Research Catalog

Die Legende von der "Zweiten Schuld" : Vergangenheitsbewältigung in der Ära Adenauer

Title: Die Legende von der "Zweiten Schuld" : Vergangenheitsbewältigung in der Ära Adenauer / Manfred Kittel.
Author: Kittel, Manfred, 1962-
Publication: Berlin : Ullstein, 1993.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Use in library	DD259.2 .K546 1993	Off-site

Details

Description

480 pages; 22 cm

Summary

Contends that, contrary to common opinion, a great deal of coping with the Nazi past took place in West German public discourse in the 1950s-early '60s. Ch. 4 (pp. 228-352), "Abwehr von Neonazismus und Antisemitismus", deals with Germans' recognition of their shared responsibility for Nazi crimes, and the need to prevent their repetition. Relates widespread support for restitution payments to the Jews, both on the eve of Adenauer's proposal in the Bundestag and in the subsequent debate. Notes the extant literature, media programs, youth projects, and research dealing with the Holocaust. During the 1950s there were almost no war crimes trials, until the nation was shocked by the chance discovery in 1958 of an Einsatzgruppen commander who had never been tried. This led to the establishment of the Central Agency at Ludwigsburg which succeeded in bringing many war criminals to justice. Cites popular protest against courts which were lax in sentencing such criminals or in enforcing anti-racist laws against neo-Nazis, as well as condemnation by both politicians and the public of antisemitic propaganda and vandalism, as signs of successful "Vergangenheitsbewältigung". Argues that the "excessive" preoccupation of Germans with past guilt eroded their national self-image and weakened the Republic.

Subject

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (p. 452-469) and index.

ISBN

3550071884
9783550071881

LCCN

94115032
9783550071881

OCLC

ocm28944804
28944804
SCSB-2031307

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library