Ferenc Laczó has published a volume featuring 11 interviews with prominent historians of German recent past. These conversations, all of which were conducted between 2011 and 2015, focus on the historical and historiographical process of dealing with the Nazi past and the Holocaust. Several interviews offer insights into German-Jewish history and historiography while others address the current state and potential of comparative genocide studies.
Shedding original light on the key findings as well as the rather divergent approaches of reputed historians, the volume ultimately aims to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how central topics related to the history and memory of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust have been researched, interpreted and debated in recent years – and thereby also to a more realistic assessment of the ’German model of dealing with the past.’
The interviewees are Frank Bajohr, Michael Brenner, Norbert Frei, Christian Gerlach, Raphael Gross, Volkhard Knigge, Lutz Niethammer, Kiran Klaus Patel, Dieter Pohl, Dan Stone and Jürgen Zimmerer. Each conversation opens with a brief sketch of the personal background and intellectual socialization of the interviewee, followed by questions about his scholarly biography and intellectual profile, and then tackles contested issues in historical studies and processes of remembrance.
Laczó Ferenc: Német múltfeldolgozás. Beszélgetések történészekkel a huszadik század kulcskérdéseiről (Budapest: Kijárat, 2016). ISBN 978-615-5160-54-7. 290 pgs.
