Should a memorial to Polish victims of German Nazism be constructed in Berlin? There seems to be a consensus in German politics that it should, yet I am still wondering if the proposal will turn out any good for either Poles or Germans.
Just a few years ago, there was little appetite for such a project in Germany. Since then, opinions have changed and it’s not hard to see why. After all, the connection between this change in mindset and Poland’s demand for war reparations is hard to ignore. Germany’s policy of offering gestures of penance is a direct response to those demands, with the proposed memorial a key element of assuaging the Polish government.
Despite support for the memorial, some German historians and those who fill the role of guardians of Germany’s cultural memory are averse to the idea. It would break a certain tradition concerning how Germans observe and remember.
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