UVM Theses and Dissertations
Format:
Print
Author:
Magin, Michelle Anne
Dept./Program:
History
Year:
2012
Degree:
MA
Abstract:
The purpose ofthis study is to examine secondary school Gymnasium textbooks that were published and distributed in West Germany from 1949 to 1989. Twenty-two textbooks were examined for their portrayals of prewar Jewish persecution, the extermination ofthe Jews, and perceptions ofGerman victimhood and suffering. Textbooks were grouped by decade with roughly one chapter devoted to every decade of the postwar period. Each chapter seeks to identify omissions, distortions, inaccuracies, and examine the physical layout of each textbook, In addition each chapter, along with a general background chapter (Chapter 2), offers information on the political and social climate in Germany, in order to place these textbooks within the wider context ofthe time.
What this study found was that textbooks until the mid-1960s contained little information on the Holocaust or the persecution of the Jews, but continued to emphasize German suffering during the war. The mid 1960s saw a great increase in the amount of information on the Holocaust, but textbooks still lacked extensive detailed information on the persecution of the Jews. This change coincided with a deemphasizing of German suffering and a reduction in the amount of information on the impact of the Allied bombing campaign. By the late 1970s and 1980s textbooks had largely stagnated, as later editions contained barely any changes or revisions. The 1980s are marked by a variety of different textbook opinions and approaches, and a new focus on primary source documents and materials.
Overall this study concludes that there is a close relationship between textbooks and the wider social discourse from the 1940s into the 19608. This relationship begins to break up, however, by the 1970s, as textbooks no longer seek to incorporate changes or revisions to their content. They thus stagnate, while interest and scholarship on the Holocaust continues to develop in Germany from the 1970s up to unification. By the 1980s, there are two opposing views regarding the prominence of the Holocaust in German identity, but textbooks by this time contain a plethora of different narratives that no longer reflect the larger discourse of the time.
What this study found was that textbooks until the mid-1960s contained little information on the Holocaust or the persecution of the Jews, but continued to emphasize German suffering during the war. The mid 1960s saw a great increase in the amount of information on the Holocaust, but textbooks still lacked extensive detailed information on the persecution of the Jews. This change coincided with a deemphasizing of German suffering and a reduction in the amount of information on the impact of the Allied bombing campaign. By the late 1970s and 1980s textbooks had largely stagnated, as later editions contained barely any changes or revisions. The 1980s are marked by a variety of different textbook opinions and approaches, and a new focus on primary source documents and materials.
Overall this study concludes that there is a close relationship between textbooks and the wider social discourse from the 1940s into the 19608. This relationship begins to break up, however, by the 1970s, as textbooks no longer seek to incorporate changes or revisions to their content. They thus stagnate, while interest and scholarship on the Holocaust continues to develop in Germany from the 1970s up to unification. By the 1980s, there are two opposing views regarding the prominence of the Holocaust in German identity, but textbooks by this time contain a plethora of different narratives that no longer reflect the larger discourse of the time.