Germany

After Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II, the country was divided. East Germany became a communist state created by the Soviet Union, while West Germany began the process of democratization under the watchful eye of the three remaining Allied Powers: U.S., Britain and France. East and West Germany would take very different paths through the next four decades, and it was not until 1990, a year after the Berlin Wall was torn down, that the two states would officially be reunified.

At a Facing History and Ourselves seminar, several teachers from Germany commented on the challenges of teaching about the Holocaust in their country. They also discussed the challenges of being German in the world. One teacher talked about how she went out of her way to not sound German when she spoke English because she was so tired of the things people said—the stereotypes they had. Another talked about how burdened she felt by the past and the way she felt it inspired people to look at her. Still another teacher, who was slightly older, said that he had come to terms with the history.