Germany Today Research Articles

Which Past for the Soldier? Military History, Historical Education, and the Ethics of Democracy in Germany Today

The construction of tradition in the military depends on the meaning given to certain aspects of the past in the light of the pres- ent. West Germany’s history of tradition-building since 1955 is a case in point. After the end of Nazism, the new democratic armed forces, the Bundeswehr, was supposed to distance itself from the Wehrmacht by emphasizing the “civil” role of soldiers. Communicating historical knowledge became part of their democratic education rather than a guideline for military performance. Institutions such as the Center for Military History and the Museum of Military History, travel exhibitions, as well as popular scientific journals have contributed to an understand- ing of what is worthy of tradition – in particular the Prussian reforms, the plot of 20 July 1944, and the history of the Bundeswehr itself. Such references to the past – so the argument goes – help soldiers in combat to better grasp the ethical framework of military operations, provide orientation, and support their identity. Whether and how traditions should be adjusted according to changing military conditions remains controversial.

Стратегическое партнерство Германии и Китая на современном этапе: Актуальные проблемы и новые возможности

Стратегическое партнерство Германии и Китая на современном этапе: Актуальные проблемы и новые возможности

Quantifying the effect of persistent dryer climates on forest productivity and implications for forest planning: a case study in northern Germany

BackgroundForest management decisions are based on expectations of future developments. For sound decisions it is essential to accurately predict the expected values in future developments and to account for their inherent uncertainty, for example the impact of climate change on forests. Changing climatic conditions affect forest productivity and alter the risk profile of forests and forest enterprises. Intensifying drought stress is seen as one major risk factor threatening forest management in the north German lowlands. Drought stress reduces tree growth and vitality and might even trigger mortality. But so far, it is not possible to quantify effects of a persistent dryer climate on forest productivity at a level suitable for forest management.MethodsWe apply a well-established single-tree forest growth simulator to quantify the effect of persistent dryer climates on future forest productivity. We analyse the growth of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and oak (Quercus robur L. and Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.) in two forest regions in the north German lowlands for a time interval of 60 years until 2070. The growth response under three different climate projections is compared to a baseline scenario.ResultsThe results show clear differences in volume increment to persistent dryer climates between tree species. The findings exhibit regional differences and temporal trends. While mean annual increment at biological rotation age of Scots pine and oak predominantly benefits from the projected climate conditions until 2070, beech might suffer losses of up to 3 m3·ha–1·yr–1 depending on climate scenario and region. However, in the projection period 2051 to 2070 the uncertainty ranges comprise positive as well as negative climatic effects for all species.ConclusionsThe projected changes in forest growth serve as quantitative contributions to provide decision support in the evaluation of, for example, species future site suitability and timber supply assessments. The analysis of productivity changes under persistent dryer climate complements the drought vulnerability assessment which is applied in practical forestry in northwestern Germany today. The projected species’ productivity has strong implications for forest management and the inherent uncertainty needs to be accounted for.

A Feminist Reading of the Frankfurt School’s Studies on Authoritarianism and Its Relevance for Understanding Authoritarian Tendencies in Germany Today

A Feminist Reading of the Frankfurt School’s Studies on Authoritarianism and Its Relevance for Understanding Authoritarian Tendencies in Germany Today

An analysis of educational programmes for adults accompanying museum exhibitions: the typology of portals

This paper discusses the many educational programmes offered to adults in parallel with museum exhibitions. These were systematically examined using programme analysis, a research method developed in adult education research in Germany, with the goal of determining and differentiating between learning/participation pathways to cultural education—the so-called portals to arts education. An analytical approach to cultural adult education developed in 2005 was used for the first time to identify these various portals in museum offerings. This approach defines portals as specific pathways to arts education. The process described in this paper resulted in a refined and relatively stable set of categories that differentiates between educational programmes accompanying museum exhibits; it also resulted in a better understanding of the range of cultural education offerings for adults in Germany today. Within this framework, the method of programme analysis, research results, limitations, implications, and possible implementation are discussed.

