Page 67 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

A Visible Sign with a “Quiet Gesture”? The Documentation Centre for Displacement,
Expulsion, Reconciliation in Berlin
Vidni znak s »tiho gesto«? Dokumentacijski center za razseljenost,
izgon in spravo v Berlinu

Catherine Perron
Sciences Po - Centre for international studies (CERI), France
catherine.perron@sciencespo.fr

67
Abstract
ti Starting from the analysis of the permanent exhibition of the newly opened Documentation Centre
for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation, this paper sets out to understand to what extent the Doc-
umentation Centre succeeds in offering a new approach to the place of remembrance “Flight and Ex-
ta around flight and expulsion of Germans. Finally, I suggest that the diverse and contradictory expecta-
pulsion of the Germans”, within the federal German museum landscape and in the museum landscape

tions placed on the Documentation Centre results in a permanent exhibition that meets the wishes of
the memory milieu (expellees and their descendants) to address their suffering and responds to the gov-
di ernment’s mandate to anchor the topic in the centre of society (also outside the memory milieu) and to
create a space of reconciliation, between memorial, museum, archive, and meeting place; although at
the expense of understanding the specificity of the flight and expulsion processes.
Keywords: Germany, forced migrations, violence, memory, exhibition

here Izhajajoč iz analize stalne razstave novoodprtega Dokumentacijskega centra za razseljevanje, izgon,
Izvleček:

spravo si v prispevku prizadevam osvetliti, v kolikšni meri ta nova institucija uspe ponuditi nov pristop h
kraju spomina na »beg in izgon Nemcev« v kontekstu nemških zveznih muzejev ter muzejev, posveče-
nih begu in izgonu Nemcev. V sklepu ugotovim, da raznolika in protislovna pričakovanja Dokumenta-
cijskega centra rezultirajo v stalni razstavi, ki izpolnjuje želje spominskega miljeja (izgnancev in njihovih
potomcev), saj naslavlja njihovo trpljenje in se odziva na nalogo vlade, da temo zasidra v središču družbe
studiauniversitatis (tudi zunaj spominskega miljeja). Na ta način se oblikuje prostor sprave, ki je hkrati spomenik, muzej,
arhiv in kraj srečevanja, čeprav to doseže na račun razumevanja specifičnosti procesov bega in izgona.
Ključne besede: Nemčija, prisilne migracije, nasilje, spomin, razstava

https://doi.org/10.26493/2350-5443.11(2)67-90 © author/authors