2010-02-13: Germany after World War Two (part 1)

New research examines how postwar German history textbooks addressed the traumatic events of the Second World War. Brian Puaca (Christopher Newport University) explores how the textbooks first depicted Germans as victims and how these books gradually incorporated a frank and honest account of National Socialism and Nazi atrocities. He challenges those who have argued that the Germans have long repressed their memories of the Second World War – both in terms of their own suffering and the crimes committed in their name.