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SUMMARY:Transnational memory-sites: Bi-communal representations of trauma 
 in Polish-German border towns - Max Stenberg\, Lecturer\, Department of Ar
 chitecture\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20140509T121500Z
DTEND:20140509T131500Z
UID:TALK52203@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Guangying
DESCRIPTION:*Abstract:*\nThis paper is part of a British Academy-funded pr
 oject that investigates cross-border interactions and transformations of p
 ublic space in the German-Polish border towns of Frankfurt-Slubice\, Guben
 -Gubin and Görlitz-Zgorzelec along the Oder-Neisse border. Despite modest
  populations\, the border towns have major symbolic value for two nations 
 attempting to write a new chapter in a history marked by war\, trauma and 
 deep resentments. The eastward expansion of the EU has propelled the towns
  from the margins to the heart of Europe. Yet\, cultural\, linguistic and 
 socio-economic divisions run deep.\n\nThe rivers Oder and Neisse River run
 ning through the towns are simultaneously a state border and an urban boun
 dary. They are also a border within the supranational bloc of the EU\, bet
 ween a founding and a new member-state. The project sheds light on how com
 munities use urban environments to cope with legacies of conflict and ongo
 ing ethno-national difference\, particularly the trauma of displacement. T
 he border towns have all witnessed a growing interest in addressing the tr
 aumas and wider heritage of World War Two in recent years. This paper expl
 ores how these towns’ largely separate memory cultures since World War I
 I are being re-negotiated in light of increased cross-border interaction a
 nd cooperation. It investigates the spatial expressions of new forms of re
 membrance\, focusing on the emergence of shared lieux de mémoire\, such a
 s the reconstruction of the ruined medieval church in Polish Gubin\, damag
 ed in the war\, and the creation of an information and cultural centre in 
 Stalag VIIIA\, a largely forgotten but very significant prisoner of war ca
 mp in Zgorzelec. The recent reconfiguration and reimagining of these sites
  is the result of cross-border cooperation and originated in initiatives o
 f civil society that subsequently received public funding. The paper explo
 res these different representations of sites closely linked to the traumas
  of the World War Two. It explores to what extent these heritage practices
  may affect future transnational relations on everyday urban and spatial l
 evels. \n\n*Biography:*\nMaximilian Sternberg is University Lecturer at th
 e Department of Architecture in the University of Cambridge. He is the Dep
 uty Director of the Centre for Urban Conflicts Research (www.urbanconflict
 s.arct.cam.ac.uk). He is the author of Cistercian Architecture and Medieva
 l Society (Brill\, 2013) and co-author of the Struggle for Jerusalem’s H
 oly Places (Routledge\, 2013)\, as well as co-editor of Phenomenologies of
  the City (Ashgate\, forthcoming). He is a Fellow of Pembroke College Camb
 ridge.
LOCATION:First-floor Classroom\, Department of Architecture\, 1-5 Scroope 
 Terrace\, Cambridge\, CB2 1PX
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