Commemorating Hell: The Public Memory of Mittelbau-Dora

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

Commemorating Hell Commemorating Hell The Public Memory of Mittelbau-Dora Gretchen Schafft and Gerhard Zeidler University of Illinois Press Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield © 2011 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1 ∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Schafft, Gretchen Engle. Commemorating hell : the public memory of Mittelbau-Dora / Gretchen Schafft and Gerhard Zeidler. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-252-03593-7 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 978-0-252-07788-3 (paper : alk. paper) 1. Dora (Concentration camp) 2. War memorials—Germany—Nordhausen (Thuringia) 3. World War, 1939–1945—Monuments—Germany— Nordhausen (Thuringia) 4. Memory—Social aspects—Germany—Nordhausen (Thuringia) 5. Collective memory—Germany—Nordhausen (Thuringia) 6. Concentration camp inmates—Germany—Nordhausen (Thuringia)—Biography. 7. Nordhausen (Thuringia, Germany)—Biography. 8. Nordhausen (Thuringia, Germany)—History— 20th century—Sources. 9. World War, 1939–1945—Social aspects—Germany— Nordhausen (Thuringia) 10. Concentration camps—Social aspects—Germany— Nordhausen (Thuringia) I. Zeidler, Gerhard. II. Title. d805.5.d6s33 2010 940.53'1853224—dc22 2010020851 No single lesson is to be garnered from the memorial at the concentration camp site of Mittelbau-Dora in Nordhausen, Germany, but no visitor leaves there untouched. In the midst of differing ideologies and political realities, directors of the memorial have made their respect and sympathy for those imprisoned at the camp paramount. Each has communicated this effectively, and, thus, this book is dedicated to them. ...