Germany : facing the Nazi past today
Date
2009-07-16
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AOSIS Publishing
Abstract
This article gives an overview of the changing debate on
National Socialism and the question of guilt in German society.
Memory had a different meaning in different generations,
shaping distinct phases of dealing with the past, from silence
and avoidance to sceptical debate, from painful “Vergangenheitsbewältigung”
to a general memory of suffering.
In present-day Germany, memory as collective personal memory
has faded away. At the same time, literature has lost its role
as a main medium to mass media like cinema and television.
Furthermore, memory has become fragmented. Large groups of
members of the German society, like immigrants, see the past
from a different perspective altogether. Although the remembrance
of the time of National Socialism is still a distinctive part
of Germany’s political culture, it has become more generalised,
with “Holocaust memory” as a globalised symbol for a fundamental
“break” in Western culture.
Description
CITATION: Laurien, I. 2009. Germany: facing the Nazi past today. Literator, 30(3):93-114, doi:10.4102/lit.v30i3.89.
The original publication is available at http://literator.org.za
The original publication is available at http://literator.org.za
Keywords
Germany -- History -- 1945-, Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Germany, German literature -- Influences, Germany -- Intellectual life -- 20th century, Germany -- Intellectual life 21st century
Citation
Laurien, I. 2009. Germany: facing the Nazi past today. Literator, 30(3):93-114, doi:10.4102/lit.v30i3.89.