Shattered Spaces: Encountering Jewish Ruins In Postwar Germany And Poland
by Michael Meng /
2011 / English / PDF
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After the Holocaust, the empty, silent spaces of bombed-out
synagogues, cemeteries, and Jewish districts were all that was
left in many German and Polish cities with prewar histories rich
in the sights and sounds of Jewish life. What happened to this
scarred landscape after the war, and how have Germans, Poles, and
Jews encountered these ruins over the past sixty years?
After the Holocaust, the empty, silent spaces of bombed-out
synagogues, cemeteries, and Jewish districts were all that was
left in many German and Polish cities with prewar histories rich
in the sights and sounds of Jewish life. What happened to this
scarred landscape after the war, and how have Germans, Poles, and
Jews encountered these ruins over the past sixty years?
In the postwar period, city officials swept away many sites,
despite protests from Jewish leaders. But in the late 1970s
church groups, local residents, political dissidents, and
tourists demanded the preservation of the few ruins still
standing. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, this
desire to preserve and restore has grown stronger. In one of the
most striking and little-studied shifts in postwar European
history, the traces of a long-neglected Jewish past have
gradually been recovered, thanks to the rise of heritage tourism,
nostalgia for ruins, international discussions about the
Holocaust, and a pervasive longing for cosmopolitanism in a
globalizing world.
In the postwar period, city officials swept away many sites,
despite protests from Jewish leaders. But in the late 1970s
church groups, local residents, political dissidents, and
tourists demanded the preservation of the few ruins still
standing. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, this
desire to preserve and restore has grown stronger. In one of the
most striking and little-studied shifts in postwar European
history, the traces of a long-neglected Jewish past have
gradually been recovered, thanks to the rise of heritage tourism,
nostalgia for ruins, international discussions about the
Holocaust, and a pervasive longing for cosmopolitanism in a
globalizing world.
Examining this transformation from both sides of the Iron
Curtain, Michael Meng finds no divided memory along West-East
lines, but rather a shared memory of tensions and paradoxes that
crosses borders throughout Central Europe. His narrative reveals
the changing dynamics of the local and the transnational, as
Germans, Poles, Americans, and Israelis confront a built
environment that is inevitably altered with the passage of time.
Examining this transformation from both sides of the Iron
Curtain, Michael Meng finds no divided memory along West-East
lines, but rather a shared memory of tensions and paradoxes that
crosses borders throughout Central Europe. His narrative reveals
the changing dynamics of the local and the transnational, as
Germans, Poles, Americans, and Israelis confront a built
environment that is inevitably altered with the passage of time.Shattered Spaces
Shattered Spaces exemplifies urban history at its best,
uncovering a surprising and moving postwar story of broad
contemporary interest.
exemplifies urban history at its best,
uncovering a surprising and moving postwar story of broad
contemporary interest.