Erinnerungskultur (‘culture of remembrance’)Roughly translating as ‘culture of remembrance’, this word refers to the structures in society designed to memorialise and maintain consciousness of the horrific crimes and atrocities of the Nazi era. Remembering and honouring the victims of the Holocaust and the persecuted groups who suffered during that period is immensely important to German culture. The same term has also been used in the context of reviewing and studying the East German communist dictatorship’s crimes and injustices. But the word also speaks to a wider infatuation with the natural world, and particularly forests, which sits at the heart of German culture. Forests and nature also loom high in German medieval and romantic texts, and they have imprinted strongly on the national consciousness as nowhere else.

Source: The Local August 23, 2021 15:11 UTC