ABSTRACT
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany has undergone an intense process in coming to terms with the legacies of the Nazi and GDR past. This process was accompanied by debates about the re-design of the memorial sites in the former East Germany, about the presentation of the GDR in relation to the Nazi past and about the future financial security of the sites. With the introduction of the Gedenkstättenkonzept (memorial concept) in 1999, a period of professionalisation and standardisation set in at the sites that commemorate the Nazi past. Exhibition design and education is governed by the principles of the Beutelsbacher Konsens which, for instance, prohibits the emotional overburdening of visitors. In so doing, Germany avoids emotionally charged exhibitions, therefore differing significantly from the often emotionally intense exhibitions found outside Germany. By contrast, a standardisation at the memorial sites that commemorate the GDR past has not yet taken place, leading to frequent debates. This chapter, therefore, examines the particularities of German memorial sites which in turn influence visitor reception.
