Dealing with the Past in

Germany after WWII

Generations – Turning Points - Future Perspectives

Stefan Schneider International Youth Conference Krusevo 2014

Importance• Transition from totalitarian to democratic state

system

• How to deal with guilt, perpetrators and victimhood – and which steps led to reconciliation?

• To reflect on collective memory, collective identity and politics of memory

Stefan Schneider International Youth Conference Krusevo 2014

West Germany• Federal Republic of

Germany (FRG)• Post war period

o Silenceo People lived in denialo Focus on own victimhoodo Economic miracle

• Transitional Justiceo Nürnberg Trialso Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials

Stefan Schneider International Youth Conference Krusevo 2014

East Germany• German Democratic

Republic (GDR)• Denazification much

stronger than in FRG• Communism as the

cure for fascism• Focus on perpetration

of communists during Nazi time

Stefan Schneider International Youth Conference Krusevo 2014

Post-War Generation• Children generation in

FRGo Questioningo German Students Movemento Intra-familial conflictso Push for democratization

• Holocaust - TVSeries 1978

• The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank

Stefan Schneider International Youth Conference Krusevo 2014

German Reunification 1990

Fall of the Berlin Wall 1989

Stefan Schneider International Youth Conference Krusevo 2014

Culture of Remembrance today

“Stolpersteine” – Stumbling Blocks

Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe

Stefan Schneider International Youth Conference Krusevo 2014

Stefan Schneider International Youth Conference Krusevo 2014

Get active!• NGO Action for Non-Violence and Peacebuilding • Dealing with the Past project in Kosovo• Application deadline 1. October• Training 10. – 17. of October in Montenegro• http://anp-ks.org/ or https://

www.facebook.com/ojq.anp