ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the following questions: what functions do memorials play in the transition to justice? Who engages with commemoration at memorials and for what ends? What are the ways in which memorials work in the context of transitional societies?. Memorials are material or virtual objects which serve to represent events or persons who should not be forgotten. In the context of transitional justice the latter mainly refers to victims of human rights abuses during wars, ethno-political conflicts, repressive dictatorships, terrorist attacks, and apartheid, as well as genocides. In the context of transitional justice, memorials fulfil different functions which–at the far end of the spectrum–may lead to a better understanding between the parties to the conflict and an increase of knowledge about and acknowledgement of the crimes committed on one side, or a perpetuation of the division between the parties and a politicisation of remembrance on the other.
