This chapter argues that nations are torn apart today not only through material and social inequality or identity politics but also through contrasting and conflicting narratives of the past that coexist independently in the same territory. In order to overcome the division and fragmentation in a society, to mobilize civic strength for common projects, and to create solidarity among diverse social groups, it is important to address this problem of the divided past and to bring conflicting narratives into a more dialogic and mutually acknowledging relationship.

«Seine großen, dunklen Augen ruhten niemals auf einem Ding. Immer war ein Flackern in ihnen, dem oft eine Bewegung um einen verletzlichen Mund entsprach.» Dieter Henrich war diesem «Flackern» – das er in seinem Nachruf auf Jacob Taubes (1923–1987) mit einer zarten physiognomischen Vignette beschwört – in den frühen sechziger Jahren an der FU in Berlin begegnet. Und bald darauf auf der ersten Reise ins gelobte Land Amerika, wo Taubes, der schon einige Jahre an der Columbia University lehrte, erst den jüngeren, gebürtigen Marburger Kollegen in seinem Appartement in Manhattan beherbergte und ihm dann ein neues intellektuelles Feld erschloss: New York im Kontext. (Wenig später lehrte auch Henrich an der Columbia.) In diese Jahre fallen auch die ersten Colloquien der Forschergruppe «Poetik und Hermeneutik» – zu denen Taubes als inspirierender Geist eingeladen wurde.

It is a general observation that monuments tend to become invisible due to their static material character. But it is also obvious that a change of frames due to historical ruptures, new political debates, and artistic interventions can easily render them visible again and propel them into the focus of general and even scandalous attention. The first part of the essay inspects historical cases and contexts in which monuments suddenly lost and regained attention, analyzing the particular circumstances and strategies that drove these changes. The second part deals with migration monuments, presenting examples from immigration countries such as the United States, Argentina, and Brazil in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, where they played an important role in nation-building. In Germany, migration monuments are a newly evolving genre that is directly related to two highly contested themes: colonial history and Germany’s transformation into a more culturally diverse society.

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