Suchergebnisse

Abstract
The paper aims to describe and analyze the changes in public sites of memory in the multi-ethnic border region of Czechoslovak Silesia during the period of restoration of Czechoslovak sovereignty, between the fall of Nazism in May 1945 and the communist putsch in Czechoslovakia in February 1948. This research focuses on transformations and (dis)continuity of cults and symbols during that period, and on specifics and differences within the examined region with regard to ethnic and social structure of local population. Research is based primarily on the recorded agendas of state and district administrations, but preserved memorials and photographs or descriptions of vanished sites of memory also serve as important sources.
After the expulsion of German population, the western part of the region was repopulated by settlers from various regions of East-Central Europe. Most of local German sites of memory vanished, with the partial exception of religious symbols and a few "apolitical" memorials. New monuments and memorials were dedicated mainly to personalities of Czech history in an effort to inculcate the "official" identity amongst the new-settlers.
In the Ostrava coal basin, the new regime invoked the pre-war tradition of working-class identity and showed tolerance towards the sites of memory of the local Polish minority, except memorials related to the former Czech-Polish border conflicts. In the Hlučín region specifically, a strong pro-German narrative survived despite the "Czechization" efforts of state authorities.
In general, the state-supported memory policy aimed to create the narrative of a "Slavic" and "socialist" Silesia, suppress the German past of the region, and weaken frictions between Czechs and Poles.

In this article, the author seeks to establish whether specific sites from Eastern Europe can be viewed as loci critiquing Pierre Nora's seminal notion of lieux de mémoire. The sites in question are abandoned, clandestine locations of past violence and genocide, witnesses to wanton killings, today left with no memorial markers or inadequate ones. Without monuments, plaques, or fences, they might be understood as "completely forgotten," as Claude Lanzmann once claimed. In opposition to that view, in the article the locations in question are interpreted as still potent agents in local processes of working with a traumatic past. Sites of mass violence and genocide are described as unheimlich and trigger strong affective reactions of fear, disgust, and shame whose actual causes remain unclear. This article analyzes possible catalysts of these powerful affective responses. The first hypothesis is grounded in the abundance of ghost stories in literary or artistic representations of the sites in question. The second hypothesis addresses the issue of the presence of dead bodies: human remains have never been properly neutralized by rituals. And finally, the third hypothesis explores the "effect of the affects" of non-sites of memory as the capacity of bodies to be moved by other bodies, the bodies affected in this case being those of the visitors to the uncanny sites.

Abstract
This article explores Jewish spaces in Cairo as repositories of memory and their role in shaping a collective understanding of the Jewish past among non-Jewish Egyptians. By examining these sites through the perspectives of engaged observers, it uncovers their multifaceted reflections of Jewish life and culture. Interactions with these sites reveal the intricate interplay of internal and external factors, such as the dynamics between Jews and Muslims, the reverberations of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and societal responses to Jewish culture. These sites evoke a sense of patriotism among Egyptian Jews and their fellow citizens, marked by the fusion of Arabic, Hebrew, Judaism, and Islam. Understanding this perspective necessitates considering the roles of various stakeholders, including the remaining Jewish community, state institutions, conservationists, and scholarly professionals. It also requires an examination of ongoing societal debates and official decisions regarding the preservation or demolition of Jewish sites. Diverse viewpoints emerge from these discussions, reflecting issues like anti-Semitism, anti-Israel sentiments, distrust of the Egyptian state, and prioritizing the preservation of inhabited spaces over abandoned ones. By shedding light on these contradictions within Egyptian public discourse, this article underscores the significance of acknowledging and celebrating Egyptian Jewish heritage, which continues to shape society today.

Sites of memory, under the governance of the United National Movement (UNM), were transformed in their function through rehabilitation programs. Sites took on new functions as sites of reminder of the Rose Revolutionary government and what respondents sometimes described as UNM "terror tactics." Decisions made in the aftermath of the 2012 parliamentary elections about rehabilitation programs, in turn, have again complicated the meaning and memories associated with sites of memory.

This book analyses representations of the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62) in the literary output of French authors of Algerian origin, problematising the extent to which these literary 'sites of memory' provide appropriate spaces of consensus for hitherto competing memories of the war.

I. Catastrophe and consolation. 1. Homecomings: the return of the dead ; 2. Communities in mourning ; 3. Spiritualism and the 'Lost Generation' ; 4. War memorials and the mourning process -- II. Cultural codes and languages of mourning. 5. Mythologies of war: films, popular religion, and the business of the sacred ; 6. The apocalyptic imagination in art: from anticipation to allegory ; 7. The apocalyptic imagination in war literature ; 8. War poetry, romanticism, and the return of the sacred ; 9. Conclusion

Based on the experience of spatial confusion and inadequacy common during visits to uncommemorated sites of violence, the authors propose expanding the topological reflection in the research on the spatialities of the Holocaust, as well as to introduce topology into the analysis of the everyday experiences of users of the postgenocidal space of Central and Eastern Europe. The research material is composed of hand-drawn maps by Holocaust eyewitnesses – documents created both in the 1960s and in recent years. The authors begin by summarizing the significance of topology for cultural studies, and provides a state-of-the-art reflection on cartography in the context of the Holocaust. They then proceed to interpret several of the maps as particular topological testimonies. The authors conclude by proposing a multi-faceted method of researching these maps, "necrocartography", oriented by their testimonial, topological and performative aspects.