Collective memory in Germany and the great foreign policy debate: the case of the European refugee crisis

Embedded within the wider normalization–continuity debate about the nature of Germany’s actorness, this article assesses the impact of collective memory on German foreign policy during the European refugee crisis. The Federal Republic’s open-door policy in autumn 2015 bewildered many observers who saw it as a self-harming act of charity. Based on a three-stage empirical framework, the article argues that Germany’s initial behaviour cannot be understood without accounting for the influence that collective memory still exerts in Germany today. The open-door policy was irreconcilable with Germany’s immediate material interests, but instead shaped by collective memory-inspired humanitarian and European principles. This conclusion challenges the growing consensus among students of German foreign policy that Germany is becoming a normal actor which has freed itself from the constraints of the past and behaves in congruence with its material interests. This article seeks to make a timely contribution to the knowledge about collective memory in international relations, Germany’s foreign policy in the specific as well as wider context, and the dynamics of the European refugee crisis.

Using aquatic plant biomass from de-weeding in biogas processes\u2014an economically viable option?

BackgroundLandscape maintenance in Germany today requires regular and extensive de-weeding of waterways, mostly to ensure water runoff and provide flood protection. The costs for this maintenance are high, and the harvested biomass goes to waste.MethodsWe evaluated the economic feasibility of using water plant biomass as a substrate in biogas generation. We set up a plausible supply chain, used it to calculate the costs of using aquatic water biomass as a seasonal feedstock to generate biogas, and compared it against maize silage, a standard biogas substrate. We also calculated the costs of using the aquatic biomass mixed with straw silage.ResultsAlthough subject to estimation errors, our results do show that it is economically feasible to use water plants as a seasonal feedstock in a biogas plant, even in markets where their disposal yields only moderate gate fees. Ensiling water plants with straw, however, incurs the added high price of straw and thus only yields a positive financial result if gate fees for water plant disposal are very high.ConclusionsWater plant biomass need not remain an unwelcome by-product of de-weeding waterways. The funds for its costly disposal can be redirected to the biomass supply chain and support the profitable use of aquatic biomass as a seasonal feedstock in biogas plants. However, the legal status of material from de-weeding needs to be clarified before biogas operators can act. Further development of technology for harvesting aquatic biomass is also called for.

Hannah Arendt in Germany Today

Resume Dans la sphère politique allemande contemporaine, Hannah Arendt jouit d’un statut particulier presque iconique. Les politiciens de tout bord se réfèrent à elle comme une autorité quand il s’agit de parler de démocratie; les institutions s’inscrivent dans son héritage et le film de Margarethe von Trotta a rajouté une épaisseur à la représentation publique qui perçoit Arendt comme un génie philosophique. Cet article appréhende Arendt comme un lieu de mémoire allemand. Plus précisément, le film de von Trotta révèle combien une approche académique est nécessaire pour protéger l’oeuvre d’Arendt de ces admirateurs qui l’utilisent pour leurs propres agendas. Cependant, cela implique aussi de présenter clairement les ambivalences et, parfois, les aspects troublants de cet auteur important.

Consumer behavior in energy-efficient homes: The limited merits of energy performance ratings as benchmarks

In Germany, policy-induced energy efficiency improvements typically aim at reducing primary energy consumption. Private households, on the contrary, pursue the maximization of wellbeing or, in microeconomics jargon, the maximization of utility of the occupants. There is a marked difference between upfront-calculated energy performance ratings (EPRs) and actual heat energy consumption (HEC). From an energy and environmental policy point of view, deviations of energy consumption from ex ante calculated EPRs is problematic, as it jeopardizes their usefulness for (prospective) homeowners, policy-makers and researchers relying on EPRs as a guidance. The EPR-HEC gaps reported are, apart from deviations from the mean aggregate values (i.e. heterogeneity), often attributed to anticipated or unanticipated behavioral effects. From an energy economist's point of view, energy rebound induced by lowered costs per unit of energy service due to increased energy efficiency is one explanation. The related literature almost entirely treats building-specific EPRs as universal standards, trying to explain the empirically observed discrepancies. In this paper, we investigate to what extent the current EPR scheme in place in Germany today can address behavioral issues. To this end, based on two different multi-family housing data sets for Germany and regression analysis, we empirically investigate the deviations between EPRs used in the regulatory norms and the HEC levels observed in reality. We find evidence that it is not necessarily the behavioral dimension, but rather the static and mostly technically guided calculation of the EPRs itself that accounts for the major part of the deviations. We conclude that there is indeed a need for further improvements in the field of EPR regulation and methodology.

