ABSTRACT
It is generally accepted that collective remembrance converges on communally accessible memory sites, literally “common places” that serve as points of reference for different individuals and groups in figuring the past. 1 While these “sites” are sometimes of a virtual nature, involving cultural icons rather than actual places, they do tend to be linked to specific, material locations which can be visited in the here and now. This much has been recognized, and this insight informs the present collection. As yet, however, we have little insight into how specific locations actually work as media in the ongoing production of collective memory, though some brief comments in Aleida Assmann’s work Erinnerungsräume (Spaces of Remembrance, 1999) offer a good starting point for further elaboration. 2
