Visitor Books and Memory – Evaluating the <i>Bautzner Straße Dresden</i> Memorial Site's Significance for Former Stasi Prisoners’ Individual Memories

Abstract Memorial sites document aspects of history. Thus, they represent a historical past deemed relevant by the initiators in public sphere. The former Stasi detention center and district administration Dresden Bautzner Straße is memorial site that dedicated to critical representation communist dictatorship East Germany. This does, however, not tell much about site's meaning visitors. In order get an impression visitors’ spontaneous reactions thoughts, I systematically examine categorize visitor books. Through these books, offer visitors opportunity write down their thoughts thereby enabling open channel communication. My focus on entries persons who explicitly identify as inmates very visited. They make up roughly 10 percent all entries. which prisoners wrote having visited place ordeal. What feelings emerge after visit? aim shed light significance importance for prisoner's individual memory analyzing entries’ type content. books authentic intriguing access political prisoners’ mental world memory. contribution connects media its