Civil society and memory in postwar Germany / Jenny Wüstenberg (York University, Toronto).

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wüstenberg, Jenny, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Memory--Political aspects--Germany.

Memory.

Memory--Political aspects.

Germany.

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

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945).

Germany--Social conditions--20th century.

Social conditions.

Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.).

Physical Description:

xix, 334 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom : Cambridge University Press, 2017.

Summary:

Blending history and social science, this book tracks the role of social movements in shaping German public memory and values since 1945. Drawn from extensive original research, it offers a fresh perspective on the evolution of German democracy through civic confrontation with the violence of its past. Told through the stories of memory activists, the study upends some of the conventional wisdom about modern German political history. An analysis of the decades-long struggle over memory and democracy shows how grassroots actors challenged and then took over public institutions of memorialization. In the process, confrontation of the Holocaust has been pushed to the centre of political culture. In unified Germany, memory politics have shifted again, as activists from East Germany have brought attention to the crimes of the East German state. This book delivers a novel and important contribution to scholarship about postwar Germany and the wider study of memory politics.

Contents:

Civil society activism, memory politics and democracy

Memorial politics and civil society since 1945

Building negative memory: civic initiatives for memorias to Nazi terror

Dig where you stand: the History Movement and grassroots memorialization

Memorial aesthetics and the memory movements of the 1980s

A part of history that continues to smolder: remembering East Germany from below

Hybrid memorial institutions and democratic memory.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-325) and index.

ISBN:

1107177464

9781107177468

OCLC:

973744451