Vergangenheitsbewältigung

Vergangenheitsbewältigung (German: , 'struggle to overcome the past' or “working through the past”) is a German term describing processes that since the later 20th century have become key in the study of post-1945 German literature, society, and culture.Vergangenheitsbewältigung describes the attempt to analyze, digest and learn to live with the past, in particular the Holocaust. The focus on learning is much in the spirit of philosopher George Santayana's oft-quoted observation that 'those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it'. It is a technical term also used in English that was coined after 1945 in West Germany, relating specifically to the atrocities committed during the Third Reich, when Adolf Hitler was in power in Germany, and to both historical and contemporary concerns about the extensive compromise and co-optation of many German cultural, religious, and political institutions by Nazism. The term therefore deals at once with the concrete responsibility of the German state (West Germany assumed the legal obligations of the Reich) and of individual Germans for what took place 'under Hitler', and with questions about the roots of legitimacy in a society whose development of the Enlightenment collapsed in the face of Nazi ideology.In Austria, ongoing arguments about the nature and significance of the Anschluss, and unresolved disputes about legal expressions of obligation and liability, have led to very different concerns, and to a far less institutionalized response by the government. Since the late 20th century, observers and analysts have expressed concerns about the ascent of 'Haiderism'.In some of its aspects, Vergangenheitsbewältigung can be compared to the attempts of other democratic countries to raise consciousness and come to terms with earlier periods of governmental and social abuses, such as the South African process of truth and reconciliation following the period of apartheid and suppression of African groups seeking political participation and freedom from white oppression.