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