Vergangenheitspolitik

Vergangenheitspolitik is a German term used in political science and memory studies to describe how governments manage the memory of the past, especially the Nazi era, in order to shape national identity and political legitimacy. It denotes strategies that emphasize continuity, stability, and reconciliation with former adversaries, sometimes at the expense of a thorough reckoning with crimes and victims.

Historically, the term is associated with the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1950s and early 1960s, when political leaders pursued reconciliation with former Allied powers and economic reconstruction, while avoiding open confrontation with Nazi wrongdoing. Critics labeled this approach a Vergangenheitspolitik of silence or obfuscation, arguing it hindered accountability and moral closure. In the 1960s and 1970s, mass demands for reckoning, exemplified by the Auschwitz trials and the student movement, shifted the policy toward Vergangenheitsbewältigung, the coming to terms with the past.

Contemporary usage notes describe the term as applicable beyond Germany, to memory politics in other countries where governments manage past crimes to legitimize present institutions. Debates focus on whether memory serves justice and victims’ rights or national unity and political stability, and on how far authorities should go in revealing and atoning for wrongdoing versus preserving social cohesion and governance.

Related topics include Vergangenheitsbewältigung and Erinnerungskultur.