Posted: November 9th, 2016

What has been the German strategy for acknowledgement of its past aggression and its signaling that it is now a peaceful nation?

German Historical Memory: How to Become the most Popular Nation in the World

Successful Public Diplomacy is about rehabilitating a nation from its past transgressions and making it the most popular nation in the world.  In May, 2013, the BBC reported that a recent poll showed that Germany was the most popular nation in the world.  Considering its past, perhaps no state has been more successful at coming to terms with aggression and presenting a memory narrative that makes it particularly attractive.  So we will end with the German case and explore how the nation has been so successful, and how it might continue to do so (with potential pitfalls).

 

Readings:

Maja Zehfuss, Wounds of Memory, pgs 1-33. 76-220

 

Elazar Barkan, The Guilt of Nations pgs 1-29; 88-111

 

Outline:

  • Brief summarize important points on both reading

 

  • The guilt of nation:
  • Pull out some controversial points from reading
  • Analysis both German and Jews perspective
  • Pull out one important theme to discuss
  • Wounds of memory:
    1. Pull out some main points from reading
  • Address the following questions:
  • What has been the German strategy for acknowledgement of its past aggression and its signaling that it is now a peaceful nation?
  • What arenas of contestation remain for the Germans? Consider in particular how memorialization of German war dead remains a contentious issue (and the disaster that was Reagan’s trip to Bitburg cemetery)
  • And think of 3 discussion questions

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