Denkmäler als Raumproduzenten – Der Gedenkkomplex Trascjanec bei Minsk
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Gundula Pohl
Abstract
Monuments as Space-makers: The Memorial Complex of Maly Trascjanec near Minsk At the Trascjanec memorial complex on the outskirts of Minsk, various monuments commemorate the victims of the Nazi extermination site Maly Trascjanec. Between 1942 and 1944, Nazi perpetrators murdered tens to hundreds of thousands of people at three spatially distinct crime sites. Most of the victims were local Jews and Jews deported from occupied Central Europe, but some were Soviet-Belarusian civilians, prisoners of war, and prison inmates. The first part of the Trascjanec memorial complex was opened in 2015. This was preceded by decades of memorialization activities carried out primarily by members of the local civil society. Since the 1990s, international initiatives have joined in. This paper discusses the monuments of the Trascjanec memorial complex as media of memory. It argues how monuments produce a memory space that resembles a mesh of relations and a potentially unlimited network beyond the object itself. Based on Henry Lefebvre’s theory on the production of space, two monuments are examined with regards to their physical, discursive, and social dimensions. In addition to the shape and visibility of a memorial or the symbols and images it uses, official events around the memorial, its accessibility, and the everyday interactions of local residents also contribute to the constitution of a memory space. The analysis of this complex network is structured along the lines of the “moments of spatial production” defined by Lefebvre, which are linked to overarching research categories and empirical questions. This paper thereby uncovers the numerous influences impacting the monuments’ message as well as the aesthetic and narrative diversity present at Trascjanec.
Abstract
Monuments as Space-makers: The Memorial Complex of Maly Trascjanec near Minsk At the Trascjanec memorial complex on the outskirts of Minsk, various monuments commemorate the victims of the Nazi extermination site Maly Trascjanec. Between 1942 and 1944, Nazi perpetrators murdered tens to hundreds of thousands of people at three spatially distinct crime sites. Most of the victims were local Jews and Jews deported from occupied Central Europe, but some were Soviet-Belarusian civilians, prisoners of war, and prison inmates. The first part of the Trascjanec memorial complex was opened in 2015. This was preceded by decades of memorialization activities carried out primarily by members of the local civil society. Since the 1990s, international initiatives have joined in. This paper discusses the monuments of the Trascjanec memorial complex as media of memory. It argues how monuments produce a memory space that resembles a mesh of relations and a potentially unlimited network beyond the object itself. Based on Henry Lefebvre’s theory on the production of space, two monuments are examined with regards to their physical, discursive, and social dimensions. In addition to the shape and visibility of a memorial or the symbols and images it uses, official events around the memorial, its accessibility, and the everyday interactions of local residents also contribute to the constitution of a memory space. The analysis of this complex network is structured along the lines of the “moments of spatial production” defined by Lefebvre, which are linked to overarching research categories and empirical questions. This paper thereby uncovers the numerous influences impacting the monuments’ message as well as the aesthetic and narrative diversity present at Trascjanec.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Tracing Oblivion: The Collected Works of Yael Atzmony 1
- Tracing Oblivion 15
- Spatial Thinking in Holocaust Studies 31
-
Part I: Theoretical-methodological Approaches
- Expanding Geographies of the Holocaust: Refugees and Spatial Histories 49
- Space and Violence as Analytical Categories in Holocaust Research 67
- Why is Landscape Research Important for Holocaust Studies? 79
- How Can We Map the Holocaust? 89
- Daily Experiences of Persecution in the City: Mobilizing Diaries to Study the Holocaust in Urban Settings 111
- Space in Holocaust Film 119
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Part II: Case Studies
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Fleeting Spaces
- Motion, Fluidity, and Virtuality of Space 133
- Multipurposing Jewish Spaces: German Jewry’s Struggles to Provide Places for its Activities in Hostile Surroundings 143
- Remembering Arcadia in Auschwitz: Pastoral Representations of the Death Camps 159
- Domestic Space in the Films of Chantal Akerman and Claude Lanzmann 177
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Institutionalized Spaces
- Institutionalization as a Socio-spatial Process: Norms, Rules, and Behavior 195
- Blocked Pathways: Regional Room for Manoeuvre of the Jews in the Administrative District of Zichenau, 1939–1945 205
- Denkmäler als Raumproduzenten – Der Gedenkkomplex Trascjanec bei Minsk 229
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Border/ing Spaces
- Drawing Lines, Crossing Frontiers, Transgressing Boundaries 249
- Treblinka Geography: Nazi Building, Jewish Breaking, Historical Reconstructing 261
- Fensterblicke auf den Genozid 277
-
Spatial Relations
- Overlapping, Overwriting: Syn/Diachronic Spatial Relationships 293
- Wandlungen eines Exil- und Erinnerungsraumes: Shanghai – Hongkou – Tilanqiao 305
- Räumliche Überlagerungen. Erkenntnisse zu den Raumbeziehungen der Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück durch eine zeichnerisch-räumliche Analyse 327
- List of Contributors 353
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Tracing Oblivion: The Collected Works of Yael Atzmony 1
- Tracing Oblivion 15
- Spatial Thinking in Holocaust Studies 31
-
Part I: Theoretical-methodological Approaches
- Expanding Geographies of the Holocaust: Refugees and Spatial Histories 49
- Space and Violence as Analytical Categories in Holocaust Research 67
- Why is Landscape Research Important for Holocaust Studies? 79
- How Can We Map the Holocaust? 89
- Daily Experiences of Persecution in the City: Mobilizing Diaries to Study the Holocaust in Urban Settings 111
- Space in Holocaust Film 119
-
Part II: Case Studies
-
Fleeting Spaces
- Motion, Fluidity, and Virtuality of Space 133
- Multipurposing Jewish Spaces: German Jewry’s Struggles to Provide Places for its Activities in Hostile Surroundings 143
- Remembering Arcadia in Auschwitz: Pastoral Representations of the Death Camps 159
- Domestic Space in the Films of Chantal Akerman and Claude Lanzmann 177
-
Institutionalized Spaces
- Institutionalization as a Socio-spatial Process: Norms, Rules, and Behavior 195
- Blocked Pathways: Regional Room for Manoeuvre of the Jews in the Administrative District of Zichenau, 1939–1945 205
- Denkmäler als Raumproduzenten – Der Gedenkkomplex Trascjanec bei Minsk 229
-
Border/ing Spaces
- Drawing Lines, Crossing Frontiers, Transgressing Boundaries 249
- Treblinka Geography: Nazi Building, Jewish Breaking, Historical Reconstructing 261
- Fensterblicke auf den Genozid 277
-
Spatial Relations
- Overlapping, Overwriting: Syn/Diachronic Spatial Relationships 293
- Wandlungen eines Exil- und Erinnerungsraumes: Shanghai – Hongkou – Tilanqiao 305
- Räumliche Überlagerungen. Erkenntnisse zu den Raumbeziehungen der Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück durch eine zeichnerisch-räumliche Analyse 327
- List of Contributors 353
