"Never Again War? Tracing German Military Identity" Topic

"The concept of ‘Never again fascism! Never again war!' has been imbibed within those familiar with the Buchenwald Oath. Yet, until recent times, the words "Germany" and "Germans" were associated with a narrative that almost certainly includes the Third Reich from 1933 to 1945. The 21st century Germany is chronologically the successor of the Nazi state, and in being so, its history cannot be unwritten. Nevertheless, to disassociate its present from the Third Reich, the nation constitutionally committed itself to equality, welfare, and peace for people from all ethnicities and to represent the Federal Republic of Germany for what it truly is.

The image of a non-military nation was considered sacrosanct to the Germans after the end of the Second World War. The identity of West Germany was underscored with guilt while the identity of East Germany was emphasized with denazification. The famous picture of Chancellor Brandt kneeling at the memorial for the Warsaw ghetto in 1970 augments the claim of a sense of guilt. Chancellor Brandt was quoted saying, "Under the weight of recent history, I did what people do when words fail them. In this way, I commemorated millions of murdered people."…."
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