The Non-German German and the German German: Dilemmas of Identity after the Holocaust

In 2002 the German public was treated to a heated debate about the morality of the Allied bombing campaign against German cities, a discussion saturated by graphic images of charred mounds of civilians that excited thoughts of Germans as victims of the British, the Americans, and perhaps even the Nazis.15 Even the Nobel laureate Günter Grass signaled the preoccupation with German suffering in his novel Im Krebsgang (Crabwalk).16 All the while, the expellee organizations agitate for a memorial site for their own suffering, much to the alarm of neighboring Poland and the Czech Republic, ever alert to any sign of irridentist politics in Germany.\n188 Conclusion The dilemma about the integrity of German conscience reflected the underlying structure of national memory.