Germany’s History Wars: Contesting Memory and Identity Today

Jürgen Zimmerer

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Germany’s History Wars

Contesting Memory and Identity Today

Jürgen Zimmerer
Edited by: Jürgen Zimmerer
Funded by: Universität Hamburg

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2026

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This book is in the series

Volume 4 | European Colonialism in Global Perspective

About this book

Like no other country’s Germany’s identity is shaped by its history or rather by the critical engagement with this history. The book traces the most important public debates on history since the new millennium thereby adding a mosaic of topics and perspectives to the memorial landscape of the Berlin Republic.

The book is divided into five parts, "German Empire and the question of continuity", "National Socialism and World War II", "The Holocaust and Multidirectional Memory", "GDR/BRD/Unification" to "The Berlin Republic. Marginalization and new Master Narratives", and addresses them from different biographical backgrounds, thereby creating a mosaic of topics and perspectives.

Author / Editor information

Jürgen Zimmerer, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

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Frontmatter
I

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Preface
V
Jürgen Zimmerer

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Contents
XLVII

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Introduction
1
Jürgen Zimmerer

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The German Empire and its Continuities
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New tussles over Bismarck and an old bogeyman in the dispute over the German Empire: two debates
25
Christoph Nonn

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The Herero and Nama genocide and German history
41
Jürgen Zimmerer

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“Fritz Fischer reloaded?” The new dispute over the old empire
63
Eckart Conze

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Controversy in the time of COVID-19: the dispute over the Hohenzollern’s relationship to National Socialism
85
Thomas Weber

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National Socialism and the Second World War
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Marginalised, invisible? Struggles over the recognition of the “Third Reich’s” forgotten victims
105
Bodie A. Ashton

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War of extermination and German occupation. The Second World War, regimes of sayability, grand narratives and the lacunae of remembrance
129
Tatjana Tönsmeyer

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The “forgotten East”: the German war of annihilation against Poland and the Soviet Union and the blind spots of German remembrance
149
Franziska Davies

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War and history: Russia, Ukraine and the problem of historical comparison
171
Dieter Pohl and Thomas Sandkühler

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Holocaust and multidirectional memory
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Lived multidirectionality: Historikerstreit 2.0 and the politics of Holocaust memory
189
Michael Rothberg

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The catechisms of activism. The significance of Israel in the “historians’ dispute 2.0”
209
Meron Mendel

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“The German debate is marked by obsessions”: an affective field and its consequences
225
A. Dirk Moses

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Hermeneutic harassment: the undermining of Jewish-Arab and Arab-Jewish solidarity
251
Sonja Hegasy

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The dispute over Achille Mbembe and the question of interpretive sovereignty over history
269
Hajo Funke

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The returning boomerang: documenta fifteen, German debates and lacunae
285
Hanno Hauenstein and Eyal Weizman

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East Germany, West Germany and Reunification
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The battle for the future: GDR history amid clashing interests
305
Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk

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The GDR as a migration society and the racist violence of the “Baseball Bat Years”: the path to the Berlin Republic
325
Katharina Warda and Patrice G. Poutrus

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Voids of memory: “guest workers” in West Germany
343
Lisa Haßler

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Berlin is not Bonn is not Weimar. Vying political interpretations of the German republics
359
Claudia C. Gatzka

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The Berlin Republic: Marginalisations and new master narratives
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“Fallen among the Germans.” Black German identity and the literary struggle for recognition
375
Chiedozie Michael Uhuegbu

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Whose “leading culture”? Debates on Islam and Almanya’s hidden memories
395
Ozan Zakariya Keskinkılıç

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On the “splatter of birdshit,” Bismarck and German victims: the New Right and the struggle over the German culture of remembrance
411
Sophie Schmalenberger

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Mölln, the NSU, Halle and Hanau – far-right terror, continuity and German (non-) remembrance
429
Efsun Kızılay

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Between nation and association of states: historical discourses on Europe and the crises of the early twenty-first century
445
Frank Jacob

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Authors

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Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

December 29, 2025

eBook ISBN:

9783111588551

Hardcover published on:

December 29, 2025

Hardcover ISBN:

9783111587394

Original publisher:

Reclam

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Front matter:

50

Main content:

