unmasterable past: History, Holocaust, and German national identity

A study of the controversy among German historians (the Historikerstreit) about the place of the Holocaust in German history. The central issue is whether the Nazi crimes were unique, 'irreparably burdening any concept of German nationhood,' or comparable to other national atrocities, such as the Armenian genocide or the Stalinist 'terror-famine'. Maier's thesis is that the Holocaust represents an aspect of an 'unmasterable past' that Germans have yet to confront fully and to work through.