Intestinal Ostomy.

About 100 000 ostomy carriers are estimated to live in Germany today. The creation of an ostomy represents a major life event that can be associated with impaired quality of life. Optimal ostomy creation and proper ostomy care are crucially important determinants of the success of treatment and of the patients' quality of life. This article is based on pertinent publications retrieved by a selective search in PubMed, GoogleScholar, and Scopus, and on the authors' experience. Intestinal stomata can be created using either the small or the large bowel. More than 75% of all stomata are placed as part of the treatment of colorectal cancer. The incidence of stoma-related complications is reported to be 10-70%. Skin irritation, erosion, and ulceration are the most common early complications, with a combined incidence of 25-34%, while stoma prolapse is the most common late complication, with an incidence of 8-75%. Most early complications can be managed conservatively, while most late complications require surgical revision. In 19% of cases, an ostomy that was initially planned to be temporary becomes permanent. Inappropriate stoma location and inadequate ostomy care are the most common causes of early complications. Both surgical and patient-related factors influence late complications. Every step from the planning of a stoma to its postoperative care should be discussed with the patient in detail. Preoperative marking is essential for an optimal stoma site. Optimal patient management with the involvement of an ostomy nurse increases ostomy acceptance, reduces ostomy-related complications, and improves the quality of life of ostomy carriers.

Jenseits von Ostmitteleuropa? Zur Aporie einer deutschen Nischenforschung

Ostmitteleuropaforschung - Beyond East Central Europe? The Aporiae of a Niche Research Interest in Germany The article discusses some crucial problems of area studies drawing on the example of East Central European studies in Germany today. Against the backdrop of persistent methodological imperatives stemming from the 19th and early 20th century, we argue that general definitions of space, time or structure are of little use even in relation to a constructed region. Instead, we call for a praxeological approach that takes into consideration specific situational entanglements and their actors. In the context of global, European, imperial or transnational turns in historical cultural studies, a non-hierarchical, spatial and temporal perspective becomes essential. This article seeks to encourage discussion about the chances and risks that current developments in historical area studies in Germany entail, while also providing an impulse to think about possible future ramifications.

