HISTORY AND CURRENT PERCEPTIONS OF GERMANY
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that the historian is doing by interviewing people who bear the memory.
The second issue is, do I, because I am French, represent France? Abso–
lutely not. Generalizations are the worst thing. The reality of each
country is made up of many things, which include economy, history,
culture, politics - both diachronic and synchronic. Simplifications, where
one person is representing a stereotype of an entire country, are stupid.
So let's talk about complexity.
E d ith Ku rzw eil: Thank you, Annie. Obviously we're talking about
very emotional issues which most people usually keep under wraps, and
this meeting is bringing them up. In response to your question, of
course, we all ask what can we do. We look at issues in ways that differ
from our own perspectives and try to understand all we can from as
many other perspectives as possible. Also, I should say I was motivated to
organize this conference because I felt these were issues that are not on
the table often enough, that are overlooked. There isn't that much in–
terest in the culture at large, and when there is, the issues usually are ap–
proached in terms of stereotypes. So let's use the rest of this conference
not to accept, or reject, directives from one to another, but to really
plumb the issues more deeply and more broadly. We will reconvene
promptly at three o'clock.
Session Three:
How Can We "Reconcile" Communist
and Nazi Legacies?
Carnes Lord: Welcomes to this session, which I will be the moderat–
ing. Our first speaker will be Paul Hollander, Professor of Sociology at
the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His books include
Anti-Ameri–
canism: Critiques at Home and Abroad
and
Decline and Discontent: Commu–
nism and the West Today.
He will speak on "Conflicting Moral Reassess–
ments of Nazism and Communism." Next we will hear from Jeffrey
Herf, Professor of History and Sociology and a Visiting Scholar at
Princeton University's Institute for Advanced Study. He now is working
on a book about politics and memory in the two Germaru6s, 1945-1989,
and he will talk about "Divided Germany: The Nazi Past in the Two
Germanies." Then we will hear from Gaspar Tamas, Professor of Philos-
