The exhibition “After Hitler. The German Confrontation with National Socialism” at the Haus der Geschichte Bonn provides a multi-layered insight into the way in which different generations in Germany have come to terms with the Nazi past. The spectrum ranges from the repression and silence of contemporary witnesses of the Third Reich, to the critical scrutiny of the so-called ’68 generation, to the current social debates on right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism. Original objects such as Hedwig Maria Ley’s former bust of Hitler, later buried and placed in a relative’s living room, illustrate how collective and individual remembrance constantly takes on new forms and changes with each generation.
The exhibition emphasises that dealing with National Socialism remains central to democratic culture in Germany to this day. Recent incidents of anti-Semitic violence, such as the arson of a book box at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial in 2023, demonstrate this particularly impressively. Continuities, ruptures and conflicts in remembrance are tangible in all chapters of the exhibition and illustrate how relevant critical reflection on the Nazi era still is for our social self-image.
