ABSTRACT
Almost a decade has passed since the substance of this book was first compiled.l In that time, what was recently unthinkable has become reality: the two Germanies are now one. The phenomenon of German division and the existence of a communist-controlled regime in the east, the German Democratic Republic, was for more than 40 years a potent reminder of the legacy of National Socialism. The dramatic collapse of that regime in 1989/90 and the subsequent movement towards unification lead some to think that the Nazi era would at last be able to pass into history. But such a view has proved na·ive to say the least. The emergence of a new German national state not only raised elsewhere in Europe questions about the hegemonic potential (especially in economic terms) of a country of some 78 million people, but also threw the spotlight back on to the historical experience of the unified German state in the sense of Germans recovering a measure of historical continuity or legitimacy. The years of the Nazi dictatorship have thus re-emerged upon the contemporary agenda, dramatically enhanced at times by the protests and mob violence of Neo-Nazi groups, particularly in the east, where the ending of years of political repression has exposed the frustrations of youth, intensified in tum by the destruction of normality and the uncertain prospects of life dominated by a prosperous and powerful neighbour, the former Federal Republic.