Electrical activity of developing cardiomyocytes

Event Abstract Back to Event Electrical activity of developing cardiomyocytes Saskia Wuttke1*, Gabriele Brockerhoff1, Laura Nimtz1, Julia Tigges1 and Ellen Fritsche1 1 Leibniz-Institut für umweltmedizinische Forschung (IUF), Modern Risk Assessment and Sphere Biology, Germany Today developmental toxicity testing is often performed on animals due to several guidelines (OECD, U.S. EPA , ). This method is time and resource-intensive resulting in the need of alternative methods. The European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) is supporting alternative methods and validated the mouse embryonic stem cell test (mEST) as an appropriate test for developmental toxicity testing . The mEST is based on a permanent cell line of mouse embryonic stem cells that are differentiated into cardiomyocytes. The quantity of beating cardiomyocytes is the respective readout . The extrapolation from mouse to human is discussed controversially . Therefore, we establish a human embryonic stem cell test (hEST). As the usage of human embryos has ethical concerns, we use human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC). These cells originate from fibroblasts which were reprogrammed into stem cells that cover all the characteristics of embryonic stem cells like self-renewal and pluripotency . To establish a hEST, hiPSC are differentiated into cardiomyocytes with the aim of evaluating more endpoints than the mEST. Therefore, we already established the differentiation of hiPSC to cardiomyocytes, achieving beating cardiomyocytes evenly in the entire dish which is a basic requirement for recording the electrical activity on microelectrode arrays (MEA). As the differentiation protocol represents the embryonic development of cardiomyocytes, the day of the first electrical signal could be a specific functional endpoint to measure. Furthermore, the number of electrodes recording a signal over time could be evaluated as another endpoint indicating maturation of the cells. When the differentiation of hiPSC to cardiomyocytes is established on MEAs, it is possible to screen substances for their toxic potential on the electrical activity of cardiomyocytes and therefore on the entire human cardiac system. References 1 Test No. 414 Prenatal Development Toxicity Study: TG414 (OECD Publishing, 2001). 2 Test No. 426 Developmental Neurotoxicity Study: TG426 (OECD Publishing, 2007). 3 A. E. M. Seiler and H. Spielmann, ‘The validated embryonic stem cell test to predict embryotoxicity in vitro’, Nature protocols 6 (2011), 961–78. 4 H.-y. Lee, A. L. Inselman, J. Kanungo and D. K. Hansen, ‘Alternative models in developmental toxicology’, Systems biology in reproductive medicine 58 (2012), 10–22. 5 J. Bailey, M. Thew and M. Balls, ‘Predicting human drug toxicity and safety via animal tests: Can any one species predict drug toxicity in any other, and do monkeys help?’, Alternatives to laboratory animals : ATLA 43 (2015), 393–403. 6 K. Takahashi, K. Tanabe, M. Ohnuki, M. Narita, T. Ichisaka, K. Tomoda and S. Yamanaka, ‘Induction of Pluripotent Stem Cells from Adult Human Fibroblasts by Defined Factors’, Cell 131 (2007), 861–72. Keywords: hiPSC, cardiomyocytes, MEA, embryonic, development Conference: MEA Meeting 2018 | 11th International Meeting on Substrate Integrated Microelectrode Arrays, Reutlingen, Germany, 4 Jul - 6 Jul, 2018. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Stem cell-derived applications Citation: Wuttke S, Brockerhoff G, Nimtz L, Tigges J and Fritsche E (2019). Electrical activity of developing cardiomyocytes. Conference Abstract: MEA Meeting 2018 | 11th International Meeting on Substrate Integrated Microelectrode Arrays. doi: 10.3389/conf.fncel.2018.38.00012 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 17 Mar 2018; Published Online: 17 Jan 2019. * Correspondence: Ms. Saskia Wuttke, Leibniz-Institut für umweltmedizinische Forschung (IUF), Modern Risk Assessment and Sphere Biology, Dusseldorf, NRW, 40225, Germany, saskia.wuttke@iuf-duesseldorf.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Saskia Wuttke Gabriele Brockerhoff Laura Nimtz Julia Tigges Ellen Fritsche Google Saskia Wuttke Gabriele Brockerhoff Laura Nimtz Julia Tigges Ellen Fritsche Google Scholar Saskia Wuttke Gabriele Brockerhoff Laura Nimtz Julia Tigges Ellen Fritsche PubMed Saskia Wuttke Gabriele Brockerhoff Laura Nimtz Julia Tigges Ellen Fritsche Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

The Hagiography of a Secular Saint: Alexander von Humboldt and the Scientism of the German Democratic Republic

Throughout its existence, the German Democratic Republic attempted to supplant religious authority and beliefs by promoting a wissenschaftliche Weltanschauung that served as a secular alternative for metaphysical frameworks of understanding and cultural orientation. An integral part of this program of substitution was the Marxist‐Leninist rehabilitation of certain members of the German canon who best embodied the socialist and scientistic potential of the German cultural tradition. As a figure who stood at the forefront of this group, Alexander von Humboldt was reimagined by the East German cultural apparatus as a “spontaneous materialist,” an educator of the masses who fought on the side of the oppressed worldwide. This analysis elucidates the ways in which the East German cultural apparatus appropriated and reconfigured Humboldt to fit its needs, as well as how, more generally, the SED designed and implemented a scientistic worldview that continues to affect and shape culture in eastern Germany today.

Jewish Theology in Germany: The co-Existence of Secular and Religious Discourse

How often do secular and religious discourses communicate and interrelate at points where they intersect in society? When the Science of Judaism (Wissenschaft des Judentums) evolved at the beginning of the nineteenth century, it intended, through both theological and secular studies, to demonstrate the general value of Jewish culture and civilization. Although denied a place in the public university system until after the Shoah, Jewish Studies departments have since been established at various German universities, and, in 2013, the School of Jewish Theology of the University of Potsdam was opened as the first Jewish divinity school in the history of the German university system. With this, what was once a utopian dream became a reality, and both branches of the Science of Judaism, religious and secular, became undisputed parts of the German academic scene, using similar tools for differing aims. Two prime examples of the intersection of the secular and religious in Germany today are the proliferation of divinity schools at state universities, on the one hand, and the development of military chaplaincy in the armed forces, on the other. Both of these, through contractual agreements, aim to regulate and facilitate religious pluralism within a secular state. While the one has already begun to take place, the other is currently under discussion.

