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Since unification the memorial landscape of Berlin and its surrounding territories has shifted and expanded exponentially. The majority of this change has occurred within the past ten years, as commemoration of the Holocaust and educational programmes on the National Socialist period have become not only prevalent, but a necessary and expected contribution to the shaping of German identity and memorial culture. In the past decade memorial museums and sites of remembrance, such as the House of the Wannsee Conference, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and the former Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück concentration camps, have contributed to and been impacted by the formation of a globalised memory of the Holocaust. As major and internationally renowned institutions, these sites offer unique insight into the nature of current memorial culture and recent approaches to memorialising and commemorating the past. Through an analysis of their exhibition spaces (online, permanent, temporary) and educational programmes (guided tours, seminars, and workshops), this dissertation will attempt to identify how these sites contribute to the formation of a globalised memory. Though each of these four sites possesses a different connection to the history of the Holocaust, and their own alternative approach to presenting and commemorating this history; this variation will provide insight into the divergent landscape of memorialisation within Germany, while also highlighting the common approaches, and practical issues that are of concern to these institutions. Overall the main aim of this thesis will be to demonstrate how memorialisation of the Holocaust, at sites within Berlin and Brandenburg, is no longer defined and shaped solely by the nation state, but rather is influenced by and contributes to international trends of remembrance and a globalised memory of the Holocaust.

In dieser Studie wird erstmals die Frage untersucht, wie das Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas in Berlin auf die Besucher wirkt. Dafür wird eine quantitative Befragung von 500 Besuchern durchgeführt. Zunächst werden die Erinnerungskulturtheorien von Jan und Aleida Assmann und Horst-Alfred Heinrich vorgestellt. Anschließend wird das Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas örtlich und zeitlich eingebunden, indem das Konzept des repräsentativen öffentlichen Raums eingeführt und die Erinnerung an die Opfer des Holocaust in der Bundesrepublik und der DDR beleuchtet werden. Es folgt die Darstellung der Entstehung des Denkmals. Über die Rezeption von Denkmälern existieren in den Sozialwissenschaften bisher keine Theorien. Daher wird auf die kunstsoziologische Theorie von Pierre Bourdieu, auf eine Studie über die Wirkung von Gedenkstätten von Bert Pampel und auf eine Untersuchung über die emotionale Wirkung von Gemälden von Dorothée Halcour zurückgegriffen. Für die Untersuchung wird angenommen, dass sich die Besucher aufgrund ihres Bildungsgrades, ihrer Nationalität, ihres Alters und ihres Sozialisationsortes in ihren Reaktionen auf das Denkmal unterscheiden. Weiterhin wird angenommen, dass die Umstände des Denkmalbesuchs die Wirkung des Denkmals beeinflussen. Die Befragung zeigt: Personen mit niedrigerem Bildungsgrad konnten sich das Denkmal seltener erschließen als Personen mit höherem Bildungsgrad. Diese Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass Teile der Bevölkerung nicht an der Erinnerung an den Holocaust teilhaben können, wenn die Materialisierung der Erinnerung über Kunst geschieht. Die Nationalität beeinflusste wesentlich, wie die Befragten das Denkmal bewerteten: So beurteilten Deutsche das Denkmal häufiger negativ und seltener positiv als Ausländer. Die Ergebnisse der Befragung werden abschließend im Kontext erinnerungspolitischer Debatten diskutiert. / This study asks how the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin affects its visitors. The study comprises a quantitative survey of 500 visitors. First the study introduces the theories of memory by Jan and Aleida Assmann and Horst-Alfred Heinrich. This is followed by the concept of the so-called representative public space that locates the memorial topographically. This chapter also shows the historical context of the memorial. It describes the development processes of earlier monuments to remember the victims of the Holocaust in the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic between 1945 and 2005. The study then shows the development process of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. There are no theories on the effects of memorials in the social sciences. The study uses Pierre Bourdieu''s theory of art sociology as well as a study on the impact of memorial sites by Bert Pampel and a study on the emotional effects of paintings by Dorothee Halcour as a theoretical frame. The most resultant hypothesises tested by the research state that visitors differ in their reactions to the memorial according to their education, their nationality and their age. Furthermore the study presumes that the circumstances of visiting the memorial affect how people react to the memorial. The results show that visitors with lower levels of education are less often able to develop an understanding of the memorial compared to visitors with a higher education background. The results indicate that these visitors are excluded from the intended remembrance of the Holocaust when the materialization of the memorial is implemented with artistic measures. Nationality plays a significant role too and influences visitors when judging the memorial. Germans more often have negative and less often positive judgements than foreign visitors. Finally the results of the research are discussed in the context of the cultural debate around the significance of memorials.