Memorials and Memory

The use of memorials and monuments as a part of the process of reconciliation

Abstract

Memorials and monuments can help us to create a common history, to keep the past alive. However, when it comes to the process of reconciliation memorials and monuments can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand memorials can ensure a public awareness of our common history, of what has happened. Memorials ensure that misdeeds will not be forgotten too easily; the perpetrators cannot simply demand that the victims forget in the name of the common future. On the other hand, memorials can have the effect that we remember all too well, that we linger in a victim identity, which freezes history and, in this aspect, closes the future. This article analyses the uses of memorials and monuments and describes how memory is an essential part of a process of reconciliation. Memorials and monuments are not static expressions. In fact, monuments can turn into offensive statements, and the question here is how to deal with this? Is the solution to tear them down, to erect counter-monuments or to use them to illustrate the development of history? All these questions are asked in the context of how memorials and monuments can influence the process of reconciliation positive and negatively.