The Privatization of German History

Signandsight notes that Neue Zurcher Zeitung's reporting on the 60th anniversary of WWII includes a "dossier" on the ways in which Germans, even the sixties radicals, have begun to modify their views of German history. He writes that

even a casual glance will assure you that certain circles that previously interpreted everything, even the private sphere, as 'political', are today astonishingly un-political in their 'privatising' view of history. This view now blurs the differences between perpetrators, victims and tacit supporters of the Nazi regime.

This is interesting -- it might be seen as an attempt on the part of Germans born after WWII to evade responsibility for the sins of their fathers, but it is paralleled by trends in British and American historiography where we have also seen a turning away from the radical attempt to politicize all aspects of our past. It would appear that western society as a whole is turning away from the radical prescriptions of the sixties generation.

Read the English synopsis here. [scroll down]