Sins of the Fathers - Germany, Memory, Method

Klappentext National identity and political legitimacy always involve a delicate balance between remembering and forgetting. All nations have elements in their past that they would prefer to pass over--the catalog of failures, injustices, and horrors committed in the name of nations, if fully acknowledged, could create significant problems for a country trying to move on and take action in the present. Yet denial and forgetting carry costs as well. Nowhere has this precarious balance been more potent, or important, than in the Federal Republic of Germany, where the devastation and atrocities of two world wars have weighed heavily in virtually every moment and aspect of political life. The Sins of the Fathers confronts that difficulty head-on, exploring the variety of ways that Germany's leaders since 1949 have attempted to meet this challenge, with a particular focus on how those approaches have changed over time. Jeffrey K. Olick asserts that other nations are looking to Germany as an example of how a society can confront a dark past--casting Germany as our model of difficult collective memory.

Product details

• Authors: Jeffrey K. Olick, Olick Jeffrey K.
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.11.2016
• EAN: 9780226386492
• ISBN: 978-0-226-38649-2
• No. of pages: 496
• Series: Chicago Studies in Practices of Meaning
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Contemporary history (1945 to 1989); Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Deutschland, 21. Jahrhundert (2000 bis 2100 n. Chr.), Zweite Hälfte 20. Jahrhundert (1950 bis 1999 n. Chr.), Europäische Geschichte, HISTORY / Europe / Germany, Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000, European History, Political Ideologies, Politische Ideologien, Germany, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / European, 21st Century, 21st century history: from c 2000 -, 21st century, c 2000 to c 2100, Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999, Political ideologies and movements, c 1945 to c 2000 (Post-war period)