Assessment of work ability in competing strands of social insurance: the German case

The article describes the system of social security in the case of incapacity in Germany and analyses how the pathway into incapacity benefits is structured. A special focus of the article is on conditionality as it is applied in different systems of social security in Germany today. A main result of the analysis is that incapacity benefits are embedded into a chain of different benefits and social services for persons with limited work ability. For the German case, this leads to a defensive reaction from both the Public Employment Service and pension insurers.

Cochlear Implant - State of the Art

Cochlear implants are the treatment of choice for the auditory rehabilitation of patients with sensory deafness. They restore the missing function of inner hair cells by transforming the acoustic signal into electrical stimuli for activation of auditory nerve fibers. Due to the very fast technology development cochlear implants provide open-set speech understanding in the majority of patients including the use of the telephone. Children can achieve a near to normal speech and language development provided their deafness is detected early after onset and implantation is performed quickly thereafter. The diagnostic procedure as well as the surgical techniques have been standardized and can be adapted to the individual anatomical and physiological needs both in children and adults. Special cases such as cochlear obliteration or malformations can be addressed. Device failures and medical complications might require special measures and reimplantation which can be done in most cases in a straight forward way. Technology upgrades count for better performance.Future developments will focus on better electrode nerve interfaces by improving electrode technology. An increased number of electrical contacts as well as the biological treatment with regeneration of the dendrides growing onto the electrode will increase the number of electrical channels. This will give room for improved speech coding strategies in order to create the bionic ear, i. e. to restore the process of natural hearing by means of technology. The robot assisted surgery will allow for high precision surgery and reliable hearing preservation. Biological therapies will support the bionic ear. Methods are biohybrid electrodes which are coded by stem cells transplanted into the inner ear to enhance autoproduction of neurotrophins. Local drug delivery will focus on suppression of trauma reaction and local regeneration. Gene therapy by nanoparticles will hopefully lead to the preservation of residual hearing in patients being affected by genetic hearing loss. Overall the cochlear implant is a very powerful tool to rehabilitate patients with sensory deafness. More than 1 million of candidates in Germany today could benefit from this high technology auditory implant. Only 50,000 are implanted so far. In the future the procedure can be done under local anesthesia, will be minimal invasive and straight forward. Hearing preservation will be routine.

Poisonings in Germany : Poisons Centres, Medical Management and National Monitoring

Illnesses caused by exposure to extracorporeal artificial substances play a major role in emergency medicine, family medicine, and environmental medicine. The current situation of medical poisoning management and national reporting of poisonings in Germany are described. The information and data presented here are derived from a literature review and from stakeholder interviews. Eight poison centres (PCs) offer consultation supporting the diagnosis and treatment of poisoning cases in Germany today. Furthermore, those affected, their relatives and first aiders contact these German PCs, mainly because of asuspected poisoning. German PCs are also contacted by those affected and by institutions in other situations when expert toxicological judgement is needed, especially in cases with an environmental background. Often, interpretation of analytical laboratory results of body fluid samples or environmental samples are requested, or reference to environmental medicine treatment facilities is made. The PCs and the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) cooperate on the national reporting of the risks of poisoning for the population. In addition, the BfR collects and evaluates poisoning reports from German medical doctors that have been directly submitted. Apilot project on anational monitoring of poisonings should collate future case reports. Anextensive and current overview of poisonings in Germany is aprerequisite for the identification of unsafe products and to fully comply with the international reporting needs of the German Federal Government in the case of chemical outbreaks and the resulting suspected cases.

