Auf der Suche nach der verlorenen Nation

How did West German and Japanese historians deal with the recent history of their respective countries after the war? The entire national history seemed in need of a complete reinterpretation. Sebastian Conrad compares the way the historical debates occurred in Germany and Japan after 1945 and divides his treatment into three main areas: the significant contribution historiography made to the (re)construction of a national identity in its interpretations of the country’s past; the major role it played in the respective process of coming to terms in the 1950s with past offences; and finally, the important role of history in historiography. This clears the path for a detailed look at the central role of the country in historiographical discourse. How can one now justify the unity of the nation and save the continuity of national history? How does one deal with a recent history whose criminal character threatens to question the nation’s entire past? The author shows both the many differences and the surprising similarities between the development of the science of history in Japan and Germany after World War II.