Doch noch nicht Geschichte

Die langfristigen Folgen der NS-Verfolgung

Abstract

Despite the demise of contemporary witnesses, the ‘Third Reich’ remains very vivid into the present day. Many of those who had been on the side of the National Socialists wanted to draw a line under this past, yet the enduring legacy of National Socialist persecutions re­ mains tangible through the generations. Now, however, we stand on the brink of an incisive historical turn. I shall first cite some of the reasons why Nazi persecution remained signif­ icant for so long after the collapse of the ‘Third Reich’. I shall then describe four phases which I believe distinguish the testimonies of the survivors – as also of the perpetrators. I shall also examine the so­called second generation of families of survivors as well as of perpetrators. Finally, I shall briefly discuss to what extent the ‘farewell to the contemporary witnesses’ nevertheless entails potential for thinking about new representations of the Nazi past and about historical scholarship in general.