Unwanted legacies : sharing the burden of post-genocide generations / Gottfried Wagner and Abraham J. Peck ; forewords by Michael Berenbaum and Steven Leonard Jacobs ; translation of Gottfried Wagner's manuscript by Ivan Fehrenbach.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wagner, Gottfried, 1947- author.

Peck, Abraham J., author.

Berenbaum, Michael, 1945- author of foreword.

Jacobs, Steven L., 1947- author of foreword.

Contributor:

Fehrenbach, Ivan, 1978- translator.

Series:

Modern Jewish history (Lubbock, Tex.)

Modern Jewish history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Influence.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945).

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Moral and ethical aspects.

Wagner family.

Wagner, Gottfried.

Reconciliation.

Social aspects.

Peck family.

Peck, Abraham J.

Reconciliation--Social aspects.

Germany--Ethnic relations.

Germany.

Ethnic relations.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xlii, 410 pages, 43 unnumbered pages of plates ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lubbock, Texas : Texas Tech University Press, [2014]

Summary:

"How does a society reconcile itself in a post-genocide era? How can generations of those whose families were victims and victimizers break the cycle of hate, mistrust, shame, and guilt that characterizes their relationship? What family reactions do they face as they seek to begin the act of sitting across from each other and facing their legacies? For more than two decades, Gottfried Wagner, great-grandson of composer Richard Wagner, whose music inspired Adolf Hitler and whose family helped the Nazis rise to power, and Abraham J. Peck, the son of two survivors whose entire families were murdered in the Holocaust, have been engaged in a unique and often torturous discussion on the German-Jewish relationship after the Shoah. That discussion has focused on their family histories and on the myths and realities of the relationship between Germans and Jews since the beginning of the nineteenth century and the process of reshaping that relationship for those Germans and Jews born after 1945. Rejecting the notion that they are either victims or perpetrators, both authors examine the "unwanted legacies" they inherited and have had to confront and overcome. "-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

I The Shadows of Richard Wagner as a German Myth / Gottfried Wagner Wagner, Gottfried 1

1 Family Trees: From the Founding of the Bayreuth Festival (1876) to the Collapse of the Third Reich (1945) 3

2 The Power Principle. German History and Family History from 1945 to 1976: From "We Are Victims of World History" to "One Hundred Years of Self-Representation" 40

3 In Search of a New Identity: Confronting the Shoah: 1977-1991 84

4 The Rocky Road to a Post-Shoah Discussion with Abraham Peck (1991-2005) 113

II Running Toward and From the Churbn / Abraham J. Peck Peck, Abraham J. 127

5 Vie World of Our Yesterdays: Vie Families Pik and Kolton 129

6 Hitler is Always at Our Door: From Landsberg to America 160

7 I Discover the Holocaust and Live with Its Consequences 167

8 Capitalism Is to Blame for Everything: We Become the Generation of1968 177

9 Into the Belly of the Beast 187

10 Opening the "Iron Box": The Holocaust as Burden and Hope 206

11 A (Mis) Step in the Direction of Reconciliation? 229

12 Holocaust, Genocide, and the Clash of Civilizations (1992-2005) 234

III Post-Holocaust Germans and Jews / Abraham J. Peck Peck, Abraham J. 251

13 What Do They Have to Say to Each Other? Post-Holocaust Germans and Jews in Dialogue 253

14 Holocaust Memory: In the Shadow and Light of Family History 262

15 Facing the Past 277

IV Viewing the Past but Looking to the Future / Gottfried Wagner Wagner, Gottfried 303

16 Reflections on the Trip to Auschwitz in August 2005 305

17 Viewing the Past but Looking to the Future 307

V The Final Chapter? Repairing the World / Abraham J. Peck Peck, Abraham J.

18 The Path to Tikkun Olam 313

IV Beyond the Shadow of German and Family Myths / Gottfried Wagner Wagner, Gottfried 321

19 April 2012. Beyond Reconciliation with the Wagner Clan-Be Yourself 323

20 From Tel Aviv to Bayreuth and Back Again to Teresina, Eugenio, and Stella: A Journey with Ella, Noam, Peter, and Simon into the Past and into the Future 339

VII New Allies: Holocaust, Genocide, and Human-Rights Studies / Abraham J. Peck Peck, Abraham J. 349

21 From Holocaust to Genocide 351

VIII Afterwords 355

22 Discourses on Holocaust and Genocide: Have We Learned Anything from History? / Gottfried Wagner Wagner, Gottfried 357

23 Our Dialogue Today: What Has Changed and Who Have We Become? / Abraham J. Peck Peck, Abraham J. 366.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780896728349

089672834X

9780896728356

0896728358

OCLC:

835981662