfuy during his chidhood from the parents' bedroom wa, and to whom Maus II is dedicated A Vadek asks Atie to turn o his tape recorder and turns over in his bed to go o seep, he says to Artie Im tired from takng, Rchieu, and its enough stories
OfMice and Mimesis
135
for now . II: 3 6) This misrecognition of Artie as Rchieu is hghy ambiguous it is as if the dead chid had come alive again, but simutaneousy the traumatic past proves its deady grip over the present one ast time For these are the ast words a dying Vadek addresses to rtie Ths ast frame of the comic is foowed ony by an image of a gravestone with Vadek's and Anjas names and dates inscribed and, at the very bottom of the page and beow the gravestone, by the signature "art spiegeman 197899, years that mark the ong traectory of Spiegeman's proect of approaching an experience that ultimatey remains beyond reach Much more coud be said about Spiegemans mimetic memory project, but I hope to have made the case that the Adornean categoy of mimesis can be made productive in a reading of Hoocaust remembrance in such a way that the debate about the proper or correct Hoocaust representation, whie perhaps never irreevant, can be bracketed and the criteria of judgment shifted If mimetic approximation, drawing on a variety of knowedges historica, autobiographic, testimonia, iterary, musea), were to emerge as a key concern, then one coud ook at other Hoocaust repre sentations through this prism rather than trying to construct a Hoocaust canon based on narrow aesthetic categories pitting the unrepresentabe against aestheticization, or modernism against mass cuture, memory against forgetting This might open up a ed of discussion more productive than the rituaistic incantations of Adorno regarding the cuture industry or the barbarity of poety after Auschwitz A a work by a member of the econd generation, Mausmay mark a shi in the ways in which the Hoocaust and its remembrance are now represented It is part of a body of newer, "seconday attempts to commemorate the Hoocaust whie simutaneousy incorporating the critique of representation and staying cear o ocia Hoocaust memoy and its rituas I have tried to show how Spiegeman confronts the inauthenticity of representation within a mass cuura genre whie at the same time teing an autobiographic stoy and achieving a power eect of au then� tication Like many other works of m, scupture, monuments, iterature, theater, even architecture, Spiegeman rejects any metaanguage of symboization and meaning, whether it be the ofcia anguage of Hoocaust memorias or the discourse that insists on thinkng of Auschwitz as a teos of modernity. The approach to Hooaust history is sought in an intensey persona, experiential dimension that nds expression in a whoe variety of
Rewriting and New Beginnings 139
Rewiins and New Beinnins W. G. Sebad and the Lieatue on the Wa
he poltca dvde of 989 nevtaby rases the queston how Ger man terature has been aected after the fall of the Wall. he queston what remas artculated by Chrsta Wof n her controversal book bleibt,publshed n 990 nevtably rases the other queston of what has changed on the German lterary scene n the 1990s B ut t also compes us to reconsder the whole course of postwar German terature snce 194 n the lght of uncaton Change nevtably ponts to erosons to forgettng even to endngs as t ponts sometmes to new begnnngs he phrase beibt (what remans) carres al these connotatons fadng resdue sta ble and shftng canon and new departure We l remember the longng for new begnnngs at the tme of uncaton. he feuletons conured up new begnnngs n lterature m the vsua arts and ntelectual fe oday such memores are ust hatmemores en yers aer those ntene and ehlaratng tmes t seems to me more sense to ask whether ths desre for ways new begnnng snt as much of a problem as the pralledesre for the stably of a cnon er al the ongng for new departures has long snce been the p sde of the desre for that whch remans one of the permanent tures t seems of the cul ture of moderny snce Romantcsm nd yet n postfascst Germany the desre for new begnnngs has aways taken on very specc connotatons Cleary potcal uncaton n 1990 dd not produce a vbrant up surge n terature and the arts nor w t ever plausble to assume that the
return to natonal uny woud produce anythng surprsngy new n lterature and the arts to begn wth Only at great per to each have pol and aesthecs ever marched n ockstep and today the naton no longer pro vdes the prmary nurturng and securng frame for lterature that t dd provde at an earer tme a result some have begun to lament the de cne of German terature generally hus engagng na dscourse of cultura oss that has ts own deep hstory Others wll happly forget terature and ceebrate the new meda nstead I wl do nether but wl focus on the de sre tsef for repeated new begnnngs a pecular German repetton com puson of the postfascst decades that s only now comng nto fuler vew More than a decade aer the fl of the Bern Wal and the coapse of the ovet Unon we may ndeed want to consder how these events may force us to reassess the ed of post1945 German terature and culture from todays perspectve uch reassessment was at ste n the Chrsta Wof debate of 990 wth ts crtca broadsdes not ust aganst Wof but aganst the Gruppe 47 and the chershed noton of a littrare engage 1 nce then the attempt to recode the terary and hstorcal past n servce to the present has wtnessed further dscursve eruptons such as the one trggered by Botho trauss wth hs essay nschwelender Bocsgesang n 992 r by Martn Wlsers 1 998 speech n the Frankrt aulskrche and by the clams he made for the nnocence of hs generatons Na chldhood n the nove Ein pringender Brnnen But every one of these debates ha remaned mred n scanda and n the cutural poltcs of the day The German desre for new begnnngs tself however has not receved much sustaned attenton even though the hstorcal watershed of 989 90 now of fers nterestng ponts of comparson wth other key moments of the postwar perod. n ths essay I rst suggest some of the probems any such broader reassessment of postwar German terature wl encounter n the contet of postuncaton culturl potcs econd I draw on W G ebds book ength essay Lkrieg nd Literatr ( The Air r and Literatre999) whch lends tsef partcularly wel to a focus on the obsesson wth endngs and new begnnngs that pecular structure of repetton n postwar Ger m terature and culture at large o focus on the repetton entaed n new begnnngs s not to deny teray evouton and change snce 94 Rather t s to counter an ap proach to lterary hstory that operates wth stabe and b ounded terrtora
Rwriting an Nw Bginning niis and fws dy cngy f dcads and gnains, us bcking fm viw muip wiings and cssxua ains a a pa and pac f ag isica fam f pswa Gman cuu. Uimay, my ading f bad is man as a cas sud f w wiing f a iay and isica pas sinc 194 is id a sucu f naina mmy a scs acss gnains and dcads Rcongrng Ltar Htor: Roraton v. 1
