Memorial of the Victims of German Occupation was commissioned by the Hungarian Government, whereas Living Memorial was a spontaneous action of residents
As a response to the much-debated erection of the Memorial of the Victims of German Occupation on the Liberty Square in Budapest, there were ca. eight pages/groups/events/communities created on Facebook, most importantly “Holocaust and my family” and “Living memorial”. In both cases personal memories of the Holocaust started to flood the digital space, which then re-inforced the physical appearance of a number of practices at the very site of the Memorial to the Victims of German Occupation in Budapest. As a result of these practices, Living Memorial was created that currently serves a counter-monument to the Memorial to the Victims of German Occupation in Budapest.
Similarly to the fact that the facebook groups were open to everyone, Living Memorial got materialized though the many memory-objects protesters brought there at the site.
Facebook group
Hungarian memory politics still struggles with the memory of the Holocaust, for which the erection of the Memorial of the Victims of German Occupation on the Liberty Square is a symptomatic case. Can we interpret the case of the Living Memorial as a successful story of unlocking memories? Did the appearance of digital memories ultimately provide virtual and actual access to history? While Living Memorial still co-exists with the Memorial to the Victims of German Occupation converting Liberty Square into one of the most exciting spaces of Budapest, we cannot really talk about the reversal of the previous tendencies of Hungarian memory politics, but it certainly was an euphoric moment.
(Digital) memory studies