Coming to Terms with the Past

Very few societies have the good fortune to boast a truly unproblematic, non-violent past. Dark corners are often found even in exemplary democracies that have not fought in wars. By Stefan WeidnerMore ...

‘Vergangenheitsbewältigung’ – coming to terms with, or (literally) ‘overcoming’ the past – is a word that is as popular as it is controversial. It is also imprecise. One is no longer in a position to come to terms with something that has already happened. By Peter ReichelMore ...

Since 1979 the German city of Cologne has been home to a unique memorial site and research institute that commemorates a specific element of the Nazi power apparatus: the bureaucratic and physical terror perpetrated by the state secret police. By Simone FalkMore ...

‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ These words, a quote from the philosopher George Santayana, can be found on a plaque in the museum of the Auschwitz concentration camp. But what does ‘remembering the past’ actually mean when – as the written recollections of those who lived through it teach us – memory is a dynamic process? By Stanisław StrasburgerMore ...

The Arab perspective on the murder and displacement of the European Jews in the Second World War can only be assessed in connection with the Jewish settlement of Palestine. Periods of Holocaust denial have alternated with the acknowledgement of Jewish history in Europe. Now, however, there is growing recognition of the fact that only a mutual acknowledgement of the history of each other’s suffering will open up new perspectives for coexistence. By Götz NordbruchMore ...

As acting director of the agency overseeing the Stasi (state security) files of the former East German regime, Herbert Ziehm is very knowledgeable about coming to terms with a past under a dictatorship. In this interview he emphasises how closely democracy is linked to the careful re-examination of the past. By Herbert Ziehm / Albrecht MetzgerMore ...

History does not have to be rewritten, but it is one of the most important bases for the restructuring of state and society after the Arab revolutions – as is the case in Morocco, where the so-called Truth and Reconciliation Commission has initiated the process of coming to terms with the past from the top down. By Sonja HegasyMore ...

Fifty years ago, on 5th July 1962, Algeria officially became an independent state. The war of independence from 1954 to 1962 and the civil war in the 1990s were extreme collective experiences of violence, which so far Algerian society has scarcely been able to process. By Dalila Dalléas Bouzar / Martina SabraMore ...

Egypt is no different from other countries where historical narratives mirror conflict and its resolution. The Mubarak regime, like those preceding it, effectively manipulated historical memory to serve its own purposes. By Judy BarsalouMore ...

Given the absence of press freedom in Iran, both in the country itself and among Iranian exiles it is literature that is acting as a vehicle for discussion: about the path towards modernisation, about national identity, about the legacy that should be preserved on the one hand and the burdens to be got rid of on the other. By Kurt ScharfMore ...

‘As a sect, the Alawites should be exterminated.’ This outlandish statement was recently posted on the Facebook pages of fanatical Syrian activists. This is not the first time such statements have appeared since the beginning of the protests against the regime in March of 2011. By Ahmad HissouMore ...

Many of the artworks of Arab origin at the thirteenth Documenta in Kassel are socio-critical and political, and explore the interaction with the media. The Arab revolutions also constitute a ‘nerve’ in the Documenta’s central exhibition hall, the ‘brain’, thereby emphasising the global significance of the Arab Spring. By Lotte FasshauerMore ...

The dOCUMENTA in the German city of Kassel is said to be the world’s biggest exhibition of contemporary art. The 13th dOCUMENTA was held this year, and for the first time Afghanistan was a focus of the exhibition programme. By Martin GernerMore ...