Fis, n, sm cmmns n issu f cnguing pswa Gman iau Alug isy f Gman iau, Eas and Ws as bn win and appas faiy sab in is gna uins, inpain f a isy mains vy muc cnsd. Unicain as iggd a wa f inpains a is ngid by sva fms f mymaking and mmy piics gading n jus 1990s bu ay pswa dcads msvs in ain psn Tis is, f cus, n ny a qusin f iay isy T fac a 198990 psns suc a cnvnin mak f c su pswa iay dvpmns sud b cnsidd a pbm a an cu f iay isyF w nw av an a cnv nin and gical bck naaiv Gman iau fm 194 1990, fm capiuain/ibain via dividd nain naina uni cain Of cus, was ai discussin f n, w, vn fu Gman iaus iau win in Gman; Eas Gman iau and Gman iau win in Ws Ws Gman, Eas Gman, Ausian, and wiss iaus T als a wsabisd subdivisins by mpa maks suc as 19449, 19499/61 68, 196889. Bu n suc mak as bcm a maj bn f cnnin in Gmany in cn yas 1968 T pubic dba abu gacis f 1968, n dub xacbad by pximiy f ii annivsay f 1968 in 1998 and, in 1999, i annivsay f funding f Fda R · pubic isf, as ad is iayisica snancs wi ambiius 1998 annivsay xibi a naina iau aciv in abac, n id Prot! itraur um6 Biy, issu is is T 1990s av winssd an innsid a mp giv a m psiiv spin ay pswa yas and Adnau cancsip Tis viw clngs ib cnsnsus f
Rwriting an Nw Bginning pvius dcads a 190s w a id f sain. T vua in f ay yas f Fda Rpubic f Gmany (FRG), uimay in nam f a aciv nmaliain, is ca Ad nau yas fm fu d f sain pac Bu is iddn agnda is dny a 1968 payd a maj in cuual, iay, and piica dvpmn f pswa Gman dmcacy T is ning wng wi dismaning cain mys abu 1968, bu n if ny su is pacmn f n my by n ympmaic f is ndncy is a sim bk f iay ciicism pubisd in 1997 and did by W Ea and Dik Nifang, ni d Zwi Wnzitn: Blick aui utch itrar un . T ad ssay by Hmu Kis, w as cnibud a ma ssay caagu f abac sw n iau f 1968, ppss a cncp f a sain pid in FRG was puy a iay invn in, a an a isic aiy6 Ks amns inging c f is cncp amng s ay isians w main icn au wy accping amnius mssag abu acivmns f Adnau pid Cmpy igicly, Ks n mbiis ciica aus f 190s (Wfgang Kppn, Gn Eic, Hans Wn Ric), sm f saps ppsina vics f sain, as pf a cann av bn a l sain bgin wi f wis s aus wud n av bn ab wi wa y w Tis is a kind f agumnaivGlichhaltung(syncniain) f i au and piics if v was n as if a saiv gim and is adica ciiqu cud n av xsd sid by sid T agumn is bia psnc f a sng ciiqu f sain, say, in Kppns nv a ibhau is usd as pf a a wic is ciicid did n xis T bn f cnnin bvi usy s in wd rtoraon wud ik mak pins au is agumn . On can asiy ag a cain 1960s axis fms f sain sis a saw FRG as a pfascis sa dsv b ciicid; bu a was dn ng ag b RafDndf and piica scniss f diing psuasins, and vn by Hans Wn c imsf uc agmn ds n qui a w abandn nin f san g as a dscipin f 190s Cay, us m rtoraonis n suggs a fascis sa w sd in Ws Gman i
42
Reriting and Ne Beginning 43
Rring and Ne Beginning
mpy h he cuure f he Feer Repulc epecly u n ny n he prve mn f fmy fe n he Stammtihw l pere y rn f cnere uhrrn n nnl hnkng h h r n he Wlhelmn per n h cerny een pr f he Nn Sc cuur ynhe We hu rememer h m f he erry prucn f he 90 eg he lerure f upcn f e gy [iterar de eologieverht]) n even f h f he 960 eg nguge expermenlm) w n epenen n uch Lef plcl crque egn wh By mng he rern he n wrer n ler crc Kee mke n egcl rher hn lerry rgumen. Bu why nw gn n why wh h vehemence? h ke here fr he wrng f pwr lery hy? 2 Th e revnm regrng he 90 whch l wepre n he me h w purpe me unercung ny cm h 968 hrhn fr he le 960 even n e) repreene kn f hrcl werhe n We Germn cuure n pl c cpre he nde(urn) f 98990 The rern he fer l w he fr he emphc clm h 968 w key urnng pn n Germn ery hry Furher y emnng 968 cnuve pr f he pwr nrrve f Germn cuure n emrcy he ren vew uccee n gvng funn ccun f he l FRG ccrng whch he grun fr Germn emcrcy were l n he le 940 y wh c nmenl mernzn (drh ende Moderniiern�, n he el f evelpmen w reche n he ecn urnng pn ( ndezeit) f 98990 wh uncn The myh f 968 h grune wh hve eewhere clle he eerl cnenu f he 970 n 9 80 h hu een repce wh he cneve mh f w urnngpn (zei ndezeiten) whch re hel grun he egmcy n culurl uhency f emcrc Germny 3· Mnmzng he mprnce f 968 y h ye nher func n. w he 96 h r rugh he Hcu peny n puc ee n he FRG ex y Frch Hchhuh We Wler Kluge Hehemer n mny her cme mn e he nfcm f he 960 Le my n he en hve een premc n hepe he helpe nfcm f he er genern he Le w ckng w he 960 h r rugh he Nz p ck Germn cnune n pulc ee n wy h he reprn plce f he Aenuer
gvernmen n he 90 h een egne v Hwever crcl we my wn e y f he pecc wy n whch wrer n he 960 repreene he Hcu I'm hnkng here f Peer Hnke ck perfrmnce he meeng f he Grppe 47 n Prncen n 966 r f he prlemc nrumenzn f he Hlcu fr crque f cplm n Peer We n her he pulc memy ee n Germny receve r mr mpeu precely n he cnex f pre memen h h ng eec n ery evepmen hereer Th my n e he wy n whch he cr f 968 meure y her wn nenn wne e rememere eher lerry r pcy u cer nly mke he 960 n nlenle pr f Germn pwr cuure 0 A he me me we nee he crque f he 960 h f he ece f he Gruppe 47 andf he vru rc un prpe vercme he cr f Germnelle lete u h crque nee e rcue n wy h g eyn emp cree prper nn nrrve y mpy erng he 960 n rrelevn errn frm he cure f Germn hry n lerue Perhp eng h he Feerl Repuc f Germny culy ck rng funnl nrrve The cnnung qurrel u 94 968 n 990 my pn pl c rengh n wekne The mre mprn erenn f he preen frm he p my er l n e chee wh reference ny f hee e u rher wh vew he errng re f lng p Auchwz A n ner recenly uggee Auchwz h ecme mehng ke cvc relgn n Germny n fr eer r fr wre my y nw hve ecme funn myh f he new urpe rn Pints The en f Wr Wr I w urnng pn ndezeitfr l Germn The en f he wr he efe f he Nz e n fe n he run f he me ce prve Germn wh cmmn y f ex perence even hugh cnn vre mewh uner fferen ccupn The yer 98990 w gn urnng pn fr he nn u w experence y Germn whe everyy e h cnfrn wrenchng umen n chnge n rclly eren mnner frm We Germn fr whm nhng much eeme chnge he mer leve f eveyy lfe n he flwng cu he mer f urnng
144
Rewritings and New Beginnings
poits as the affet the West Germa perspetive M argumet, espe ia as regards 198990 (but also 1945 ad 198, woud have to be made differet for the Germa emorati Repubi (GR) ad postGR, where the obsessio with ew begiigs was equall saiet but was oded differetl from the West M suggestio here is to take the otio of a ew begiig as a ke mth of postar Germa iterature ad trae it over the postar deades M purpose is ot to ivet a kid of bildugsroma of the Germa re pubi, whih is what the"zwei ndezeitenapproah iteds Rather, it is to isist o the otiued ad otiuig reisriptio of that whih omes before the post (postar, postShoah, postuiatio The word reinscrtinpoits to a historial oditio ad to a literar operatio, as wel as to a set of geeratioal ad literar memories that aet writers ad writig i ompex ad dieret was et this shouldnt result i the mora demad that the writer bes Gewissen der Natin (the osiee of the atio), or, as we might put it toda, the witess ad arrier of atioal memor I retrospetive, the isistee o ew begiigsoNeannge Nnkte, tab rasa Wndepnkte ad the ikeappears a peuiar Germa obsessio that iks suh seemig dieret imagiaries as those of 1945, 198 ad 1989 The mutiplii of ew begiigs results ot o from historia evets ad ostelatios but also from the absee of the kid of foudatioal arrative that Gaulist Frae reated aroud the Resistae ad that th East Germa state produed with its dogma of ati fasism The paradox of the West Germa ase is that eve emphati laim about a ew begiig a aso be read as a repetitio For some, there ma be somethig outerituitive about a argu met that reads 198 as a repettio b reversal of 1945, a ear that, i the mids of the sixteighters, had faied to provide a lea break with as ism From this perspetive, 198 woud be the reewed attempt to ahieve a degree ero ofliterature ad uture, a radia fresh start beod bour geois bees ettres,ad thus a repetitio of the Nnktof 1945 with a differet ast of haraters ad differet goas Separatio from the pt, at a rate, was the primar goal i both ases Perhaps ess outerituitive after the debates of the 1990s s the sug gestio that 198990 a be read as a repetitio b reversa of 198 a al et agai for a ew literature his time oe embodig a purer aestheti
