Transnational Memories, National Memory Regimes: Commemorating the Armenian Genocide in Germany

Studies of initiatives related to the recognition of the Armenian genocide across Europe have stressed the importance of the idiosyncratic environments in which these efforts take place. This paper follows debates about two projects dedicated to the commemoration of the Armenian genocide in Germany: The Lepsiushaus in Potsdam and the Gedenkstätte für Genozidopfer im Osmanischen Reich in Berlin. I propose that these concrete expressions of the recognition struggle show the importance of local conditions for the reception of transnational memories as they depend on practices supported by a "memory regime" often perceived in national terms.