The tremendous challenge that Allied officials faced as the war closed, then, was how to limn a post-war German identity without irrevocably damning its idea and character as a whole. This book chronicles this delicate process, exploring key debates about the Nazi past and German future during the later years of World War II and its aftermath.
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. 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.
Focusing on memory's impact on social structures, the author examines how societies remember catastrophic events like Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa. The exploration delves into the complexities of collective memory and its implications for understanding historical injustices, highlighting the interplay between individual and collective remembrance in shaping societal narratives.