Rewritings and New Beginnings 145 beod the aleged domiat Gesinnngssthetik(aesthetis of ovi tio of the previous period, as artiuated iuetial i the eal 990s b Kal Heiz Bohrer ad i the feuiletos of the P ad ie eit I a three ases, however, the emphati demad for the ew ver soo proved to have bee iluso at best Couterituitive or ot, there ae several methodologial advatages i fosig o the oti of repetitio as a tempate through whih to ook at poswar Germa iterature at hese ruial utures Suh a fous avoids metaarratives of evolutio ad poitial teeolog I t avoids oat ig the phatasms of srciar foudatios ad authetiit i the imme diate postwar period or at other turig poits i Germa histor Ad most importat, it alows us to lik together auhors who would otheise remai separated b riteria of hroolog, deades, geeratios, or writ ig strategies I show later, Sebads memor texts revolve ruial aroud suh repetitios Obviousl, the fous o turig poits is itesel ivested i o tios of edigs ad ew begiigs Ever sie the 190s, we have ome to see the idea that 1945 was a literaNnkta deusio or a sefsev ig ideologial plo Ad 198 ever was the radia litera rupture it pre teded to be More importat, reet iterar theor has give us oepts that alow us to uderstad al literatureideed, al writigas osti tutive itertextua rhetoria wove of traes ad supplemets, iser tios ad eraures, liatios ad aiatios that would make the ve idea of a Nnktobsolete to begi with Ad et the mh of Nnktthe Wnd,the ew begiig, keeps omig bak i differet guises i the Nnktad the literature of the ruis( Trmmerirar) aer 1945 i the muhtouted death of literature ad the emergee of operative writ ig doumetar, ad reportage i the 19os i the farewe of 1990 to the iterature of the FRG ad i rak Shirrmaher s thi veiled attak o he Gruppe 47 wet ad some ears after the groups expiratio, ombied with his a for "a ew wa of tellig time i stotelig as we i short, for a ewer ad purer aestheti Wh this repetitive obsessio whih is learl fueled b muh more ha simp the avatgardist aim for the ew There are spei histor ial ad ideologi exp aatos for eah oe of hese "turig poits But there is perhaps aother dimesio oe ot so easi aptured a di mesio that has somethig to do with the doubeedged desire simulta
Rwrtgs ad New Beg gs pae uh duon wa pehap oe pevalen n he pvae han n he pu phee, u funoned powefuy n oeng he wa geneaon a o havng een ved and he aep o ne e pony Both he Hooau and he aeg ong wee vey uh pa of he powa oa agnay n Geany fo he vey egnnng, and nehe oud e had whou he ohe Wha neeng n ead ook no he phenoenon he pupo o eah a ye anohe epeonhe aene of eay ex aou he ong I ahe he way he ead he ex aou he ong ha do aualy ex pay Eh Noak Der Utergag 98 , exande Kuge Der A afHalberstadt977, and, oe agnay, Hue Fhe etevs Imtatoe Grspa (97 upngy, ead neve aknowedge he wdepead heoe doue of he 990 aou aua, epeon, and he apoa of epeenaon, ahough h awaene of he ue pevade he naave of De Asgewaderte,whh wa wen n 99 woud ke o ugge ha ead kreg d terar ef a epeon, a ewng of hoe eae ex aou he expeene of aeg ong and, eond, ha oey eaedn deep uue, onepua faewok, and anguage (hough no n naave opexyo he naave ane of De Asgewaderteef The edang nk eween hee wo vey deen ex, eween he hoa a eay and he fou oe, whh oe onde ead o powefu eay wok, he eoy poea of he eond geneaon, of Gean who wee on and gew up ae he wa Noak, Kuge, and Fhe peened he o ng eald dd no Meoy and ewng, hen, ae he ue Noak naave aou he devaang aak on Haug n he ue of 9 ha alway een ead a ypoa of ehe e of he a phae of he wa and of he new egnnng ade neeary Fhe nopoaon of he ae ong of Haug no h novel wa ovaed y he wenyfh an nveay of ha ong, n 98 The penen paage n Detevs mtaoe Grspaae eay aked n he wng aegy a a ouneex o Noak Th wa eay a ewng y a we of he nex geneaon who had wneed he ong a a hd ahe han a an adu and whoe eay ene wee hoe of a ae geneaon Noak eonged o he geneaon gd Wege ha eeny deed a he
Rewrtgs ad New Beggs
49
"ee geneaon, hoe who ade up he oe of he Guppe 7 and who had aed he wng aee dung o even efoe he wa Boh Fhe on n 9 and Kluge (on n 92, o n he ohe hand, ae geneaonay oaed eween he ee geneaon and he eond geneaon pope, hoe ke eald (on n 9 who do no have eay hdhood eoe of he Thd Reh Kuge A afHalberstadt,wen n he eay 970 and puhed n 977 n he voue Nee Geshhte, wa pa of Kuge anay wng aou wa, u ao wa an aep o appoah an neaae hdhood eoy va douenaon and onalaon ualy, Fhe and Kluge ex oh ued a x of on nd douenaon, ale n gnany deen way a a e when he douenay ode wa vey uh n vogue. Bu n he 90, he ao phae of he pu Hooau eoy doue n Geany, douenaon wa foued pay on he e of he Na and he oaoao, no on he wa expeene of he Gean van popuaon 20 Thu ne he Fhe no Kuge ex had uh eonane a he eeany e han ead kreg d teratr dd n he ae 990 nd Noak wa a u fogoen y he ae 90 kreg d teratrpefo a knd of eonday aua epeon ae he Wof 98990, u a Kuge and Fhe ex had enaed ypoa epeon ae he a e of 98, and Noak gh afe he ong of Haug n h e ue of 9 Wh Noak, wh Kuge and Fhe, and hen wh ead hef, we have fou ex aou he oaden, eah of whh ooey eaed o one of he hee ao unng pon n powa Gean hoy 9, 98, and 98990 hough eah epeon ha o e ead on own e, ea ha hey epeen hee dn geneaonal oen: aua aon hough de expeene wh Noak a adu and wh Fhe and Kuge a hden, angeneaona auaaon aen he expe ene ef n he ae of ead 2 Fo unakay, ead eay no u an analy of hoe ea e we wok u a hdde ewng of oh Noak and Kuge ex Thu ed eaen of eoy and h nopoaon of phoogaph no al h ex eay enen of Kluge ex/age aege n Nee Geshhte In oh Kluge and eld wng, he feuen ak of apon o pue eave he eade unue of he au
Rwriting and Nw Bginning of hoograhe mages a her relao o he ex. A hesame me Sebals ow arrae syle a use of laguage a ex lke i Augwandrtnrely o slowerace wrg sraeges ofhe eeeh ceuy (remsce esecally of Aalber Sfer) sraeges ha clash esrang g ways h he sychc caasrohes ha make u he coe of he sores. Here he sace from Kuges moers sraegy of fasace scourse moage s mos ee. A ye he sores of i Augwan drtn coul also be escrbe wh he e of aoher colleco of uge's sores prz it tdh Augang arning Pr with thal Conqun) I he ea of a aural hsory of esruco Naturghht dr Zrtrunha grous hs magao hoeer Sebas coceual frameork clues elemes of a raoal meahyscs of aure lack g Kluge bu oerbeargly rese Nossacks arrae. A he same me Sebal res o ga a cera sace from Nossacks exressos rumaos abou war as a reo of aure. Isea he coes hs aural hsory of esruco wh he hel ofWaer Beams aocalyc m age of he agel of hsoy quoe exesely a he e of he books seco maor chaer whch coclues he Zurch lecures of 997 from whch he book was reworke. Bu I oub wheher he really oes more here ha roe a resecable egree o wha remas a meahyscs of aure hs ow wrg. hese are oly some of he mos obous asecs of a ese er exuay ha bs ogeher hese hree exs o he ar war by Nossack Kluge a Sebal a erexal o whch Sebal hmself eer re ecs hs ex I s as f hs ma hess abou he falure of he oler ge erao of wrers whch woul resumably clue boh Nossack a Kluge were ee o he hs eeece o her aroach o he oc. Bu may o be a queso of eo a all. Isea hs may well be Sebas bl so. Hs reuce aack o Germa wrers of an earler geerao a o her falure o rerese a commemorae he ar war becomes a of comesaocomesao I woul sugges for he fac ha Sebal a member of he rs osforye geerao bor he lgu 19 far away from he sream of bombers has o ac cess o he exerece or memoy of he ar ar exce hrough hese ear ler exs ha he s comelle o rewre a k of lerary erso of rasgeeraoal raumazao.
