Master Thesis: "Stumbling and Remembering - The Art Project 'Stolpersteine' in the German and European Landscape of Commemoration"

Abstract:
The thesis at hand examines the wider societal impact of the Stolpersteine project (in English 'stumbling stones'), a decentralized memory project designed by German artist Gunter Demnig in order to commemorate victims of the Third Reich. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed: The Stolpersteine's place within the contemporary landscape of commemoration is analyzed, aided by an extensive review of newspaper coverage and of existing research on the project. A field trip to the performed laying of the stones adds an empirical dimension. Furthermore, the first international survey about the project serves (1) to initiate an international exchange about the project and (2) to verify main outcomes of the thesis. These outcomes stress the project's contribution for the commemoration of the victims both on an individual and on a collective level, its highly participative character and also its perceived exclusive focus on Jewish victims. The thesis contributes to the fields of cultural studies, communication studies and the study of the (European) cultural memory.

Below you can find a link to download my Master Thesis for free. I have separated the thesis and the appendix into two files so that people who are eager to only read the thesis don't have to download the extensive appendix and so that people who only want to read the survey evaluation overview can access it quickly in the appendix.

View or download the thesis here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yz28ocfjkytunhn/EckartRehberg-39367-MasterThesis-StumblingAndRemembering.pdf

View or download the appendix here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r9s0n90wdhnnqom/EckartRehberg-39367-MasterThesis-StumblingAndRemembering-Appendix.pdf

I am currently applying for jobs in the Berlin/Brandenburg area in the field of cultural memory/memory politics/museums/memorial sites etc. - contact me if you think we should work together or if you have any suggestions: eckart.rehberg@yahoo.de

And please feel free to use the comment section of this blog to share your thoughts about this thesis!
Best regards,
Eckart Rehberg

Survey about the Stolpersteine project

Recently I have completed my second fieldtrip, this time to the small German town of Stadtlohn where seven Stolpersteine were laid into the ground, accompanied by touching words of the local organizers and contributions by local pupils. After also finishing a draft of the first theoretical part of the thesis, it is now time to face the second empirical part of the thesis. I have therefore prepared a short survey about the Stolpersteine project. Please take 10 minutes to fill it out, it is much appreciated!

Click here for the survey about the Stolpersteine (English and German)!

Laying down Stolpersteine in Stadtlohn, Germany, 10 December 2012 (picture courtesy of Münsterland Zeitung)

Research Undertaking

High time to explain the goals of my research project about memory culture and the art project Stolpersteine! If you're not familiar with the Stolpersteine yet, here are two good introductory articles, one in English (Huffington Post) and one in German (Deutsche Welle).

Considering my degree course 'Intercultural Communication', the thesis will be relevant in understanding the Stolpersteine as a valuable contribution to the discourse on collectively communicated and negotiated memory (or 'collected memory' in James E. Young's terms). Furthermore, a comparison of the handling of the stones in German and Dutch cities and the reactions to them will shed light on the European scope of memory culture in the wake of the Holocaust. Considering the importance of Gunter Demnig's art project that has been called the "biggest decentralized memorial in Europe" (Frankfurter Rundschau) or even the "biggest art monument in the world" (Newsvine) and which has by now spread to 11 European countries with altogether over 37.000 stones, it is astonishing that only little academic research has been done on the Stolpersteine as of now (November 2012). It is therefore also the aim of my thesis to contribute to filling this void in academics. But also considering the recent theft of 11 Stolpersteine in the German city of Greifswald it seems to be reason enough to investigate further into the societal impact of these small commemorative stones.

The thesis will contain a theoretical part that contextualizes the Stolpersteine in the wider frame of memory culture. Here the notion of decentrality and the subordinated categories of the artist's motivation, local participation, processuality and materiality will be used to locate the place of the Stolpersteine in the evergrowing memorialization landscape of the Holocaust.

The enclosing empirical part will compare the official processes and procedures of the laying of the stones in German and Dutch cities. Surveys will be carried out that examine the reception of the Stolpersteine in Germany and the Netherlands. Finally, fieldtrips to places where stones are laid down in the pavement will provide further documentation and context.

Stolpersteine in Utrecht

November 9 in German history

Before I will start to document the research process of my paper in the next weeks, I will share this link by Deutsche Welle about the paramount significance of November 9 in German history. It really is an interesting read: For example I did not know about the execution of Robert Blum in 1848, an event that in a wider sense illustrates the failed attempt of unifying Germany - something that of course only happened in 1871.
 -->
DW: Germany marks its day of destiny

edit:
Some days later, I stumbled across this extensive and informative article by the renowned German political scientiest Claus Leggewie. It can be seen as a continuation of the first short article by Deutsche Welle.
-->
Eurozine: Germany's 9/11

Considering the historiography of memory culture, this may be the most important paragraph of the article:
"The four November dates no longer have special status in historical research. In questions of the legacy of the Weimar Republic or the radicalization of the Nazi dictatorship and the collapse of the GDR, "structuralist" interpretations have come to the fore that attribute less significance to caesuras and turning points, regardless of how dramatic they may have seemed and their continuing prominence in collective memory. Structuralist approaches instead hold that no revolution in the proper sense took place in November 1918 and that the decrepit GDR did not end with a revolution. Of structural and intentional importance was rather the obdurate revisionism of the Nazi movement and the self-fulfilling prophecy of its negative November myth, which in the end would drag both its inventors and functionaries down with it.
At the same time, historians shifted their focus from the reconstruction of the November events to secondary analysis of the symbolic meaning and political and cultural function of these lieux de mémoire and commemorative anniversaries. 9 November began to be seen in relational terms and in the context of other caesuras such as 30 January 1933 and 8th May 1945."

Welcome to my blog 'Stumbling and Remembering'!

On this blog I plan to document the ongoing research process of my Master's thesis in the fall semester '12 (Sept. '12-March'13). The blog's name addresses the two focal points of my thesis: the specific example of the art project 'Stolpersteine'/'stumbling stones' by the German artist Gunter Demnig ('stumbling') and European memory culture related to the Holocaust in general ('remembering').
Before turning towards the topic of my thesis in the following posts, I deem it appropriate to give a little bit of background information about myself in this opening post: I am grateful for the opportunity to write this thesis in the beautiful city of Utrecht in the heart of the Netherlands during an Erasmus semester. I am enrolled in the Master's program 'Intercultural Communication Studies' from the European University Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. Before that I received my BA from the TU Cottbus (BA program 'Culture and Technology'), which also allowed me to study one semester abroad at UT Arlington, Texas. Besides I also stayed three months in Northern Ireland for an internship.
My interests lie in intercultural exchange, memory culture, music and languages. This is also reflected in my work as a teacher for German as a foreign language at a private language school in my beloved home city of Berlin. Because of the European scope of the topic of my thesis, this blog will be written in English. Please feel free to use the comment function or write me an email if you have any questions or suggestions: eckart.rehberg@yahoo.de
Thank you for your attention,
Eckart Rehberg

Some useful links:
Art Project 'Stolpersteine'

European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)
Utrecht University, NL