CONTRIBUTI / 9 / Felix Denschlag und Jan Ferdinand
Sacralization as politics. On the dimension of the “sacred” in the memorial-cultural conception by Aleida and Jan Assmann
According to Jan Assmann, cultural memory is characterised by a specific ‚sacredness‘. The article takes this statement as an occasion to analyse the dimension of the ‚sacred‘ not only in his general theory of culture but also in Aleida Assmann’s concept of (German) Erinnerungskultur. It shall be shown that sacralization is presented as a political instrument to create collective identity not only on a theoretical, but also practical level. The implications of this previously little considered aspect of Aleida and Jan Assmann’s works first will be unfolded and finally criticised based on the question if this conception meets (post-)modern societies and the practice of memory in Germany.
