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Visit to Hotel Sudety. Contact Zone of Reconciliation?

Publication at Faculty of Humanities |
2020

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the role of memory practices in creating a specific contact zone. It concentrates on the case of the recently opened "Hotel Sudety" (2016) in the town Chomutov in the Czech Republic near the German border.

The memory practices, that take place in the hotel, aim at the proces of reconciliation of Czech - German relationship, as well as at the de-politicization of the word "Sudety", that carries a strong context in Czech republic until today. The contact zone, as a form of social space, is created by the memory practices of the hotel owner and the perception of these practices by the Czech and German visitors of the hotel.

Methodically, the article shows how social spaces that are characterized by memory practices can be viewed as contact zones.