CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2016 Focussing on German responses to the Holocaust since 1945, Postwar Germany and the Holocaust traces the process of Vergangenheitsbewaltigung ('overcoming the past'), the persistence of silences, evasions and popular mythologies with regards to the Nazi era, and cultural representations of the Holocaust up to the present day. It explores the complexities of German memory cultures, the construction of war and Holocaust memorials and the various political debates and scandals surrounding the darkest chapter in German history. The book comparatively maps out the legacy of the Holocaust in both East and West Germany, as well as the unified Germany that followed, to engender a consideration of the effects of division, Cold War politics and reunification on German understanding of the Holocaust. Synthesizing key historiographical debates and drawing upon a variety of primary source material, this volume is an important exploration of Germany's postwar relationship with the Holocaust. Complete with chapters on education, war crime trials, memorialization and Germany and the Holocaust today, as well as a number of illustrations, maps and a detailed bibliography, Postwar Germany and the Holocaust is a pivotal text for anyone interested in understanding the full impact of the Holocaust in Germany.

The Holocaust occupies a central place in British society. References within media and political spheres remain commonplace and there has been a national Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK every January since 2000. Remembrance of the Second World War and the Nazi genocide plays an important role in the creation of social cohesion and identity in Britain, yet how, exactly, does the country deal with this difficult period of history? Bringing together leading academics in the field, this volume explores Britain's complex relationship with the Holocaust since 1945. Encompassing representations of the Holocaust within film, art, public exhibition spaces and official, state-sanctioned commemoration, this study offers an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to the subject and highlights some of the latest developments in research. It examines political, social and cultural reactions to the Holocaust and contributes to wider questions as to how war and genocide is recalled in today's multicultural Britain.

The revival of Nazi war crime trials by the start of the 1960s appeared to usher in a new era of West German reflection, soul-searching and critical confrontation with the murderous legacy of the Third Reich. For the first time, the Holocaust began to assume a central position within the public historical consciousness. War crime trials were accompanied by a new wave of commemorative activities, an outpouring of survivor testimony, novels and historical research, as well as cultural representations of the Nazi era in terms of films, plays and television series. West Germans and the Nazi Legacy constitutes a new history of the complex memory cultures that persisted within West Germany. It moves away from the much discussed diplomatic overtures by leading politicians, state-sponsored memorials and other public events to examine instead the attitudes of the ordinary people at the grass roots level of West German society. Utilizing the war crimes trials, this book focuses on responses to the prospect of continuing investigations, the reception afforded to those found to have been implicated in the crimes of the regime, and the sheer resonance that courtroom proceedings could generate within a local community. It draws upon case studies dealing with different modes of criminal behaviour, from the deliberately sadistic actions of individual concentration camp guards, to the level of knowledge held by police officers overseeing the resettlement' of Polish Jews. It also compares responses afforded to trials conducted in different regions of the Federal Republic -- areas with contrasting political, social and religious constituencies which often had their own peculiarly close relationship with the former Nazi regime to contend with. Unlike many recent works on West German memory which offer a case study of an individual town or city, this book takes into account events from across the Federal Republic. It highlights the influence of distinct

How has Britain understood the Holocaust? This interdisciplinary volume explores popular narratives of the Second World War and cultural representations of the Holocaust from the Nuremberg trials of 1945-6, to the establishment of a national memorial day by the start of the twenty-first century.

Between 1933 and 1945, Germany was under the grip of the Third Reich. Headed by Adolf Hitler, this National Socialist state endeavoured to control every aspect of the nation's political, social, economic, religious and cultural life, and indoctrinate every German citizen in its ideology. This intrinsically racist regime also embarked on an expansionist foreign policy that, at its peak, brought most of continental Europe under Nazi control. The resulting war - and genocide - killed millions of soldiers and civilians and its effects continue to be felt to this day. Nazism, it has been suggested, was "the ultimate embodiment of evil", and historians have grappled with one fundamental question since 1945: how was any of this possible in a modern, cultured nation in the heart of 20th century Europe? There is no easy way to sum up the Third Reich, but in this short book Caroline Sharples tells the story of Hitler's rise to power and looks at the arguments which have raged about the Third Reich, in particular the argument about how much power Hitler actually had. Was he, as some believe, an omnipotent leader with clear ideological goals and a clear programme for implementing them? Or was the Third Reich much more confused, with ad hoc decision making and intense power rivalries generating a "cumulative radicalism" which eventually brought it down?

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2016 Focussing on German responses to the Holocaust since 1945, Postwar Germany and the Holocaust traces the process of Vergangenheitsbewaltigung ('overcoming the past'), the persistence of silences, evasions and popular mythologies with regards to the Nazi era, and cultural representations of the Holocaust up to the present day. It explores the complexities of German memory cultures, the construction of war and Holocaust memorials and the various political debates and scandals surrounding the darkest chapter in German history. The book comparatively maps out the legacy of the Holocaust in both East and West Germany, as well as the unified Germany that followed, to engender a consideration of the effects of division, Cold War politics and reunification on German understanding of the Holocaust. Synthesizing key historiographical debates and drawing upon a variety of primary source material, this volume is an important exploration of Germany's postwar relationship with the Holocaust. Complete with chapters on education, war crime trials, memorialization and Germany and the Holocaust today, as well as a number of illustrations, maps and a detailed bibliography, Postwar Germany and the Holocaust is a pivotal text for anyone interested in understanding the full impact of the Holocaust in Germany.