Two German Memory Regimes: Conflicts About the Past in a Globalizing World

Since around 2020 Germany has been witnessing fierce conflicts over public memory. The memory of the Holocaust, a defining feature of Germany’s postwar self-fashioning, is increasingly being complemented—or, as some fear, challenged—by a new awareness of German atrocities during its colonial past. This conflict is best understood as a transition from one memory regime to another: from a regime that corresponded to the process of European integration (Memory 1) to one that responds to the challenges of an age of globalization (Memory 2). Ultimately, the conflicts between these two paradigms document the political struggle over the trajectory of German society and reflect the difficulties of coming to terms with rapid social change in an increasingly complex world.