Rewriting Memories: Family Recollections of the National Socialist Past in Germany

Tschuggnall, Karoline; Welzer, Harald

doi:10.1177/1354067x02008001625

Cited by 31 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 14 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…This sometimes resulted in a greater critical Further, by explicitly examining the intersections of the institutionalized and the (noninstitutionalized) individual memories, the Model can reveal some mechanisms of "resistance" or reinterpretations of the "official" memories (Popular Memory Group 2011[1982). Specifically, in this research it demonstrated the importance of the interactional level of mnemonic communities (such as family) as alternative sources of presentations of the past (Beim 2007;Fine and Beim 2007;Tschuggnall and Welzer 2002;Welzer 2010;Clarke and Wölfel 2011), as well as the relevance of socio-cultural experiences which filter the salience and resonance of all available presentations of the past (Griswold 1987b;Zerubavel 1997;Radway 1984;Zelizer 1993). Finally, this Model can also be used as a starting point of more in-depth explorations of other mechanisms which affect the credibility and differential use of available presentations of the past, such as the educational effect or credibility of the form in which the past is presented.…”

Section: The Main Findings and Interactional Model Of Collective Memomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Young generations, thus, reinterpreted their grandparents' stories by ignoring all "problematic" elements and even re-inventing their grandparents' behavior in ways that fit with young people's values based on their internalized negative evaluations of the Holocaust and the German Nazi past (Tschuggnall and Welzer 2002;Welzer 2008Welzer , 2010Welzer , 2011. Therefore, this research highlighted that family talk is an important and trusted source not only in the cases where it provides alternative narratives to those dis-trusted state ones, as in Wertsch's example above, but also in cases where official narratives are accepted and internalized.…”

Section: Competing Sources Of Repertoires Of Collective Memoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, in the studies on young Germans who dismissed the family Nazi past, such re-imaginations of the past served to reconcile young Germans' perceptions of selves as people critical and condemning of the Nazi regime with their need to preserve the family cohesion and justify their emotional attachments to the family members involved in the Nazi crimes (Tschuggnall and Welzer 2002;Welzer 2010). …”

Section: What Are Appropriated Collective Memories Used For?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, some memories may sustain individuals' positive self-perceptions (Clarke and Wölfel 2011;36 Because they may serve some other function such as the preservation of self-esteem. Tschuggnall and Welzer 2002), they may provide individuals with tools to make sense of their current concerns (Clarke and Wölfel 2011), or they may be incorporated as elements of individuals' salient national identifications (Hyland 2011). …”

Section: What Are Appropriated Collective Memories Used For?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This means that collective memories are formed through social interaction (Fine and Beim 2007) or through everyday "doing history" (Tschuggnall and Welzer 2002;Fine and Beim 2007). Individuals make sense of the past in interaction within their social groups (such a family or religious community) and in interaction with institutions of their everyday lives through which they encounter institutionalized memories (such as school or the public discourse) (Beim 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social Changes and the Generational Differences in the Formation of Collective Memories (Dissertation, 2012)

Juroš¹

2016

Preprint

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The present study found that the textbook and newspaper presentations, primarily shaped by the 1990s nation-building elites, mainly portrayed Yugoslavia in negative political, economic and ethnic terms. However, findings from 72 in-depth interviews with the two young Croatian generations suggested that the influence of the dominant negative re-evaluations was limited, particularly among the vocationally educated individuals who were least exposed to the institutionalized presentations of the Yugoslav past. In contrast, the young Croats, independently of their differences, generally dominantly evaluated Yugoslavia in positive social terms, which was a perspective obtained from their parents and older people recounting their good lives in Yugoslavia. This perspective was appropriated not only because its sources were emotionally available and credible, but also because the social lens on Yugoslavia helped the young Croats make sense of their lives in the social insecurities of the contemporary Croatian society.ix Therefore, the present study showed how different beliefs on the Yugoslav past, available from different sources, were appropriated and used by the young Croats. I also proposedInteractional Model of Collective Memories Formation, which elaborated how the influences on the beliefs of the past were formed at the macro, micro and the level of social interaction. Finally, this study also illuminated how active actors reinterpreted the presentations of the past, thus demonstrating how individuals can use culture in diverse and adept ways. They wore their hair long, discovered LSD and pot They sang about peace, with Tito they were non-aligned On national basis, they were not divided It was easy to talk philosophy in a student mess, To be a penniless artist and a musician in-between In a place where things were working out all-right, where the state functioned It was easy to be a student in the 1970s My folks -they easily found their first job Nobody hit the unemployment office with a degree in their hands The living was good in that party system Nobody talked about Goli otok, you just changed the subject The students with their hair long got a degree and got a job, got their paycheck regularly You even could get an apartment from the United Work It was easy then to have big plans To make your own nest, to be relaxed, no tensions there To have your spot in the company reserved, in the selfmanagement committee as well You stayed until you retired -all your life at the same desk Everything didn't seem as a bluff, a cheap trick in those days Nobody went hungry They were happy in their little apartment Secure job and a retirement fund It was an easy decision to have us Nothing is the same anymore, there is no secure path There is no direct flight to the stars, to the better tomorrow Black-and- (born 1989-91), was born after the break-up, but it spent its formative years in democratizing post-Yugoslav period.Both these generations were hardly able to form mature meaningful evaluations of the past. 4Rather, for th...

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Section: The Main Findings and Interactional Model Of Collective Memomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Competing Sources Of Repertoires Of Collective Memoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What Are Appropriated Collective Memories Used For?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What Are Appropriated Collective Memories Used For?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social Changes and the Generational Differences in the Formation of Collective Memories (Dissertation, 2012)

Juroš¹

2016

Preprint

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Personal and Intergenerational Narratives of Transgression and Pride in Emerging Adulthood: Links to Gender and Well‐Being

Merrill

Srinivas

Fıvush

2016

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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Intergenerational narratives, stories parents share with children about their own youthful experiences, may facilitate the understanding of challenging life experiences and be related to psychological well-being; yet, little research has examined what young people know of their parents' self-challenging and self-enhancing experiences and how they interpret them. Research examining intergenerational narratives has observed relations between adolescents' narratives and their psychological well-being, but these relations may depend upon gender and narrative type. In the current study, 94 college students provided intergenerational and personal narratives of transgression and pride experiences. Narratives were coded for emotional, cognitive, and evaluative content. Results show that transgression and pride narratives differed in content, and that women provided more interpretative content than men. Stories about mothers contained more interpretative content than fathers, but this pattern varied by participant gender. Finally, relations to well-being were observed, especially for cognitive content in stories of participants' same-gender parent.

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My family matters: Past and future life stories in adolescents with refugee background

Ramsgaard

Bohn

2019

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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Rewriting Memories: Family Recollections of the National Socialist Past in Germany

Cited by 31 publications

References 14 publications

Social Changes and the Generational Differences in the Formation of Collective Memories (Dissertation, 2012)

Social Changes and the Generational Differences in the Formation of Collective Memories (Dissertation, 2012)

Personal and Intergenerational Narratives of Transgression and Pride in Emerging Adulthood: Links to Gender and Well‐Being

My family matters: Past and future life stories in adolescents with refugee background

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