1st Edition
Wall Memorials and Heritage The Heritage Industry of Berlin's Checkpoint Charlie
Analysing the transformation of Berlin’s former Allied border control point, "Checkpoint Charlie," into a global heritage industry, this volume provides an introduction to, and a theoretically informed structuring of, the interdisciplinary international heritage debate. This crucial case study demonstrates that an unregulated global heritage industry has developed in Berlin which capitalizes on the internationally very attractive – but locally still very painful – heritage of the Berlin Wall. Frank explores the conflicts that occur when private, commercial interests in interpreting and selling history to an international audience clash with traditional, institutionalized public forms of local and national heritage-making and commemorative practices, and with the victims’ perspectives.
Wall Memorials and Heritage illustrates existing approaches to heritage research and develops them in dialogue with Berlin’s traditions of conveying history, and the specific configuration of the heritage industry at "Checkpoint Charlie". Productively integrating theory with empirical evidence, this innovative book enriches the international literature on heritage and its economic and political contexts.
Introduction: Heritage as an Under-Researched Academic Field Part 1: Theoretical Foundations: The Anglo-American Heritage Debate 1. How it Began: The Debate on the British Heritage Industry 2. International Outreach: Heritage as a Global Field of Sociocultural Practice Part 2: Empirical Findings: The Conflicts around Checkpoint Charlie 3. From Checkpoint to "Chequepoint": Introduction to the History of and the Diverse Stakeholders at Checkpoint Charlie 4. First Conflict: From Checkpoint to "Cheekpoint" 5. Second Conflict: From Checkpoint to "Shockpoint" 6. Checkpoint Charlie as a Victims’ Place and the Impossibility of Learning from Disney 7. Disneyfication as Cultural Combat Term 8. Pitfalls and Loopholes of Local Governance Conclusion: The Unregulated Formation of a Heritage Industry at Checkpoint Charlie
Biography
Sybille Frank is Professor in the School of Planning, Department of Sociology at the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany.
