Holocaust Monuments and National Memory Cultures in France and Germany since 1989: The Origins and Political Function of the Vél d’Hiv’ in Paris and the Holocaust Monument in Berlin by Peter Carrier (review)

How did the political context in Europe after 1989 shape commemorations of the Holocaust? This is a central question in Peter Carrier’s erudite comparative study of the Vélodrôme d’Hiver (commonly shortened to “Vél d’Hiv’”) memorial in Paris and the Holocaust Monument in Berlin. By focusing on debates in the planning phases, Carrier seeks “to explain public understandings of monuments prior to their construction” (p. 5; emphasis in original). Carrier uses primary source material from newspapers, magazines, open letters, speeches, and press releases, situating his analysis in a review of the relevant literature by James Young, Pierre Nora, Henry Rousso, Peter Reichel, and many other scholars. The end result is an important theoretical contribution to memory and cultural studies on the creation, interpretation, and impact of monuments in post-Cold War Europe.

The book is divided into three parts. Part one defines contemporary monuments in relation to past forms of commemoration. Carrier explores the development of French and German “memory cultures,” a term used here “to describe the social context in which monuments and commemorations take effect” (p. 186). According to Carrier, these memory cultures developed in European countries after the 1970s and intensified in the 1990s amid the 50th-anniversary commemorations of the Second World War.

The heart of the analysis is in Part II, with a chapter on the Vél d’Hiv’ and another on the Berlin Holocaust Monument—both expanded versions of previously published articles. A third chapter in this section compares the commemorative processes in France and Germany, underscoring several important parallels in the two cases, such as the important role in public debates played by citizen action groups and the media.

In Paris, the Vél d’Hiv’ memorial occupies roughly 300 square meters on a Left Bank quay near the Eiffel Tower. This quiet spot away from the crowds lies adjacent to the site of the old Vélodrôme d’Hiver indoor cycling arena where, on 16-17 July 1942, French police rounded up 13,152 Jewish men, women, and children and held them without food, water, and adequate restrooms before deporting them to French transit camps and, ultimately, to Nazi death camps. The monument’s multi-figure sculpture, inaugurated in 1994, depicts several figures seated or lying down, including an embracing couple, a woman holding a child, and a young girl playing with a doll. On 16 July 1995, newly elected president Jacques Chirac spoke on the site of the memorial, acknowledged the role of French authorities in the round-up and deportations, and for the first time apologized on behalf of the French state. Although Chirac left unclear whether the “state” included the post-1945 republic and not merely the collaborationist Vichy regime, the apology, which had been demanded by Jewish interest groups since the 1980s, marked a turning point in official French memory of the Holocaust. Thus, in the French case, Carrier argues, rhetoric shaped the monument and national memory culture, from the planning debates to Chirac’s 1995 speech and subsequent annual commemorations.

The Holocaust Monument in Berlin, also known as the Monument for the Murdered Jews of Europe, creates an altogether different kind of commemoration. The monument is highly visible, taking up nearly 20,000 square meters in the heart of Berlin near the Brandenburg Gate. The monument contains 2,700 concrete steles and an information center, commemorating the Holocaust broadly—not a particular event or day. As Carrier explains, in the wake of unification, German activists, political leaders, journalists, scholars, and artists were deeply divided over whether the monument was necessary, and if so, the appropriate scope, style, and substance. The involvement of many political actors—parliament...