Mary Fulbrook Books

"A single word--Auschwitz--is often used to encapsulate the totality of persecution and suffering involved in what we call the Holocaust. Yet a focus on a single concentration camp--however horrific what happened there, however massively catastrophic its scale--leaves an incomplete story, a truncated history. It cannot fully communicate the myriad ways in which individuals became tangled up on the side of the perpetrators, and obscures the diversity of experiences among a wide range of victims as they struggled and died, or managed, against all odds, to survive. In the process, we also miss the continuing legacy of Nazi persecution across generations, and across continents. Mary Fulbrook's encompassing book attempts to expand our understanding, exploring the lives of individuals across a full spectrum of suffering and guilt, each one capturing one small part of the greater story. At its heart, Reckonings seeks to expose the disjuncture between official myths about 'dealing with the past,' on the one hand, and the extent to which the vast majority of Nazi perpetrators evaded justice, on the other. In the successor states to the Third Reich-East Germany, West Germany, and Austria--the attempts at justice varied widely in the years and decades after 1945. The Communist East German state pursued Nazi criminals and handed down severe sentences; West Germany, seeking to draw a line under the past, tended toward leniency and tolerance. Austria made nearly no reckoning at all until the 1980s, when news broke about UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim's past. Following the various periods of trials and testimonials after the war, the shifting attitudes toward both perpetrators and survivors, this major book weighs heavily down on the scales of justice. The Holocaust is not mere 'history,' and the memorial landscape covering it barely touches the surface; beneath it churns the maelstrom of reverberations of the Nazi era. Reckonings uses the stories of those who remained below the radar of public representations, outside the media spotlight, while also situating their experiences in the changing wider contexts and settings in which they sought to make sense of unprecedented suffering. Fulbrook uses the word 'reckoning' in the widest possible sense, to evoke the consequences of violence on those directly involved, but also on those affected indirectly, and how its effects have expanded almost infinitely across place and time"--Publisher's description

This accessible study traces the dramatic social, cultural and political tensions in Germany since 1918. For the second edition, revisions have been made to incorporate the results of recent research, an epilogue covering the years 1990–2000 has been added, and the suggestions for further reading and the bibliography have been updated. An accessible study of the dramatic social, cultural and political tensions in Germany since 1918. Treats German history from 1918-2000 from the perspective of division and reunification, covering East and West German history in equal depth. Covers the self-destructive Weimar Republic, the extremes of genocide and military aggression in the Nazi era, the division of the nation in the Cold War, and the collapse of communist East Germany and unification in 1990. Offers a persuasive interpretation of the dynamics of twentieth-century German history as a whole. New edition includes an updated bibliography and an epilogue covering the years 1990-2000.

"Traces the dramatic social, cultural and political tensions in Germany since 1918 ... from the self-destructive Weimar Republic, through the extremes of genocide and military aggression in the Nazi era, to the extraordinary political esperimentation of division of the nation in the Cold War, culminating in the collapse of communist East Germany and unification with capitalist democratic West Germany in 1990"--Publisher's description

The book offers an engaging exploration of Berlin through ten vignettes, highlighting its historical layers and transformations. It delves into the city's unique past by focusing on specific locations, illustrating how these sites shape Berlin's identity and ongoing re-imagination. Mary Fulbrook examines the complex legacies that continue to influence the city's experience and perception today.

Focusing on the actions of individuals during the Nazi era, Mary Fulbrook challenges the prevalent question of awareness among Germans, suggesting that the more critical inquiry is about their responses to what they knew. Through a compelling analysis, she explores the moral choices and responsibilities of people in the face of atrocities, delving into the complexities of knowledge and complicity in a historical context that remains deeply relevant today.

An innovative study of the ways in which Germans of different ages and life stages lived through the violent eruptions of the two world wars, and through the rise of Nazism, looking at the ways in which this shaped, not merely German society, state, and economy, but also the character of the German people.

In many of the recent studies of bystanders during the Holocaust, the reliance on postwar perspectives has made it difficult to accurately portray the motivating factors at the time. In this essay about German bystanders to anti-Jewish persecution during the 1930s, Mary Fulbrook addresses that problem by relying solely on contemporary sources, and provides a uniquely sharp and nuanced understanding.

The third Martin Miller and Hannah Norbert-Miller Memorial Lecture

Individuelle Erfahrungen, generationelle Prägungen und das »kollektive Gedächtnis« als Herausforderungen an die Geschichtsschreibung der beiden deutschen Diktaturen im 20. Jahrhundert. Wie werden Menschen von der Zeit beeinflusst, in die sie hineingeboren wurden? Wie finden ihre individuellen Erinnerungen Niederschlag, nicht nur in der öffentlichen Repräsentation von Geschichte, sondern auch in ihren Lebensweisen und Handlungen? Was bedeutet eine solche Herangehensweise für die Geschichtswissenschaft? Gilt der traditionelle Anspruch von Objektivität in der Geschichtsschreibung überhaupt noch, in Anbetracht der Katastrophen des 20. Jahrhunderts? Und wenn wir Subjektivität in die Geschichte einbeziehen wollen, ohne Strukturen und Ereignisse aus den Augen zu verlieren, welche neuen Formen der Geschichtsschreibung können und sollten wir entwickeln? Mary Fulbrook widmet sich diesen Fragen mit Blick auf die beiden deutschen Diktaturen. Sie setzt sich dabei kritisch mit dem Begriff des »kollektiven Gedächtnisses« auseinander und betont die Bedeutung individueller Erfahrungen und generationeller Prägungen für unser Verständnis der deutschen Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert.

For about a decade after the GDR's collapse, interpretations of East German history focused on power, repression, dissent, and resistance to communism. However, socio-cultural approaches have revealed that an exclusive focus on repression overlooks the subjective experiences of those who lived under such regimes. The essays in this volume delve into significant physical and psychological aspects of life in the GDR, addressing topics like health, diet, leisure, memories of the Nazi past, identity, sports, and everyday humiliations. By situating the GDR within a broader historical context, these essays offer new interpretations of life behind the Iron Curtain and critique mainstream scholarship that often frames the GDR through the lens of totalitarian theory. Mary Fulbrook, a Professor of German History at University College London, has authored several notable works and is currently directing a project on the reverberations of war in Germany and Europe since 1945. Andrew I. Port, an Associate Professor of history at Wayne State University, specializes in modern Germany, communism, labor history, and social protest, with a focus on German responses to genocide since 1945.