HOLOCAUST ANGST: The Federal Republic of Germany and American Holocaust Memory since the 1970s

by Jacob S. Eder

Overview

In the face of an outpouring of research on Holocaust history, Holocaust Angst takes an innovative approach. It explores how Germans perceived and reacted to how Americans publicly commemorated the Holocaust. It argues that a network of mostly conservative West German officials and their associates in private organizations and foundations, with Chancellor Kohl located at its center, perceived themselves as the "victims" of the afterlife of the Holocaust in America. They were concerned that public manifestations of Holocaust memory, such as museums, monuments, and movies, could severely damage the Federal Republic's reputation and even cause Americans to question the Federal Republic's status as an ally. From their perspective, American Holocaust memorial culture constituted a stumbling block for (West) German-American relations since the late 1970s. Providing the first comprehensive, archival study of German efforts to cope with the Nazi past vis-?-vis the United States up to the 1990s, this book uncovers the fears of German officials-some of whom were former Nazis or World War II veterans-about the impact of Holocaust memory on the reputation of the Federal Republic and reveals their at times negative perceptions of American Jews. Focusing on a variety of fields of interaction, ranging from the diplomatic to the scholarly and public spheres, the book unearths the complicated and often contradictory process of managing the legacies of genocide on an international stage. West German decision makers realized that American Holocaust memory was not an "anti-German plot" by American Jews and acknowledged that they could not significantly change American Holocaust discourse. In the end, German confrontation with American Holocaust memory contributed to a more open engagement on the part of the West German government with this memory and eventually rendered it a "positive resource" for German self-representation abroad. Holocaust Angst offers new perspectives on postwar Germany's place in the world system as well as the Holocaust culture in the United States and the role of transnational organizations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190237844
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Jacob S. Eder is a professor of history at the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin. He is the co-editor of Holocaust Memory in a Globalizing World.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Abbreviations Note on Terminology, Translations, and Sources Introduction Chapter 1: Holocaustomania: West German Diplomats and American Holocaust Memorial Culture in the Late 1970s Chapter 2: A Holocaust Syndrome? Relations between the Federal Republic and American Jewish Organizations in the 1980s Chapter 3: Confronting the Anti-German Museum: (West) Germany and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1979-1993 Chapter 4: Politicians and Professors: The Politics of German History in the American Academy from the 1970s to 1990 Chapter 5: After Unification: The Transformation of Holocaust Memory, 1990-1998 Epilogue: Holocaust Angst and the Universalization of the Holocaust Notes Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

"[F]ascinating....Basing his book on a remarkable breadth of previously untapped archival sources, Eder has produced an original and nuanced analysis of the transnational politics of Holocaust memory. The book reveals the vast circle of political, cultural, and academic elites who played a part in this process. This important monograph should be read by those interested in Germany's efforts to confront its past and in memory studies in general. Not only does it illuminate how fear and perception can drive foreign policy, but it is also a timely reminder that democratic states—not simply dictatorial regimes—have devoted significant effort and resources to shaping and rewriting the narratives of the past for contemporary political purposes."—Deborah Barton, H-TGS

"[O]ffers an original and important interpretation of the changes in and controversies surrounding Holocaust memory from the 1970s through the 1990s....Eder successfully reconstructs the multiple networks and colorful personalities involved in the politics of Holocaust memory, their varied actions, and the pervasive angst in elite government, foundation, and academic circles....Holocaust Angst will be of interest to scholars and students in a variety of fields including not only Holocaust memory and the politics of history but also German-American relations in the rather neglected decades of the 1980s and 1990s, and Cold War cultural diplomacy. It revises our understanding of how Germans tried to come to terms with the Nazi past, and it illustrates how productive a transatlantic approach to the politics of history and memory can be."—Mary Nolan, Holocaust and Genocide Studies

"The title of the book, Holocaust Angst, is eye-catching and helps dramatize a littleknown chapter in history. The information about the role played by German historians, knowingly or unknowingly, in the political game is illuminating, and puts the average reader on the alert concerning important historical debates. Eder's book is highly recommended for scholars as well."—Moshe Zimmermann, Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs

"What makes Holocaust Angst stand out is the vast network of actors involved in the coordinated effort to shape American memory culture—diplomats, politicians, nonprofit groups, think tanks, and charitable foundations....Eder has produced a wonderful, detailed analysis of the transnational nature of memory politics and how Holocaust memory became increasingly internationalized over the past four decades."—Jon Berndt Olsen, Journal of American History

"[E]xcellent....Eder has produced a wonderful, detailed analysis of the transnational nature of memory politics and how Holocaust memory became increasingly internationalized over the past four decades."—Jon Berndt Olsen, Journal of American History

"[O]ffer[s] a quick tour of the difficult journey German society took after World War II by addressing Germany's inability to face the truth of the implication that Germans were potential Nazi collaborators, either by deceit or coercion. By addressing the confused feelings Germans experience when working through their past....[Eder] present[s] important new possibilities for Holocaust research."—Reinhard Zachau, German Studies Review

"This fascinating book shows how Holocaust memory in Germany was transformed from a burden to a special responsibility. Engagement with America, stereotypes about Jews, Cold War calculations, and scholarly integrity emerge as key factors in Eder's provocative analysis. Insightful, original, and meticulously researched, this is contemporary, transnational history at its best."—Doris L. Bergen, author of War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust

"Eder is the first historian to have exploited a wide variety of archival sources, most notably documentation of the Helmut Kohl government regarding its 'politics of history' and the internal records of the body that was responsible for planning the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington. What emerges from this research is a picture of a German leadership that was obsessed by fears that the emergence of Holocaust memory culture in the United States would threaten Germany's interests and reputation. Eder has produced an excellent and thoroughly original work of scholarship that should be read by anyone who wants to understand post-1945 German efforts to 'come to terms with the past.'"—Alan E. Steinweis, University of Vermont

"In Holocaust Angst Jacob Eder ably examines the confrontation of the West German government led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl with American Jewish organizations in the 1980s and 1990s. He draws on published and archival sources to shed light on the Bitburg controversy, West German policy toward Israel and the Middle East, efforts to influence themes in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and policy toward the nature of memorials to the Holocaust in West Germany. Part of Eder's distinctive and important contribution is to underscore the trans-Atlantic dimensions of what is often told as a strictly internal, West German history."'—Jeffrey Herf, University of Maryland

"Sheds an unusual and intriguing light on the hidden politics of history under West German Chancellor Kohl, and reveals continuing sensitivities among the German political elite concerning the 'Americanization' of the Holocaust in the 1980s and 1990s. An important book which illuminates the significance of behind the scenes German-American relations at this time."—Mary Fulbrook, author of Dissonant Lives: Generations and Violence through the German Dictatorships

From the Publisher