I'll be speaking at the American Monthly Luncheon in Stuttgart on May 9th. Here's the blurb as it went out to the regular attendees:

War Memorials in Europe and America

Issues of memory and public remembrance are continually in the German media and flare up occasionally in the United States. The 9th of May marks the anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, a date which has become a political tension point between some countries, especially Russia and its smaller neighbors. The presentation will address some of these issues while focusing primarily on physical manifestations of political and collective memory - war memorials. Examples will be taken from Germany, the United States, and other countries, and will include local memorials from the Stuttgart/Karlsruhe region.

Mark R. Hatlie is the creator of the < http://sites-of-memory.de > webpage and is currently researching the history of memorials in Riga, Latvia. He recently published an overview of military memorials in Germany: "Über den Tod des Staatsbürgers für die Nation" (Bundeswehr-Journal, November 2007, pages 12-15).