Rwriting and Nw Bginning A he same me hs rewrg os owerlly o he fac ha here was always somehg uresole Germa memores of he war Irocaly he feulleo crques of Seba ha reerae he ol lefs aboo agas makg he ar war ar of ublc scourse ee hus o corm he reresso hyohess aoher sese. Wha may be sub lmally a sake here s o he sychc reresso of he ar war by hose who exerece bu s olcal reresso by he seco geerao Sebas ow. hs may ell exla he ehemece of hs accusaos. Bu Sebals ex s o oly eee o hese earler wrers exs ha he races her comlex ocumeay moes of wrg. Hs olcal sace s curously remsce of he 96os reresso reroach self whch was he cocere h he reresso of he Holocaus raher ha wh memores of he ar war. Bu us as he sxyeghers clame ha bour geos leraure was uable o come o erms wh he hr Rech Seba accuses ha same geerao of oler rers ofr o ee hag re o re call s cosequeces. I s ye aoher reeo from ye aoher agle
osaumai e Begnnngs l suors of raumac exereces face he fcul ask of e beggs. Bu he eso beee raumac symom a ew beg g wll ecessarly rema uresole geerag eer ew aems a resoluo I s r oo smle o belee as Sebal eely oes ha he resece of a grea war a osar eos coul hae reee collece amage o wha he calls (roblemacally) as Seelelebe er eusche Nao (he srua lfe of he Germa ao) he grea wrer ofe ar war o as he coscece of he aoa la Bll or Grass bu as he a os shrk er all we kow ha eery osraumac ew begg bears he races of raumac reeo eve hough creasg emora a geeraoal sace from he orga exerece may aler he s curse srucure of he osraumac symom. Hsoras hae escrbe how he urba oaos of oswar Ger may reace wh umbess a aahy o he exerece of lss a e sruco oly o hrow hemseles o he freec acy of recosruc o a o embrace cosumersm as a way o forge. Such sraeges of comesao ca also be fou he exs o he ar w hemseles a he ways hey ss o ew beggs. Sebs ow aayss ofNossack
4
Rewriig ad New Begiig
emve m e i w i tis is cussi I m stuck by is cice visul imge Bt te cket te epesetti gvitti pul s uels gviy( Gvitatiorhter) w wu t ik ee te em w bmb ctesBombeihterte ee bck t te eltis isty te i w tt me tis bstct iscussi te bic pit t begi wi. A yet uike Nssck Kuge s il lusis but cievig y bc pit i te spee isty epeiece is epesets uttibe i I is tet te i w te weigt istic etis emis mit isupeble. Sebl es t ticute eelig ppiess Nssck we te eqivet bic pit i is witigs. Die Agewaderteis eetlessly mecly cugt i web tumtic memies Hweve mmet eem my ccu i te cticty epeiece ees ue utue by Sebls eceptivey titil beuti pse espite te melcy ctet te tives. A k petic eem emeges pecisely m Sebls eetless epltis iiviul ie sties cugt i te sw et eile. But tis is t te utmy te estetic mbilie i te ely 990s by K Heiz Be tes gist ire egage te es tetics cvicti. N tese sties esteticie te iiviu ct stpes tey epict. Aesteticly isticly pecise Sebl's ivestigtis te pst iDie Agewaderte pemit te ee t evisi te ctstpes te etiet cetuy witut setimetlity witut ielgy bstcti Sebls is uique vice te litey scee te vice tecme (Nahgeboreer)i ew sese e w ewites te tets te pst w emembes te ccete tetue te ives st us it is t supisig tt tee is stg i ew begiig i Sebl's witigs wic e s we te pimpsestic tue a rireWs suc sNeag det seem t be pt is vcbuly. But te Sebl imsel pits t mj ie ece betwee imse te tee le wites e iscusses B i y 94 i te Apie egi Agu I m e tse w emie s g s utuce by te ctstpe tt ws te tkg pce i te Gem Reic. et e ckweges tt te ctstpe le tces memy tt e tie t ticulte i sme is te wks. us i rtigo (Shwide Ghe) we e
Rewritig ad New Begiig
in nearly every weeky new ree we aw the mountain rubble o in pae ike Berlin and Hamburg whih or a long timeI did not aoiate with the detru tion wrought in the loing year o the war knowing nothing o it but onid ered them a natural ondition o all arger itie
ive tis pes isty it becmes ce wy Sebs w uestig te i w ws cetly spe by te elie itey tets. But it is te ti uis as tual citi l bigge cities tt pits bck t Sebs w ci memies ccuts is ieece m Kuge. At stke ee is Sebl's mve m isty a pitics t te ti tulisty estucti Iteestigy Sebs Lkrieg d Literaris itsel ewite eie essy etitle Bewee Histy Ntu Histy A Essy te Litey Descipti tal Destucti wi Ntes Ksck Ns sck Kluge e ieece betwee tis tet 982 te bk 99 is teig I i 982 Sebal cte imsel te tesl be twee isty tul isty i te me ecet wk e clely cmes w te sie te tte. Symptmtic is is eeig Kuge t te e te sec cpte Lkrieg d Literat r,wee e ws M's Kluge's yses iusti isty t sk et icl questi but estucti The hitory o indutry a the open book o human thinking and eelingan the materiait theory o knowedge or any and every theory o knowedge be main tained in the ae o uh detrution or i thi not the irretable warning that the atatrophe deveoping under our noe and then breakng out with eeming abruptne antiipate in a ort o experiment the point at whih we hal nk bak rom our alegedly autonomou phere o hitory into the hitory o nature
O cuse tis is eticl questi te suggeste swe ttl espi is t e tt Kuge wul ve embce e tet te es wit te mii pssge m Wate Bejamis tesis but te gel isty but te messiic imesi ieet i Bejmi's tugt eve t its mst espete pessimistic lge s plce i Seb It is s i isty itse bee bmbe it blivi. By ctst Sebas iscussi Kluge i te tet 982 still suggests te pssibiity eig pcess tt is t me i vce t et utcme Kluges wk is see ee s citicl lb te egeeti clective memy tis ictic pject wic Se
&writing and New Bennin bld shows umiigd symphy is sid o p h uho om yidig o h mpio "o ip h mos hisoi dvopms simpy s ul hisory By h 990s bld himsl hs yildd o h mpio. No oly is h o w bgiig bu h os o sm o b uu. bds x o 999 ds i oop b o His 940 sy o o dmoiio o Lodo d o h Gm bombig o igd i Augus 94 losd iui o dsuio wih oh suggsiv loop b o Kugs wiigs bou igd I sum h bdwho ui Noss Kug d Fih did o xp h bomb igs bu gw up i h shdow o h so phgivs us o so muh ysis s isipio o h um by ms o uoio suh hi is h sody um o h sod gio wys ldy mdid hough liu imgs d p sios d phps o h ou o suspib o imgig w bgiigs A h sm im h disous o u hisory o dsu io ms oo osy id o mphysis d o h polypi philosophy o hisoy so pomi i h Gm diio d odd i v iy o wys i h posw piod I ws xy his p o disous h Klug d Fih oud i hi iv pi o disous mog ioy d si. I'm o s whh h u o his yp o dis ous i bd sys somhig bou h phoogy o Gm mmory uu o h 990s lg o whh i is oly h imgiry o o x pi wi wog om h mgis o h Gm liry s Howv o my sw suh usio bds ii d li y xs poi powly o o o h dm odiios o pos Gm liu Li h pubi ulu om whih pos Gm liu mgd d h i shpd i u his liu ivs o piios isipios d wiigs h m y hisoi ou o pos iy dvlopms s sb pog ssio hough h dds ihy poblmi Euly pobmi is h mp o shoiui h lio bw iu d poiis og h is o h hsis o o uigpois Th lioship o liu o poliis d hisory is o pud by h oio o polii us o w bgiigs o is i duly disussd i h oio o uoomy o h shi sph id h hs hd supisig bih i h 990s bld's ow wo of soryigspiy iDie Agewanderten,bu lso hough di
Rewritingand New Beginnings
y i his mos ovl tertgis som o is pow p isly bus i mis ousid o suh duiv ivs bld's soyig miis sog i mog iv dou m d hisory d i ods h li shily i ms o liry mmory I h ox o h o ovbig mmoy ulu o h 990s i my o lwys sp h dg o mism dg h s sosiousy plimpssi wiig pos. Myb h is somhig o w bgiig i his iy highwi Bu w iy would o w o l i nde
Twin Memories
Twin Mem ories : Afterimages of Nine/Eleven
