Abstract
Cultural tourism associates itself with complex issues of dealing with urban memory. As a connotative communication channel, tourism sites and monuments are a perspective through which a city speaks for itself. A number of tourist destinations in the former GDR state faced drastic changes in their tourism management after the national unification of Germany. Which voice does the cultural heritage contain in these cities along its dissonant history and how the local perceptions on the heritage have been altered in the last 25 years are the main subjects of this research. Based on the former studies on the topic of 'heritage and urban identity', this paper explores the relation between architectural heritage management and the dwellers' perceptions on the heritage since the removal of visa controls between GDR and BDR in 1989. Compared to the economic and political studies after the German reunification, socio-cultural issues on local identity and cultural re-adaption process have not been much discussed. Taking three exemplary cities in Thuringia (Eisenach, Gotha and Weimar), the document analysis of the conceptual changes in cultural tourism management and qualitative interviews on both authorities and residents will be done. By providing empirical data on the ongoing German governance, the author attempts to explore the role of cultural heritage in Germany's urban resilience. Furthermore, this research aims to contribute to the contemporary agenda on cultural tourism management in multi-identity societies over international borders.
Highlights
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany has the chance to reflect the past years in terms of different societal aspects
The paper aims to explore the following research questions: How were decisions concerning tourism processed during the political transformation in the region of the former GDR? How was the past urban heritage defined? What was chosen to focus on in order to build on the local history form a local identity? This paper aims to fill the research gap by providing detailed information on the former GDR region
The information of authority changes and tourism attractions is open for the public, it is difficult to back up the sentiments and functions of certain heritages before and after the reunification
Summary
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany has the chance to reflect the past years in terms of different societal aspects. The 30 years of ideological and physical partition are still one of the main characteristics people associate with Germany, but certainly not as the most glorious moments of the national history. Being separated into two different political systems caused huge political estrangement. The consequences of this era certainly require extra attention, even until now. It is not comparable to any other case of political interruption in modern history. The reunification has created cultural and social challenges. The interruption of communication within the nation brought drastic changes in people’s daily lives. Roles of the municipality, freedom of travel and the tourism culture all inclusively have been manipulated during the socialistic government. What came after the reunification was, apart from political changes, a huge dissonance among the people
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