How do societies find their way towards democracy at the end of dictatorships? What does the confrontation with violence and injustice mean for the way in which they re-establish their identities after the end of tyranny? Henning Tümmers examines the complex sequel to National Socialism in the "old" Federal Republic of Germany, in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), and in united Germany. Using pivotal examples, he analyses the way in which Nazi crimes were dealt with in politics, society, the academic world and culture, the ways in which both West and East were interwoven with the politics of the past, and competing memories of the "Third Reich" after 1989. It becomes clear that despite the growing distance from Nazism, this German past is still having a considerable sociopolitical impact even in the twenty-first century.

Dr. Henning Tümmers teaches contemporary history at the University of Tübingen.