In a cuture as obsessed with meory such as ours, it is not surpris ing that the debate about how to commemorate the attack on he wn towers began to stir soon after the traumatic shock pontaneous eorias and missing notices replete with vital data and photographs sprang up everywhere in downtown Manhattanin subway stations, on store fronts, at bus st ops Fowers at many of these sites indicated that tere was not uch ope to nd any of the issing A whoe part of Manhattan had been turned into a cemetery, but a cemetery without identiable bodies and without gravesa death zone in which the work of ceanup and removal went on day and night. The ruins were sti smodering with underground res when the ar chitects and deveopers came foth, emphasizing the need to rebuid fast and big, possiby even bigger than before: no ruins aowed in the American imagination At the same time, a consensus has emerged that there must be soe permanent emorial to the tragic oss of ife that trauma tized New York Any memorial wi so have to commemorate what ay turn out to ave been a maor turning point in word history, not just e history of the ciy or the history of the United States How can one recon cie he desire to rebuid a prie site of rea estate with the need to commemorate the dead, and with th chalenge to eoriaize a historical event? Anybody who knos about the frustrating debates and unsatisfac tory soutions" concerning the comeoration of historica traua and
159
crimina terror esewhere, even decades after the commeorated events, must fear the worst The Oklahoma emoria with its 68 empty chairs symboizing the number of the victims reinds one of the theater of the absurd and Peter Eisenan's Hoocaust memoria in Berin, once it is buit, as the potential of becoing a onuenta memo sore rather than the space for historical reection that was intended The issue here is not the iaginative abiliy or inabili of artists, architects, and designers, but rater the obective probems of representing and memoriaizing rau atic events in buit space, especialy if that space is a death zone in living emory And there is an added pro blem for the emorians in New York: How does one iagine a monument to what was already a monument in the rst placea monument to corporate odernism No surprise that some sggested rebiding an exact replica of the in towers The idea is as absrd as it is intriguing in its ogic the rebuilt win towers as a onument to forgetting, an erasure of history, an emblem of globa capita in a dierent sense fro that of the terroris imaginary The rea debate about ground zero, however, has moved on. Discussions about how to emoriaize 9/ are gathering steam, tough they are not yet ly pubic in New York at a time when the edia are stil so busy with the war front No doubt, the memorial debate wil soon grow by eaps and bounds driven by the narcissism of victiization and acceeated by its convergence with the shortter time frame of developers and city poiticians Given such objective pressures, it sees quixotic to suggest that it is not yet the tie to have this debate Considering New Yorks re cent record of urban planning and bulding, owing down seems nkely uness forced by the economic downturn Neither rampant nationalism nor the raw emotions of inury and anger have ever produced persasive monuments in urban space This, then, may be a good moent to reect on soething ese For e the ee of meory and the win towers con jures p images of events in the past aher than the ture of eory events that in my own imagination have attached themselves cosely to the coapse of e in towers n the rare oments of reection no t tied to daiy news events in the fa of2001, Ive been surprised at how persistenty the aerimage of the twin towers hovers in y mind Ceary they carry symboic meaning more forcely han the partialy destroyed Pentagon But this symbolic ean ing is not that of the terror of globaization and hegemonic power, as the
Twn Memes reogne the Taban government as egtmate. Lnks were aso estab shed n the press wth the ega anttes trade n whh the Taban were ompt serety seng o Afghanstans tra hertage nder the ve of sefrghteos regos onoasm Bt as we know more now abot the extremey ose reatonshp, f not dependene of Mh Omar on Qaeda nd Osama bn Laden sne he md990s, t s dt not to thnk abot e reatonshp beween the atak on the o sbme Bmyan states nd the sbseent attak on the dereny sbme twntowers It s as f the dynamtng and oapseof the wo states ast sprng had been a arefy staged prooge to the attak on New ork, symbo atons boh, ntended to whp p spport for bn Ladens apoypt Isamsm n the Msm word. The pares are obv os wo gres eah, one taer thn he other ke brothers both nvested n the aesthet of the sbme; bt not the terrorng sbme whh makes he spetator fee sma and overhemed for both owed a vew from the top from the top of the Word Trade Center as from the top of the Bd dhas ave In both ses n the paranod aggressve word of the Tbn and Qaeda the aeshets of the sbme represents ony the demon power of the otherthe other regon, the other way of fe the nde. Bt we an now srmse that the nks go beyond symbosm. The domented nene of Sad Wahhabsm on the Pakstan madasand on the Tban mkes t entrey pasbe to sggest that the Whhabst presene n fghanstan that had grown drng the Sovet o paton payed a key roe n he destrton of the Bddhas nvabe mon ments to the art and vaton of Afghanstn and the word. And Wah hab presene n ndahar pontst Qaeda nd bn Laden hether or not bn Laden took an atve part n formatng Mah Omrtwat s s not dt to magne bn Laden and hs oonsprators enoyng the n ternatona proar abot the attak on the Bddhas as t payed ot over weeks n the word meda whe they were antpatng the deady attak on he ns then ready at an advaned stage of pannng. Of orse there are derenes. The onoasm of the Taban fo ows the og of a oa theoray and the regos pong of ts sbet popaton. The onoasm of bn Laden and hs oonsprators on the other hand stages a deady wordmeda event n order to dea a bow to that very modernty of whh bn aden hmsef s a prodt both n hs own soaton as a onstrton engneer and n hs pota traetory
Twn Mem
6
toward terrorsm sne the 980s. Bt bn Ladens onoasm goes hand n hand wth a vey modern onoatry bn Laden posng as prophet on the tapes broadast to the Msm word va Jaeera bn Laden n front of hs ave bn Laden shootng offa sbmahne gn srronded by hs fo owers, bn Ladens mage on posters and Tshrts wherever hs message resonates. The on vsbty of bn Laden ontrasts rosy wth the nvsbty of Mah Omar, whom we have ony known from a grany, nfosed photograph Now hat we have seen he atest bn Laden tape and hat we have read the ttery vaos and pompos transrpt of hs and hs ompanons egedy prophet drems of yng and fantses of apoyp destrton devod of pots and nterspersed wh santmonos nantatons t s easy to see what the dynamtng of he Bamyan Bddhas has n ommon wth te attak on the n towers Ts s not the banay of ev Hannh Arendt one anyed as key to the brearat mndset of Adof h mann It s rather the banay of a regos eot, whh has ased so mh serng nd destrton over te entres whenever t hs aed tsef sessy wth state power. Wat s at stke here s not the mora strgge of good vs. ev, a dsorse that tsef remans deepy embedded n sefrghteos regos thnkng. Demonng the terrorsts ony reterates what they themseves do n ther hatred for the nde. Poted regos eaoty, whether of Isam Chrstany Jdasm or any other regon s not the other of moderny, bt ts vey prodt At stke herefore s the pot strgge to ombat regos eaotry n a ts forms, wth the go of preventng t om ntratng or aptrng state power wherever t may threaten to do so To wn that strgge, strateges other than mtary ones are needed Qestons of pot power and eonom devastaton need to be addressed, s we s dets of meanng hstores of hmaton and n ste, the downsde of gobaaton whh s mosty forgotten when one ooks at the word from a 990s Western perspetve ony In the meantme, te twn memores keep hantng me d f ook osey at mages of the now empy ave that hed e arger of the wo very hman Bddha state s I tke omfort n the t that n e bak of the ave the hman otne of the destroyed state s st vsbe, f ony barey: another aermage spportng another memoy that nges.
