The Suffering of the Perpetrators: Unleashing Collective Memory in German Literature of the Twenty-First Century

2005 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Cohen-Pfister
Author(s):  
James J. Coleman

The providential-unionist interpretation of the legacy of William Wallace and Robert Bruce might seem unusual in the early twenty-first century, yet few would argue that these patriot heroes are unworthy of a prominent place in the nation’s collective memory. Seen from the perspective of modern Scottish nationalism, the unionist element of the Victorian Wallace is self-evidently ‘wrong’, yet even the most ardent nationalist would agree that nineteenth-century Scots were quite correct to call upon Wallace as one of the founders of Scottish nationality. Wallace, Bruce, Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn still matter; their significance has endured.


2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Michael Press

A twenty-first-century visitor must find it difficult to imagine that the Thuringian city of Eisenach, lately known for its shopping, once held a place in the collective memory of Germans. On October 18, 1817, 450 students descended upon Eisenach for the Wartburg Festival, a two-day commemoration of the tricentenary of Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses and the fourth anniversary of the Battle of Leipzig. Drawing on the symbolic power of nearby Wartburg Castle, best known as Luther's hideout in 1521, the festival witnessed a number of songs and speeches calling peacefully for the introduction of reforms by German governments. But that was only part of the story. In a sideshow to the official proceedings, a handful of students also claimed to throw “reactionary” literature into a bonfire, thus interesting police across Europe.


2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Eric Langenbacher ◽  
Bill Niven ◽  
Ruth Wittlinger

As the inestimable Harold Wilson once put it, “a week is a longtime in politics.” Certainly, the evolution of collective memory andscholarship devoted to it is much slower than the pace of day-to-daypolitics. Yet, there are periods of rapid change—of paradigm shiftseven—where the landscape shifts rapidly over a relatively shortperiod of time. This special issue, we think, captures one of theseperiods of rapid change. Compared to the last special thematic issueof German Politics and Society from 20051 and even compared tomany books published in the last few years, the state of collectivememory in Germany appears very different today. Most prominently,Holocaust-centered memory is foregrounded to a muchlesser extent than previously.


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