Andrew I. Port, "Never Again: Germans and Genocide After the Holocaust" (Harvard UP, 2023)
As reports of mass killings in Bosnia spread in the middle of 1995, Germans faced a dilemma. Should the Federal Republic deploy its military to the Balkans to prevent a genocide, or would departing from postwar Germany\u2019s pacifist tradition open the door to renewed militarism? In short, when Germans said \u201cnever again,\u201d did they mean \u201cnever again Auschwitz\u201d or \u201cnever again war\u201d?\nLooking beyond solemn statements and well-meant monuments, Andrew I. Port examines how the Nazi past shaped German responses to the genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, and Rwanda\u2014and further, how these foreign atrocities recast Germans\u2019 understanding of their own horrific history. In the late 1970s, the reign of the Khmer Rouge received relatively little attention from a firmly antiwar public that was just \u201cdiscovering\u201d the Holocaust. By the 1990s, the genocide of the Jews was squarely at the center of German identity, a tectonic shift that inspired greater involvement in Bosnia and, to a lesser extent, Rwanda. Germany\u2019s increased willingness to use force in defense of others reflected the enthusiastic embrace of human rights by public officials and ordinary citizens. At the same time, conservatives welcomed the opportunity for a more active international role involving military might\u2014to the chagrin of pacifists and progressives at home.\nMaking the lessons, limits, and liabilities of politics driven by memories of a troubled history harrowingly clear,\xa0Never Again: Germans and Genocide After the Holocaust\xa0(Harvard UP, 2023)\xa0is a story with deep resonance for any country confronting a dark past.\n\ufeffKelly McFall is Professor of History and Director of the Honors Program at Newman University.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/genocide-studies