Forgotten and Recalled

Contemporary witness platforms play a key role in the German culture of remembrance by making the personal accounts of those who were displaced, oppressed or deprived of their freedom freely accessible to the public, ensuring that future generations keep learning from the past.

80 years on, Germany is looking back at 1938, a year marked by National Socialist persecution and violence against the Jews and the failed Evian Conference on refugees. Historian Stefanie Schüler-Springorum explains the current significance of these events.

On “memory studies” and the limits of memory – new approaches to the social scientific study of remembrance.

In 1937 the German Luftwaffe destroyed the Spanish city of Guernica. Rotterdam, Warsaw and Coventry were to follow. That these cities are today closely associated with Germany is also an achievement of civil society.

For his film “Austerlitz”, Sergei Loznitsa observed visitors to concentration camp memorial sites with his camera. What can commemorative culture achieve today? An interview with the Ukrainian director about his award-winning documentary.

The 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall will be celebrated on 9th November 2014. German radio and TV stations will also be looking at this seminal event from quite unusual angles.

Numerous comics remind us of the dictatorial regime that ruled the GDR and the peaceful end of the East German state.

All around the world, segments of the Berlin Wall serve as reminders of the time when Germany was still divided. Anna Kaminsky talks about researching her book “Where in the World is the Berlin Wall?”.

The aim of the network entitled “Dritte Generation Ostdeutschland” (Third Generation of East Germany Network) is to provide the “children of German reunification” with a voice.

Has our memory capacity declined since we have come to rely on smartphones? Are we perhaps even at risk of suffering “digital dementia”? On the contrary, claims memory researcher Emrah Düzel.

Our author Arshia Sattar was a guest of the Goethe-Institut Visitor’s Programme for South Asian nations to Berlin and Leipzig 2015. Read about her thoughts on the will to forget and to remember. 

When contemporary witnesses die off,  memorials and historical anniversaries come into their own as forums of commemorative culture. In Germany the public remembrance of the Nazi era has become more intense.

How was the division of Germany experienced, and how far has the process of reunification progressed so far? An interview with Rainer Eckert, director of the Forum of Contemporary History Leipzig.

The after-effects of the Second World War are still felt by many families today, even into the second and third generation. The journalist Sabine Bode attributes the insecurity felt by the children and grandchildren of those who lived during the war to the failure of their parents and grandparents to properly work through and come to terms with their experiences.