Chapter 6: Remembering What We Would Rather Forget: Examining Counter-Monuments in the United States and Germany

Monuments and memorials have been erected across the world to commemorate the collective memory of a nation or people. Collective memory highlights the victories and naturalizes the values and beliefs of the dominant group. In the past few decades, the collective memory exemplified in traditional monuments has been challenged by those often marginalized in society. Counter-monuments is one way the collective memory has been challenged. In this chapter, the authors will briefly describe the connection between collective memory and monuments, define counter-monuments, provide examples of counter-monuments in Germany and the United States, and discuss how this new(er) way of remembering difficult history could be used in social studies education.