Still the Unmasterable Past? The Impact of History and Memory in the Federal Republic of Germany.

For decades, collective memories of the Nazi period and the Holocaust have influenced greatly the Federal Republic of Germany. Despite fears that such progressive memories would decline after unification, the last twenty years have witnessed the institutionalisation of this memory regime. More generally, coming to terms with this past has been a constant political and cultural dynamic since 1945, even if the intensity of this process increased after the big debates of the 1980s. The last decade, however, has witnessed the development of a more pluralistic memory regime in the Berlin Republic, with collective memories of the East German dictatorship and, more importantly, the long-dormant memory of German suffering competing with memory of the Holocaust for visibility and influence. This article concludes with some speculation about the future of collective memories in Germany in light of evidence that the phase of intensive memory work may be coming to an end. The long-unmasterable past may be overcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]