Christina Sterniša, M.A.

Dissertation Project

"Places of Remembrance of Resistance during the German Occupation in Athens. Cross-generational Continuities, Ruptures and Memory constructions(ites)"

Athens is a palimpsest characterized by historical as well as recent socio-political upheavals and changes, which encourage(d) resistance against different authoritarian regimes and the negotiation of the past as well as visions of a better future. Whereas the main touristic sites recall antiquity and Athens as the cradle of democracy, places remembering non-democratic periods (the German occupation 1941-1944, the civil war 1946-1949, the Greek military junta of 1967–1974) are less represented in the cityscape, about to vanish or to be turned into Non-Places (Augé 1992). The PhD project aims at analysing the impact of lieux de mémoire (Nora 1990) related to resistance during German occupation on the identity(trans)formation of different memory generations. Specifically, spatial memory sites, but also symbolic ones such as Rembetika, graffiti, slogans, annual commemorations or kafeneons will be analysed in order to identify cross-generational continuities as well as ruptures, gaps and blind spots.

Supervisor: Univ.-Prof. Dr.habil.Katharina Eisch-Angus