UCSB Hist 133C, L 17:
Confronting the Nazi Past, 1960s-1980s
by Prof. Marcuse, Feb. 13, 2004

How did and does the Nazi past shape German political culture (continued from L16)

1. 1960s: Detatched learning
2. 1970s: Overcoming Mythic Ignorance
3. 1980s: Overcoming Mythic Victimization
4. Q6 & discussion of The Reader (handout)

Anamnesis: recovering memory

• 1955: return of POWs after Adenauer's Moscow trip: removes major cause of victimization (Berlin Wall puts it back)
• 1957: The Ulm Task Force trial-- first major trial by W. Germany->Ludwigsburg institute
• 1961, Israel: The Eichmann Trial-- Int'l media event; educational-legal
• 1963, Frankfurt: The Auschwitz Trial-- Schlink's generation learns
• 1970, Warsaw: Willy Brandt knealt; "traitor" in 1940s; Berlin; Ostpolitik; acknowledges victimhood of Jews

Waiting for POWs to arrive in Friedland, 1955

Eichmann on trial in Jerusalem, 1961

Dec. 1970 cover of Der Spiegel showing Brandt in Warsaw

The 1960s

1960s: learning & outrage about Nazis, but little emotional connection (abstract "fascism")

1967 NPD party congress

1974: Holocaust deniers in Hamburg

The demise of the 3 myths, 1

1970s: end of ignorance--older generations admit knowledge

• 1970 Brandt in Warsaw
• 1974-6 "Hitler Wave" (film, surveys)
• 1979 broadcast of US TV miniseries "Holocaust," followed by national history prize; 1989 film "Nasty Girl" (imdb, many reviews)
• detailed knowledge, but victimhood possible

The demise of the 3 myths, 2

1980s: end of victimization

• 1985: Reagan and Kohl at Bitburg-- (symbolic politics); Kohl's national memorial project (professor's conference paper about Neue Wache memorial)
• 1986: "Historians' Debate"
• 1989: end of divided Germany

1980s: Differentiation

Schlink: Discussion & Q6

• e-mail notification of web site updates: link & instructions on website
• Q6: Name 3 situations in which Hanna's choice to keep her secret secret determined the course of her life
• Discussion of Schlink: The Reader (handout)