El Alamein: Perspectives from Egyptian and German Memory

On Thursday, October 31, 2024, at 6:00 PM, the event El Alamein: Perspektiven aus der ägyptischen und deutschen Erinnerung will take place at the Fridericianum. This lecture evening focuses on the historical and architectural site of remembrance, El Alamein in Egypt, and explores how this place can be culturally contextualized from various perspectives. 

Even 80 years after the end of World War II, the battles in the desert of El Alamein continue to evoke strong associations in the public consciousness. The Africa Campaign and the accompanying images of soldiers in the desert are deeply embedded in collective memory. This is largely due to the figure of Erwin Rommel, who—often glorified and mythologized—plays a central role in the historiography of all the nations involved. However, the involvement of Egyptian soldiers in the conflict is often overlooked: they initially provided logistical support to the British Army and later took on the task of clearing mines after the war. In the 1950s, the German War Graves Commission, in collaboration with the German government, constructed a cemetery near the battlefield, modeled after the Staufer-era Castel del Monte. This memorial, designed with a depersonalizing architectural style, is part of the strategic memorial architecture of the young Federal Republic of Germany, while also standing in the tradition of imperial ambitions. As such, El Alamein is both a historical and architectural site of memory (lieu de mémoire). In terms of cultural memory, three main lines can be traced: the changing relationship to history in Germany, the memory within the country where the events took place, and the treatment of the chosen aesthetics of the monument, which commemorates the fallen. 

Moderation: Prof. Liliana Gómez (documenta Institute and University of Kassel)    

Chair: Dr. Thomas Würtz (Vice Director Orient-Institut Beirut)    

The event will take place on Thursday, October 31, 2024 at 6 pm at the Museum Fridericianum Kassel. Admission from 5 pm   

A reception is planned in the rotunda from 8 – 10 pm.    

Admission is free, registration is not required.  

Streaming Link to the Talks

PROGRAM

October 31, 2024 | 6:00 – 8:00 pm 
Doors open at 5 pm 

Welcome Speeches 
Andreas Hoffmann 
Sven Schoeller 
Dirk Backen 
Felix Münch 

Greetings and Brief Introduction 
Dr. Thomas Würtz 

Moderation 
Prof. Liliana Gómez 

Presentations 
Prof. Dieter Pohl, Alpen-Adria University, Klagenfurt 
The Battles of El Alamein – Turning Point of the War and Significance for German-Egyptian Memory Culture 

Prof. Emad Helal, Suez Canal University 
Egyptian Participation and Reception of the Battle of El Alamein  

Prof. Christian Fuhrmeister, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte München 
Strategic Memorial Architecture for the Federal Republic? The War Cemetery of El Alamein 

Moderated discussion & audience questions 
Followed by: Reception in the Rotunda until 10 pm 

The event is organized in cooperation with the Orient-Institut Beirut, the German War Graves Commission, and the Hessian State Center for Political Education, and is part of the Max Weber Foundation's cross-institutional series Internationale Perspektiven auf den zweiten Weltkrieg  (Ends of War – International Perspectives on World War II.)