Divya Suryawanshi

About

Hi, I’m Divya Suryawanshi, a PhD student in German Studies at the University of Warwick, currently pursuing my doctoral research under the supervision of Dr Katherine Stone, Professor Sara Jones (University of Birmingham) Dr Elizabeth Benjamin (Coventry University).

Research

This project examines how former prisons in Germany are transformed into memorial museums and commercial spaces, and what these transformations reveal about the ethics of remembering state violence in a tourism-driven context. Focusing on four case studies, it analyses how architectural reuse, spatial design, and atmosphere mediate tensions between commemoration, authenticity, and economic viability in sites marked by Nazi and GDR repression. The research analyses how remembrance is negotiated alongside tourism and economic interests, and how different actors such as former prisoners, curators, designers, and commercial partners participate in constructing ethically acceptable narratives of the prison past.

Research Interests

• German Memory Culture

• Heritage, Museums, and Memorial Culture

• Dark Tourism and Difficult Heritage

• Transitional Justice and the Legacies of Nazism and the GDR 

Scholarships and Awards

M4C Doctoral Training Partnership, University of Warwick (2025–2029)

DAAD Summer School, Trier University, Germany (2021).

Qualifications

Master of Arts in German Literature, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.
Bachelor of Arts in German Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.