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Frank Bösch
Film, the National Socialist Past and Historiography
Keywords: Nationalsozialismus in Film und Fernsehen, Film und Geschichtswissenschaft, Fernsehserie „Holocaust“
Since the broadcast of the TV series Holocaust in 1979, fictional movies increasingly shape the understanding of National Socialism. This article analyses which repertoires of images and interpretations were transmitted by these films in the last decades, and inasmuch as they have changed. For this purpose, about 40 films and their public reception were analysed. The article uncovers the central aspects and limits of public remembrance of National Socialism against the background of trends in society and contemporary history. Here one can discern that the historical approaches of the films actually corresponded to those of historians, and that film and historical research mutually shaped each other. Concerning the content, significant changes are pointed out: It is argued that the late 1970s, the end of the 1980s and the turn of the century can be identified as significant watersheds in the audiovisual culture of remembrance.
Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag
Print ISSN: 0042-5702
Volume: 55, 01/2007
Pages: 1 - 32