Ambiguous memory : the Nazi past and German national identity

Examines official memories of National Socialism in the Federal Republic, the German Democratic Republic, and unified Germany during the 1980s-90s. Investigates the social mechanisms of West German internalization and East German universalization of the Nazi past by examining social frameworks and specific places of memory. Seeks to answer the following questions: How did memories of the Nazi past affect the national identity and legitimation of the FRG, the GDR, and unified Germany? How does public debate about the past affect what is remembered? What do memories and representations of the past tell us about the present and how do they possibly effect the future? Memories of the past provide insight into the society which remembers. The creation of postwar German national identities was not only based on a system of negative mirror-imaging and comparison between the two Germanies, but also on how Nazi Germany was remembered. Unified Germany is framed by a double past which entails a continuation of the West German framework of internationalization accompanied by the "newness" of the restored German nation. Places of memory, such as Bitburg, the "historians' debate, " the 50th anniversary commemoration of Kristallnacht, the renarration of Buchenwald, and the proposed Holocaust Memorial in Berlin are examples of the ambiguity of East, West, and unified German memory. Includes bibliographical references (pages 173-192) and index. 196 pages ; 24 cm