Members of the german-studies list might be interested to hear about the
following new book from Polity:
German National Identity after the Holocaust
by Mary Fulbrook, University College London
For over half a century, Germans have lived in the shadow of Auschwitz. Who
was responsible for the mass murder of millions of people in the Holocaust:
just a small gang of evil men, Hitler and his henchmen; or certain groups
within a particular system; or even the whole nation? Could the roots of
malignancy be traced far back in German history? Or did the Holocaust have
more to do with European modernity? Should Germans live with a legacy of
guilt forever? And how, if at all, could an acceptable German national
identity be defined?
These questions dogged public debates in both East and West Germany in the
long period of division. Both states officially claimed to have 'overcome
the past' more effectively than the other; both sought to construct new,
opposing identities as the 'better Germany'. But, in different ways,
official claims ran at odds with the kaleidoscope of popular collective
memories; dissonances, sensitivities and taboos were the order of the day on
both sides of the Wall. And in the 1990s, with continued heated debates over
past and present, it was clear that inner unity appeared to be no automatic
consequence of formal unification.
Drawing on a wide range of material - from landscapes of memory and rituals
of commemoration, through private diaries, oral history interviews and
public opinion poll surveys, to the speeches of politicians and the writings
of professional historians - Fulbrook provides a clear analysis of key
controversies, events and patterns of historical and national consciousness
in East and West Germany in equal depth. Arguing against 'essentialist'
conceptions of the nation, Fulbrook presents a theory of the nation as a
constructed community of shared legacy and common destiny, and shows how the
conditions for the easy construction of any such identity have been notably
lacking in Germany after the Holocaust.
If you would like to receive a complimentary examination copy of this book,
please contact Paul Millicheap at:
[log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]> , or reply to this email.
Please remember to include:
* your postal address
* your course title, level and number of students
* your course start date
If you are not currently teaching a relevant course but would still like to
obtain a copy, please ask for details of how to order from the email address
above.
Please feel free to forward this message to any relevant person or list. I
apologise for any cross-posting that might have occurred.
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