Postwar Germany and the Holocaust

Abstract

Focussing on German responses to the Holocaust since 1945, Postwar Germany and the Holocaust traces the process of Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung ('overcoming the past'), the persistance of silences, evasions and popular mythologies with regards to the Nazi era, and cultural representations of the Holocaust up to the present day. It explores the complexities of German memory cultures, the construction of war and Holocaust memorials and the various political debates and scandals surrounding the darkest chapter in German history. The book comparatively maps out the legacy of the Holocaust in both East and West Germany, as well as the unified Germany that followed, to engender a consideration of the effects of division, Cold War politics and reunification on German undertanding of the Holocaust. Synthesizing key historiographical debates and drawing upon a variety of primary source materials, this volume is an important exploration of Germany's postwar relationship with the Holocaust.