Nots
HAPE PESEN ASTS I o e e of s essay ad e o o of "ese fes ae debed o e sema wok of ea Koseeck,Fres Pas oso MIT Pess 1985). 2. Of cose a emac oo of " ese es s oeaes e eo bea mas of aca ad eecoc obazao a eso of e fome, aey dsceded modezao aadm daed fo e osCod Wa wod
Paadacay Fed Jamesos essay "Posmodesm o e C oc of ae Caasm, New Lcassc Revew 146 yAs 984): 5392. Oxfod as acke 4· Dad Haey, The Condon ofPosmodern 1989) 5 See j Aada Mode a Large Clral Dmens ons ofGlobal on Meaos d odo U esy of Mesoa Pess, 1998) es ca e 4, ad mos ecey e seca sseAlerN ave Modernes of bl Clre 27 (999) 6 O e comex mx of ese fes ad ese ass cf Adeas Hysse, "Te Seac fo Tado ad "Ma e Posmode Aer oomo daa he Grea Dv Modernsm Mass Clre Posmornsm Uesy Pess 986) 16078 79221 7 See Caes S Mae The Unmaserable Pas Cambde Mass Haad Uesy Pess 988); New German Crqe S/Smme 9 88) seca sse o e Hsokerse ad New Geman Crqe 52 We 199) seca s se o Gema ecao 8. Cf Aso abbac, "Fom Exoso o Eoso Hoocas Memoa zao Ameca sce b Hsor and Memo 912 Fa 1997) 22655. 9· Of cose, e se of Hoocas memoy as a sm fo e ees wada s y obemac sce cao ackowede e secc obems as w a oscooa memoy ocs. a was ee e sse Wese meda accos. O memoy ocs aos as of ca cf
66
13651
t t
t t
Richrd Werner ed Mmo and th Postoonyian A Anthropoo and th ritiq ofPowr (Lndn nd New Yrk ed Bks 998). 10. This view ws rs riculed y Hrkheimer nd Adrn in heir Diand i ws ken up gin nd refrmulted y Lyrd nd ti ofEnightnmnt, hers in he 98s On he cenrlity f he Hlcus fr Hrkheimer nd Adrn's wrk see Ansn RinchIn th Shadow ofatastro ph Grman In tta Btwn Apoaps and Enightnmnt (Berkeley Universiy f Clifrni ress 1997) 11. Gerhrd Schulze Di Ebnisgsha K!trsozioogi dr Ggnwart (Frnkrt nd New Yrk Cmpus 992) The term Erbnisgsha , lierlly sciey f experience" is hrd t rnsle I refers t sciey h privileges inense ut supercil experiences riened twrd insn hppiness in the present nd uick cnsumpin f gds culurl evens nd mssmrkeed lifestyles Schulze's is n empiricl scilgicl study f cntemprry Germn sciety h vids he resricive prmeers h f Burdieu's clss prdigm nd f Ben mins philsphiclly ineced ppsiin f rlenis" nd rfhrung" s n ppsiin etween eeting surce nd uhenic deph experience 12. On Chile see Nelly chrdRsidos y mtras Ensayos a tra riti sobr hi d f transiin(Sntig diril Curt rpi 1998); n Ar gentin see ArditiSarhing r L h Grandmothrs ofth P aM yo and th Disappard hidrn ofArgntina (Berkeley nd Ls Angeles Universiy f Clifrni ress 1) 13. My use f he ntin f imgined memry" is indeed Arjun Appduris discussin f imgned nstgi" in his Modrni at Larg 77 f. The nin is prlemtic he extent tht ll memry is imgined nd yet i llws us disinguish memries grunded in lived experience frm memries pillged frm he rchive nd mssmrkeed fr fs cnsumpin 4 On hese issues cf Mirim Hnsen Shindr List Is N Shoah The Secnd Cmmndmen pulr Mdernism nd uli Memry" ria Inqi 22 (Winer 196) 29232. Als the essy Of Mice nd Mimesis Reding Spiegelmn wih Adrn" in his k 5 Dennis Css Screleu Te zz r Is Up fr Sle Gi Merchndisers Tke License wih Hisry"Har' Magin (Decemer 17) 707 16 Hermnn Le ZitVrhiss: Zr Ktrphiosophi ds Fortshritts (Grz nd Vienn Verlg Syri 983). Fr mre exended criiue f Les mdel see my scpe frm Amnesi The Museum s Mss Medium" in wi ight Mmoris Marking m in a r ofAmnsia (Lndn nd New Yrk uledge 1995), 13 36 17 Qued frm heNw Yrk ms (Ferury 2 1998). 18. The erm is Chrles S Mier's. See his essy A Surfei f Memry? Re ectins n Histry Melnchly nd Denil" Histo and Mmo 5 (192)
CAE
2 MONUMENTA ETIO
1 On he rder implicins f he recen memry m see my wiight Mmoris: Marking m in a tr ofAmnsia (New Yrk nd Lndn Ruledge 995). 2. Quted frmBadishs gbtt, uy 24, 1995 3· Rert Musil Nchl zu Lezeen" in Gsammt Wrk v! 2, ed. y AdlfF ris (Reinek Rwhlt 978), 5069 4· xel Hech diril" art spzia uly 1995) 3· 5. Letter t Uhlig Sepemer 20, 1850, in Rihard nr Lttrs to His Drsn Frn, rns. y S Shellck (N Yrk Scriner nd Welfrd 89), 6 6 Thms Mnn Suffering nd Greness f Rchrd Wgner" Esays of hr Dads trns H T Lwerter New Yrk Kpf971), 315 7· Wler Benjmin Mscw Diry" in Otobr 35 (Winter 185) 65 8. Michel Fucul refce t Gilles Deleze Flix Guri AntiOdip apitaism and Shiphrnia (Minneplis University f Minnest ress983),
xiii
9 Denis Hllier Against Arhittr: h itin ofGo rgs Batai (Cm ridge Mss. nd Lndn MIT ress 1989). o The pulished nglish rnslin is insucient I nly speks f he wrldhisricl sk"Rihard nr Pros Brude rks, rns.Brthers y Willim Ashtn lis vl : h Artwork ofth Ftr (New Yrk 966), 130 l Wgner Artwork ofth Ftr, 62 12. Friedrich Nietzsche Nchgelssene Frgmene" inSmtih Wrk, v 8, ed y Girgi Clli nd Mzzin Mntinri (Munich Deuscher Tschenuch Verlg 1980) 50 (my trns) 3 Rchrd Wgner Art nd Revltin" in Rihard r Pros rks, vl r 35· 14 Wgner Artwork ofth F, 04 Trnsltin crreced 5 Richrd Wgner Oper nd Drm" inRihardr' Pros rks, vl 2, 18 rnsltin crreced) 6. Inexplicly nly prt f the pssge is trnslted in Wgner Rihard gnr' Ltrs to Drsdn Frin,Fr 140the rigin Germn cnsul Wgner SmtihBri , I Bri drjahr r8sr8(Leipzig 1979), 176 17 Mnn Suering nd Gretness f Rchrd Wgner"376 18 osima gn r Diaris (88r883), II edited nd nned y Mr GregrDellin nd Dierich Mck rns y Gerey Skeln (New Yrk nd Lndn Hrcur Brce Jvnvich 80), 56. 9 Letter Uhlig f Octer 22, 850, in Rihard %r' rs to Drsdn
Frinds, 85. 20. Nine ints n Mnumenti" in Siegfried Gieden Fernnd Lger
68
Ntes t Pages 858
Nte t PagesS
and Jos is Sert Arhiteture u and Me The Dia fa o Developme (Cam nt bridge Mass Haard University Press I958) 48-51 CHAPTER 3· THE VOIDS OF BERIN
r. Mihael Kimmelman That Fashing Crazy Qilt of Signs? It's Ar New rk Time(De 31 1996): r (Berlin: Fannei nd Walz I989 2 Karl Sheer BerlnEin Stadthikal
