How did the political context in Europe after 1989 shape commemorations of the Holocaust? This is a central question in Peter Carrier's erudite comparative study of the Vélodrôme d’Hiver (commonly shortened to “Vél d’Hiv’”) memorial in Paris and the Holocaust Monument in Berlin. By focusing on debates in the planning phases, Carrier seeks “to explain public understandings of monuments prior to their construction” (p. 5; emphasis in original). Carrier uses primary source material from newspapers, magazines, open letters, speeches, and press releases, situating his analysis in a review of the relevant literature by James Young, Pierre Nora, Henry Rousso, Peter Reichel, and many other scholars. The end result is an important theoretical contribution to memory and cultural studies on the creation, interpretation, and impact of monuments in post–Cold War Europe.
The book is divided into three parts. Part one defines contemporary monuments in relation to past forms of commemoration. Carrier...