What is appropriate when remembering the casualties of war? Soon, there won't be any witnesses to history left in Germany. This circumstance will have a huge impact on the German culture of remembrance: Whilst the confession of the guilt of the systematic mass murder of the Jews and of the outbreak of the Second World War is incorporated in the German public memory, private remembrance is often dominated by other memories: flight, hunger and bombings.
In this HSFK-Standpunkt, Sabine Mannitz discusses the question how an adequate public commemorating the different dead of the Second World War - delinquents, opportunists, opponents as well as victims - may be shaped once the last witnesses to history have died and whether their memories may become part of a public culture of remembrance.
The author shows that publicly remembering the different casualties of war can fulfill significant peace educational purposes. It can help not to forget about the conditions and consequences of brutality and mass violence and may thus contribute to citizenship and human rights education.