Guilt, Suffering, and Memory - 9780253221339

Guilt, Suffering, and MemoryGermany Remembers Its Dead of World War II\nAuthor(s): Gilad Margalit\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Indiana University Press, United States\nImprint: Indiana University Press\nISBN-13: 9780253221339, 978-0253221339\nSynopsis\nGermany's changing historical memory of World War II and its aftermath, as reflected in the official and public remembrance of the German war dead, exposes an unresolved tension between a discourse of guilt and a discourse of national suffering and victimization. In Germany, under the auspices of the Allied occupation, remembrance honored the victims of the Nazis and those who had fought against the regime. After the partition of Germany, a new culture emerged, memorializing the civilian dead and fallen German soldiers. Despite the fierce ideological rivalry between East and West Germany, however, certain similarities existed. The political leaderships who shaped these cultures ceased to confront their citizens with the question of g.