Memory and Justice: www.memoryandjustice.org

Design

Design of Herbert Baum Gedenkstein

The Herbert Baum Gedenkstein, as it was designed by Jürgen Raue in its original form, consists of a small stone cube with inscriptions on each of its four sides. “Bound in friendship with the Soviet Union forever,” it reads in large block letters. “Unforgotten the courageous deeds and the steadfastness of the anti-fascist resistance group led by the young Communist Herbert Baum.”

The two Plexiglas plaques, installed in 2001, add a new layer of history. One plaque lists the thirty-four members of the Herbert Baum Group. The other gives more information about the Baum Group in German, English, French, and Russian, stating in part that the memorial “documents the brave act of resistance in 1942, the conception of history in 1981, and our continuous remembrance of resistance to the Nazis.”

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References

Bickford, Louis. “Monuments and memory.” International Herald Tribune, November 19, 2007.

Jordan, Jennifer A. Structures of Memory. Stanford University Press, 2006: 73-75.

Schafft, Gretchen. “Civic Denial and the Memory of War.” Journal of American Academy of Psychoanalysis 26 (1998): 255-272.

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