Marginalization and Local Commemoration of Third Reich Victims in Germany

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the summer of 2017, the German city of Freiburg im Breisgau inaugurated the prominent Platz der Alten Synagoge memorial commemorating the local Jewish community, which suffered immensely under the Third Reich. As visitors began playing in the memorial’s wading pool, controversy immediately arose regarding the appropriateness of such behavior. Indeed, the local Jewish communities advocated for preventing this activity in the commemorative space, but the behavior continues to this day. As this article demonstrates, Freiburg’s Jewish communities have repeatedly faced marginalization throughout Platz der Alten Synagoge’s development, despite strong efforts to involve Jewish perspectives at the outset. Freiburg’s local commemorative efforts fit into a larger narrative of commemoration in Germany. Scholars have begun emphasizing the distinctions between national ‘centralized’ memory projects conducted by the Federal Government, such as the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, and local commemoration in various other German cities and towns. Analyzing Freiburg’s commemorative efforts in comparison with national memory projects, this article argues that Freiburg’s Platz der Alten Synagoge undermines the national narrative’s reputation of success and effectiveness. The development of Freiburg’s project demonstrates the mixed impact and influence of national commemorative efforts on local commemoration processes in Germany today. Ultimately, this case study poses further research questions on how local and regional memory of Third Reich victims has reacted to the ‘centralized’ national memory process, and its analysis suggests that components of both the national and local processes can offer advantages to public memory projects going forward.