Apology and shame - a different culture of remembrance -

The choice of lecture and speaker for the recent November meeting of The Arts Society Alton (TASA) could not have been more appropriate. Angela Findlay’s Anglo-German roots led her to research Germany’s post-WW2 process of remembrance and their extraordinary culture of 'counter memorials' and site-specific artworks that emerged to express national shame and apology. With the current debates on statues and monuments, the ways Germany has tried to deal with its dark past is more relevant and inspiring than ever.

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In the UK, little is known about Germany’s complex post-WW2 process of ‘coming to terms with’ the atrocities of its recent past and the counter memorial movement that started in the 1980s and continues to this day. Germany’s situation rendered all traditional concepts of monuments and memorials, the type of structures with which we are familiar, irrelevant and inappropriate. Instead of commemorating their own losses, German artists have created art forms that responded to questions of apology and atonement: How does a nation of former persecutors mourn its victims? How does one remember what one would rather forget? The idea behind counter memorials is to keep the memories and lessons of the past alive in the individual psyches of the people. The results are extraordinary, brave and inspiring.

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The audience listened intently as she briefly outlined her decade-long quest to trace the wartime journey of her German grandfather during World War II - across Russia and Italy. Karl von Graffen (1893-1964) was a professional soldier and skilled artillery Officer who served in the invasion of Russia, both enduring and instigating hardship and horror. Decorated for bravery he had been devoted to his country and Angela discovered he had never joined the Nazi Party, although growing up in Hampshire she had an uneasy feeling about the historical relationships of her family. Her journey of discovery about him and what he did in WW2 was published in 2022 as In My Grandfather’s Shadow.

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She proceeded to outline how Germany commemorates WW2 through a complex and deeply ingrained ‘culture of remembrance’ (Erinnerungskultur), which focuses on acknowledging its historical responsibility for Nazi-era crimes. Findlay explained that this approach has evolved significantly over time, moving from early post-war attempts to evade responsibility toward an open, public confrontation with the past.

The commemoration involves several different approaches, including solemn national memorial days, vast monuments, the preservation of former concentration camps and grassroots projects throughout the country. She gave examples of a number of these, explaining with images the significance of their form. Many require looking to the ground, in direct contrast to memorials with which we may be familiar, requiring us to look up.

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Particularly striking were a sunken fountain in Kassel (1991), the Platform 17 Memorial at Grunawald Station in Berlin (1991) and the Stumbling Stones which first appeared in Cologne and are now to be found Europe-wide). Numerous others were also explained and the audience were left in no doubt of the aim of the artists in their bid to shock and remind the public of the recent past.

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Of the many quotations cited during the lecture, one by Günter Grass from his 2002 novel, Crabwalk stayed in my head ”History, or to be more precise, the history we Germans have repeatedly mucked up, is [like] a clogged toilet. We flush and flush, but the shit keeps rising.” 

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The evening was interesting, providing a different viewpoint to our existing shared experience and was both thought provoking and relevant, just what one expects from TASA lectures.

Member Tony Cross