The Return of Memory: New Discussions about German Suffering in World War II

Abstract

Just ahead of three Harry Potter books, atop Germany's 2002 list of bestselling fiction, was Giinther Grass's novel Im Krebsgang, perhaps not so surprising, given the popularity of the country's latest Nobel laureate in literature. What was unexpected from this prominent left ist, however, was the content of the book, which described the sink ing of a ship in the final months of World War II and the deaths of thousands of refugees fleeing the advancing Red Army. Even more surprising was the media reaction in Germany and overseas. Almost every major newspaper and magazine, and many television net works, extensively and sympathetically covered the book and the ensuing discussion of the memory of German suffering during the final months and immediate aftermath of the Nazi regime.1 This heightened attention persisted throughout 2002 and into 2003, with the publication of Jorg Friedrich's magnum opus on the bombing of German cities and of the translation of W.G. Sebald's 1999 Luftkrieg und Literatur, issued in English as On the Natural History of Destruction. Long absent from public consciousness and discourse, the resurrec tion of the memory of German suffering generated many questions (such as, why now?) and concerns about the role of these memories in rehabilitating nationalist or revanchist sentiments. A detailed