466

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111588551

eBook ISBN: 9783111588551

Hardcover ISBN: 9783111587394

Keywords for this book

memory politics; culture wars; history wars; German history_x000D_

Audience(s) for this book

Historians of Germany, Scholars interested in Memory Studies, Holocaust, Colonialism, and German Unification

Creative Commons

BY-NC-ND 4.0

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Manufacturer information:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com

Germany’s History Wars

About this book

Author / Editor information

Topics

Frontmatter

Preface

Contents

Introduction

New tussles over Bismarck and an old bogeyman in the dispute over the German Empire: two debates

The Herero and Nama genocide and German history

“Fritz Fischer reloaded?” The new dispute over the old empire

Controversy in the time of COVID-19: the dispute over the Hohenzollern’s relationship to National Socialism

Marginalised, invisible? Struggles over the recognition of the “Third Reich’s” forgotten victims

War of extermination and German occupation. The Second World War, regimes of sayability, grand narratives and the lacunae of remembrance

The “forgotten East”: the German war of annihilation against Poland and the Soviet Union and the blind spots of German remembrance

War and history: Russia, Ukraine and the problem of historical comparison

Lived multidirectionality: Historikerstreit 2.0 and the politics of Holocaust memory

The catechisms of activism. The significance of Israel in the “historians’ dispute 2.0”

“The German debate is marked by obsessions”: an affective field and its consequences

Hermeneutic harassment: the undermining of Jewish-Arab and Arab-Jewish solidarity

The dispute over Achille Mbembe and the question of interpretive sovereignty over history

The returning boomerang: documenta fifteen, German debates and lacunae

The battle for the future: GDR history amid clashing interests

The GDR as a migration society and the racist violence of the “Baseball Bat Years”: the path to the Berlin Republic

Voids of memory: “guest workers” in West Germany

Berlin is not Bonn is not Weimar. Vying political interpretations of the German republics

“Fallen among the Germans.” Black German identity and the literary struggle for recognition

Whose “leading culture”? Debates on Islam and Almanya’s hidden memories

On the “splatter of birdshit,” Bismarck and German victims: the New Right and the struggle over the German culture of remembrance

Mölln, the NSU, Halle and Hanau – far-right terror, continuity and German (non-) remembrance

Between nation and association of states: historical discourses on Europe and the crises of the early twenty-first century

Authors

Germany’s History Wars

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Topics

Table of contents

Frontmatter

Preface

Contents

Introduction

New tussles over Bismarck and an old bogeyman in the dispute over the German Empire: two debates

The Herero and Nama genocide and German history

“Fritz Fischer reloaded?” The new dispute over the old empire

Controversy in the time of COVID-19: the dispute over the Hohenzollern’s relationship to National Socialism

Marginalised, invisible? Struggles over the recognition of the “Third Reich’s” forgotten victims

War of extermination and German occupation. The Second World War, regimes of sayability, grand narratives and the lacunae of remembrance

The “forgotten East”: the German war of annihilation against Poland and the Soviet Union and the blind spots of German remembrance

War and history: Russia, Ukraine and the problem of historical comparison

Lived multidirectionality: Historikerstreit 2.0 and the politics of Holocaust memory

The catechisms of activism. The significance of Israel in the “historians’ dispute 2.0”

“The German debate is marked by obsessions”: an affective field and its consequences

Hermeneutic harassment: the undermining of Jewish-Arab and Arab-Jewish solidarity

The dispute over Achille Mbembe and the question of interpretive sovereignty over history

The returning boomerang: documenta fifteen, German debates and lacunae

The battle for the future: GDR history amid clashing interests

The GDR as a migration society and the racist violence of the “Baseball Bat Years”: the path to the Berlin Republic

Voids of memory: “guest workers” in West Germany

Berlin is not Bonn is not Weimar. Vying political interpretations of the German republics

“Fallen among the Germans.” Black German identity and the literary struggle for recognition

Whose “leading culture”? Debates on Islam and Almanya’s hidden memories

On the “splatter of birdshit,” Bismarck and German victims: the New Right and the struggle over the German culture of remembrance

Mölln, the NSU, Halle and Hanau – far-right terror, continuity and German (non-) remembrance

Between nation and association of states: historical discourses on Europe and the crises of the early twenty-first century

Authors

Bibliographic data