Mothers, Morality and Abortion: The Politics of Reproduction in the Formation of the German Nation

Introduction The nation is, among other things, a symbolic community that is held together by powerful figures of belonging, as well as through an imagined code of shared values built through the repetition of specific historical narratives about key events and people. The ways in which women feature in national discourses as social and biological reproducers is fundamental to understanding the social and cultural renewal of the national community. As Foucault has stated, sexuality has always been the forum where the future of our species, and at the same time our 'truth' as human subjects, are decided (1991:111). Building on this theoretical backdrop, this essay will use images from political campaigns, public discourses on abortion, childcare and women's integration into the labour market, to illustrate how reproduction and gender figured as structuring elements in imagining nationhood in East and West Germany between 1949-1990, as well as in the reunited Germany after 1990. Rather than providing a fixed definition of gender (equality), I will trace the ways in which its meaning was reframed and/or reproduced within these shifting contexts. After World War II, Germany was divided into the American-guided Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the Soviet-led German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and thus became grounds of the East/West political and economic contestations in the context of the Cold War (1949-89). While a majority of academic studies have analysed the emergence of different political and economic identities in the East/West divide, I will focus on how politicians in East and West Germany mobilised distinct gender identities in East and West Germany to assert their respective political system as superior and progressive in the Cold War battle of ideas. The different political and economic systems of East and West Germany constructed diverging notions of an ideal worker and a model family, which were framed in diametrically opposed ways in the East and West German family and labour market policies. In West Germany, the notion of gender equality was closely tied to that of the US, and was measured in terms of the attainment of the housewife- breadwinner model, which was anchored in the industrial capitalist system of the West. East Germany, in contrast, orientated its social policies on the Soviet project of socialism, which mainly defined gender equality in terms of women's labour force participation. Both in the context of East and West Germany's gender regimes discourses of gender were mobilised to promote and legitimise the respective political and economic systems. The West's emergence as the winner of the global contestation of liberal capitalism against Soviet socialism meant that the normative Western framework of change would shape the discourses of reunification and transition in Germany after 1990. The emergence of this unequal power relationship between East and West shaped gender discourses in such a way that they gave expression to the hierarchical relationship between East and West and reaffirmed a type of otherness that categorised the East as past and the West as future. The ways in which gender and reproductive policies play an integral part in the national agenda can be observed to the present day. This essay will suggest that while nation-building is a deeply gendered process, this process must by no means be temporally linear or follow previously established patterns. Rather, looking at some reproductive policies like the extension of the childcare system in Germany today, it seems that politicians have forgotten about their once-antagonistic stance on East German notions of gender roles. I will thus finish by illustrating the importance of forgetfulness in the construction of national imageries on reproduction. The Gendered Construction of the Nation It is quite rare for the analysis of national imaginaries to make explicit reference to their highly gendered and sexualised uses of history, narrative and genealogy. …

The Mediatisation of Professional Pedagogical Practice - Social Networks in Early Childhood Education and Care

Early childhood education centres in Germany today are increasingly using social networks to present their work. This article puts this development into the context of a comprehensive process of mediatisation. Using two group discussions with teachers in early childhood education and care centres, I will show that the route via a social network is not just a new communication channel, but that the content communicated, the relationships between the actors, and the identity of the institution are also changed by it. Legal ambiguities, technical infrastructure and a lack of experience are identified as crucial barriers to the use of social networks. From the perspective of the users, social networks primarily create opportunities for a higher level of feedback for the pedagogical practitioners, more transparency and information for parents, and various points of reference for conversations between adults and children about learning processes.

Subjects of Memory? On Performing Holocaust Memory in Two German Historical Museums

This paper looks at how historical museums in Germany that are not Holocaust or Jewish museums represent Jews. It examines the permanent and temporary exhibitions, as well as their visitors’ experiences, at the two largest national and state-sponsored historical museums: the House of History in Bonn and the German Historical Museum in Berlin. I first analyze the ways in which Jewish symbols and images of Jews tell the story of the Holocaust’s aftermath in those museums. The article then focuses on a temporary exhibition, ‘Shalom: Three Photographers See Germany,’ at the Bonn House of History (August 2015–June 2016). I suggest that the exhibitions create directed viewing, whereby the visitors look at Jews and project the experience of viewing Holocaust images. I argue that as they are presented and viewed in the ‘Shalom’ exhibition, Jews undergo temporal displacement whereby their subject position and possible roles both in remembering and in being remembered are limited. I conclude by showing that Jews, as well as other Holocaust victim groups and migrant groups in Germany today, are not equal subjects of memory, meaning both that their subjectivity as participants in the public sphere is limited to specific roles, times and spaces, and that inter-subjective communication about their representation is limited.