reprint) 219 (Franrt am Main Shramp I973) 3 Ernst Bloh Erbha diee Zeit 21228 Of orse Bloh's phrasing Fntionen im Hohlram (literaly fntions in a hollow spae) sggests a bonded void that after a is appropriate when ever one dissses a void in a spatial or temporl sense 4 See Berto!t Breht Against Georg s trans Start Hood in Ernst Bloh et a! Aethe and Politi (ondon: Verso 1977) 68-85 5· A qoted by Franesa Rogier Growing Pains: From the Opening of the Wal to the Wrapping of the Reihstaga embge29 1996) 50 (Chiago ry Unversiy of 6. Peter Shneider The l jumper: A Berlin Sto Chiago Press 1998) (Cambridge Mass. MIT Press 1994) 367. 7 Bernard Tshmi Event Citie (Prineton NJ: 8 Sasia Sassen he Global ew Yrk London o Prineton UniversiyTPress 199I) N 9 Some of the ey ontribtions to the debate abot ritial reonstrtion are oleted inEinh hwierig Eine deuthe Arhitekurbae ed Gert Khler (Branshweig: Vieweg1995) 10 A qoted in Dagmar Rihter Spazieren in Berlin aemblage 29 I996) 8o n Hans Stimmann Conlsion: Fr om Bilding Boom to Bilding Type in Annegret Brg Downtown Berlin: Building the Meropolitan Mix/Berlin Mite Die Enttehung einer urbanen Arhitektu ed r Hs Stimmann trans. Ingrid Tayor Christian Cal and Robin Benson (Berlin 1995) 12 Danie ibesind mit Daniel ibesind: Potsdamer Patz (992) in Danie ibesind RadMa Arhitekturenun d Shen (Mnih and New Yor: Preste I994), 149 13 For a gentle thogh to me timately npersasive ritiqe ofibesind's void as being too determined by hisory meaning and experiene see Jaqes Derrida Jaqes Derrda z Beeen te ines' in ibeskind RadMa, n517 14 This is impied by Derrida for whom a void that represents is no longer a proper void 15 A ompetition in 1995 with a total of 57 entries ended in a pbi otry over the winning entry a santed onrete slab the size of two football eds with millions of vitim names ared in stone Even Helmt Kohl did not lie it thogh srey for the wrong reon The debate ontined ntil Peter Eisenman's
proposa was aepted severa years later bt at the time of this writing this mon ment to the mrdered Jews of Erope hs not yet been ereted. r6 I am only talng here abot the bilding as arhitetre. Its mse and ratoria fntions are still too mh infu for s to omment with any degree of ertainty abot the ways in whih the exhibition spaes will be sed or even who will have ltimate ratorial ontrol over the expansion spae HAPER 5 FEAR OF MIE
On Disney in Germany see J P Storm and M Dresser Im Reihe der Mik Moue: lt Din in Deuthnd 1927-1945(Berin Henshe 1991) (Cmbridge Mass Hrard Uni 2 Eri Rentshler The Minit ofIuion
versiy Press 1996) Mie and 3 On the Adoo/Benjamin Disney debate see Mirim Hansen Of D Benjamin and Adorno on Disney South AantiQuarter 921 (nter 1993) 2761 For another detaed Mxst ritiqe of Disney see Ariel Dorfman and Amand MattelartHow to Read Dona Duk: Imperialt Io lo in the D n Cmitrans. and introdtion by David Knzle (New Yor: Internationl General 1975) 4 Sia Sasen and Fran Roost Te Ciy Strategi Site for the Go b Entertainment Indstry (npbished paper) 5· Cf the essays in this boo The Voids of Berin and the later Aer the War whih disss the Potsdamer Platz deveopment at dierent stages in the mid and late 1990s 6 Mihael Kimmeman That Flashing Crazy Qilt of Signs? Its At New Yrk me(De 31, 1996) I 7 At the time of this writing 1997) one oe tower at the northeast orner of Broadway and Fortyseond Street is already being bilt and a seond one has been approved Two more are nder onsideration 8 Joan Oman From Sin City to Sign City: The Transformation of Times Sqare in Pelegrino D'Aierno ed nvible e: From the Pomode Me opoli to the Citie ofthe Fuure (New Yor Monaeli forthoming2003) See also Marshall Berman Women and the Metamorphoses ofTimes Sqare" Di ent(Fll 2001) 71-82. CHAPER 6 MEMORY ITE N AN EXANDED FELD
Rosalind Krass Slptre in the Expanded Fied Otober8 (Spring 1979), reprinted in Krass The Oinali ofthe Avantgarde and Other Modeit th(Cambridge Mass MIT Press1985) 276-90 2 Pierre Nora Realm ofMemo The Contrution ofthe Frenh Vl I,Pat Coit and Divion (New Yor Colmbia University Press1996) 3 Margerite FeitowitzA Lexion ofrror: Argenna nd a the Legaie ofr
Notes to Pages I36-4I
Notes to Pages I42-48 17 5
2�. The ter is Chares S Maiers. See his essay A Surfeit of Memoy? Re ectons on Hstory, Meanchoy, and Denia," Histoy and Memor 5 (1992) 13651 29 Klaus R. Scherpe, ed, In Deutschland unterwegs 94548 (Stuttgart Reclam, 982) 30 Theodor Adorno,
Prims(Cambridge, Mass.:
MIT Press, 198 1), 34 ·
9· WRITNG$ AND N BEGNNNGS See dreas Huyssen, ter the Wa: The Faiure of German Inteectuals, in Twilight Memories Marking Time in a Culure ofAmnesia (London and New York Rouledge, 1995), 3766 For a documentation of the debate, see Kar Deiritz d Hannes Kauss, eds., Der deutschdeutsche Literaturstreit (Hamb rg Luchtrand, 1 9); Thoas z, ed., "Es geht nicht um Chsta �· Der Lteraurset m verenten Deutschland (Munich: Edition Spangenberg, 99) 2 For the debate about Strauss, see the coection of essays in Wimarer Beitrge 0 (2994) Martin Wasers speech is pubished as Martin Walser, rfahrungen beim Verfassen einer Sonntagsrede, in Friedenspreis des deutschen Buchhan Ansprachen aus An der Vrihung( a Main Suhrkamp, 998), 3751. For a subte and reentessy critica view of Walser's controversi CHAPT I
Ein springender Brunnen,
saen peech Gewissen: and its reation Die WaserDebatte to und der Or des see Nationasoziaismus Amir Eshe, Vom einim Sebstbid der Beriner Repubik, Deutsche ierteahrsschr7(2000): 33360 3 On the reation of poswar erman iterature to an earlier modenism, see dee Studien zur deutschen Liteaur nach Klaus R Scherpe,Die rekontruierte Mo 195 (Coogne Bhau, 1992) On the probematic iteray and generational cams of a Nupunkt in 1945, see especialy Hans Dieter Schfer, ur Periodisierung dr deutschen Literatur seit 93 0, in Literaurmagazin 7: Nachkriegs _ teratur (Rebek: Rowoht, 1977), 955 For a recent reassessment of the Stunde Nlb historians, see ereyJ. Gies, ed, Stunde Null The End and the Begin ng F Yars Ago (Washgton, DC Geran Historical nstitue, 1997) 4· Ralf Bentz et a., Protest! Literatur um1968 ne Ausstellung s Deutschen
Literaturarchivs in Vrbindung mit dem Germanistischen Seminar der Universitt Heidelbergund dem Deutschen Ru ndnkarchiv im SchillerNationalm useum Mar �ach am Neckar Marbach am Neckar Deutsche Schiergeseschaft, 998 (exibi-
