Associate Professor of German Jennifer Hansen-Glucklich
Associate Professor Jennifer Hansen-Glucklich in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures has published a new book entitled German Memorials, Motifs, and Meanings: A Cultural History in Bronze, Wood, and Stone with University of Massachusetts Press (2025).
The book offers a unique cultural history of German memorialization by focusing not on a single, isolated era, but rather on enduring memorial motifs—enchanted stones, magical trees, raised fists, stone circles, and similar evocative symbols derived from myth, folklore, Christianity, national iconography, and post-Holocaust imagery. It thus takes a long-duration perspective to explore abiding themes such as death, rebirth, and redemption; violence and reconciliation; and sacrifice, identity, and community. Along with a consideration of the historical and social circumstances of each memorial and its motifs, the book seeks to answer the questions of why and how these cultural markers survive the passage of time and how they endure amidst cultural, social, and political upheavals that include the rise and fall of empires, catastrophes of war and occupation, and genesis of new national identities.
A Waple Professorship (2023-2025) generously supported the publication of this book by providing funds for travel.
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