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German History 2008 26(3):427-436; doi:10.1093/gerhis/ghn029
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the German History Society. All rights reserved.

On the Use of ‘Collective Memory’

Bill Niven

Nottingham Trent University


  Abstract

This article reviews a number of significant new publications which address the relationship between memory and history in twentieth-century Germany. These publications analyse the representation of the past in a range of cultural forms such as literature, memorials, the media, film, and travel guides. Each of the works discussed questions the value of the term ‘collective memory’, and can be viewed as evidence that the historiography of memory has recognized the limitations of ‘collective memory’ as a heuristic tool. Yet, as this review article argues, while the authors seek to deploy more differentiated terms, these do not necessarily convince as alternatives. Besides, the authors continue to refer to ‘collective memory’.

Keywords: Collective memory, German victimhood, generations, Holocaust, memorialization

Der lange Schatten der Vergangenheit. Erinnerungskultur und Geschichtspolitik. By Aleida Assmann. C.H. Beck: Munich. 2006. 320 pp. {euro}18.90 (paperback).

Germany as a Culture of Remembrance: Promises and Limits of Writing History. By Alon Confino. The University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill. 2006. 336 pp. £17.50/$24.95 (paperback).

Ich nicht. Erinnerungen an eine Kindheit und Jugend. By Joachim Fest. Rowohlt: Reinbek bei Hamburg. 2006. 368 pp. {euro}19.50 (hardback).

Structures of Memory: Understanding Urban Change in Berlin and Beyond. By Jennifer A. Jordan. Stanford University Press: Stanford. 2006. 304 pp. £17.50/$20.66 (paperback).

In Pursuit of German Memory: History, Television and Politics after Auschwitz. By Wulf Kansteiner. Ohio University Press: Athens, OH. 2006. 440 pp. £47.95/$63.00 (hardback); £18.50/$22 (paperback).


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