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