ton cataogue)
5· Waer Erhart and Dirk Niefanger, eds, Zwei Wndezeiten; Blicke auf die deutsche Lteratur 1945 und 1989 (bingen Max Niemeyer, 1997)
6 Hemut Kiese, Die Restaurationsthese als Probem fr die Liter aturgeschichtsschreibung, in Erhat and Niefanger, ibid, 1346. 7 For a vey good review of the recent historica iterature focusing on the conct beween the foryvers and the sixyeighters and thus on the reation be
tween the restoration decade and the 196os, see A D Moses, The ForyFivers. A Generation Between Fascis and Democracy" German Politics and Socie 50 (Spring 1999) 9126. 8 Kiese, Die Restaurationsthese as Probem, 36 No surprise, then, that this account is accopanied in the foowing essay by Dirk Niefanger by a rather uncritca reading of the Stunde Nulin pays by Borchert, Zuckmaye, and Weisenborn, or that the of98990, which is said to ark the end o postwar iterature, is paradigmaticay represented by Martin Waser in an essay by Georg Braungart. 9· See Huyssen, n Twilight Memorie,3766. 0. For a criticay dierentiated view of the iterature of the 1960s see Klaus Briegeb, 968-Literatur in der antiautritren Bewegung (Frankfurt a Main: Suhrkap, 1993) so Klaus Briegeb and Sigrid Weige, eds, Gegenwartsliteraur seit1968 (Munich: Hanser 992) (Hansers Sozialgeschichte der deuchen Literaur vo 2) A parae attack on the 960s has been waged in the US. cuture wars of the ate 98os ad 990s See ndreas Huyssen, Paimpsest 1968: US/er many, in Uich O and Roman Luckscheiter, edsBees Letres/Grai. Sozia Phantasien und Ausdruckrmen derAchnechziger (Gttingen: Wstein Ver ag, 2001), 3752. 12 The reevant texts are coected in Deiritz and Kauss See footnote 13 Frank Schirrmacher, Abschied von der Literatur der Bundesrepbik," Frankrter Agemeine Zeitung October 2, 1990. Reprinted in Deiritz and Kauss, and in A, "Es geht nicht um Christa ' see footnote 1. On the imitations ofthe posstructuralist psychoanalic traua discourse that has becoe so inuentia in iteray and cutura studies, see Doinck LaCapra, Histo and Memo aer Auschwitz (Ithaca and London Corne Univer si Pess, 1998). See aso Ruth Leys, auma A Genealo(Chicago and London Chicago Universi Press, 2000). The psychoanaytic ode ay work we when it comes to the individual meor of the suvivor or witness, but its appication to the pubic meory of trauatic histoica events remains probeatic. Neiter the esis of the unrepresentabiity of traua, so doinant in the poststructura ist Hoocaust discourse in the wake of the iportant work of Cathy Caruth, nor the moral demand to work trough rather than to act out experience (as focefuy posited by LaCapra) seems very usefu in anzing the constitution of pubic meor Pubic eor depends on representations in al its edia, and it reentessy mixes working rough and acting out. 15 On the notion of trauma as unresoved experience rooted in histoy, raher than as something unrepresentabe and outside of time, see Urich Baer, Rmnants n.
r
r
ofSong: auma and the perience ofModerni in Charles Baudeire and Paul Cen(Stanford, Calif Stanford Univesi Press, 2000).
6 Thus severa critics have deonstrated that there are a nuber of oher
Nots to Pags 452
Nots to Pags 6177
ex au e pc a Sea n acknege. Bu uc a ciue pe ae a e ame ecien eeica ee a Sea n ex. A f ucau a nee en n epein aume a e exience f a age nume f ex pe a ee a n epein Again epen an cue ae n muuay excuie e empica ciique f Se agumen cncepuay imie an i mie a Sea ex acuay pefm an enac 7 W G Sea Die Agewanere n er ngeErhlngen (an am Main ice 1994 Ameican anan The Emian an. Micae Hue (Ne Yk Ne Diecn 1996) 18. Sig Weige Die Geneain a ymce m um geneagi cen Diku im Gecni nac 194 in raionen: gene liera klr n. (Augu 2000) 1873. See a e aue ee eay au e ecen ae f iica an cigica ieaue au geneain y A. D Me e yie A Geneain Beeen acim an Demcacy" Geman Pol iic an Socie 0 (Spng 1999) 94126 19. Of gea nee ee ae muipe eiing f i k a u Sn ga Aexane KugeS chlachechreing e Oen an eiug 1964; e ke eiin ank an Hamug 1968; expane ne eiin Munic 1978. a upe anayi f Kuge iing aege ee Ha Me Aexane Kuge anayce emuSice zu Schchechrein"
2 Sea krieg nierar20. 26. Eic Nack Der Unergang (ankfu am Man Sukamp 1963) 43 27. i. 29 ank ee Scazf e anan fm Nack Kuge an Sea n i cape 28. . 39 29 i. 73 30 See f exampe Nack . 17· 31 Aexane Kuge ee Gechichen vo. z-8 Unheimlichkei er Zei (ankfu am Main Sukamp 1977) 9· 32. i. 106. 33· exane Kuge an Oka Neg Gechiche n Eigeninn (an am Min Sukamp 1981) 789 34· Se krieg n ierar 3 W. G Sea Schwinel Ghle (ankfu a Man ice 1994) 213. Engi anain rgoan. Mcae Hue (Ne Yk Ne Decn 2000) 187 anain cece 36. W. G Sea Zicen Gecce un Naugecice Veuc e ie eaice Beceiung ae Zeung mi Anmekungen zu Kaack Nack un Kuge" Ori ierarm37 (1982) 3466 37 Sea rieg n ierar 79
in Gpile Z Theorie n ierar er o erne (Bieefe Aiei Veag 1994) 22132. 20 i n eny a ee ee pecu Hcau icue in e 190. Bu a a ime uc eae emane me ime ceain gup ing iin e cuce eae cuua puc uc a e Aeican pay au Anne ank Aan enai m cumenayi e Broilr igh an Fo On e peence f e pa n Geman ama f e eay pa pe i ee Anea Huyen Unege Vegangeneiunege Gegena in ein Gimm an J Heman e Gechiche im Gegenwarrama(Suga Kamme Veag 1976) 393 21 On e pem f angeneaina aumazan e e Wene Bee Da iken e Nanaziaimu n e zeien un ien Geneain nac Aucz" Baylon7 (1990) 7083. 22 Caape f cue aay ukn fa enea Sife ecepiey amniu y ne See Sea Veuc e Se" in W. G Sea Die
38. Sea icen Gecce un Naugecice 362. 39 i. 363 40 W. G. Sea Aerli (Munic Hane 2001) i a k y Sea pue y efe i agc ea i a e ame me i ea" ne a eaing fAerlia a memy ne ee Anea Huyen e Gay ne f ememance (fcmng).
Bechreing eine Unglck Zr eeichchen ierar von Ser i Hanke (ankfu am Man ice 1994) 137 23. W G Se krieg n ierar (Munc Hane 1999) 8 24. Sympmaic f ie i f Scee Vig ge jngle r2 1 (Deceme 2000) Ciica u faie Dee e Mencen een zu Heenieen" Der Spiegel (Api 7 1999) ng Aen Sufen e Ang Freiag(Ap 9 1999)
