Utopia or Auschwitz?: Germany's 1968 Generation and the Holocaust (Hardcover)

• Category:  Books  »  Miscellaneous  »  Others
• Format: Hardcover   Learn more about the Hardcover format using Tower WIKI.
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Number of Pages: 320
• ISBN: 0231701373
• WAPI (Tower ID): 113761711
• Release Date: December 1, 2009
• Average Customer Review: There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!
• Tower.com Sales Rank: #394484 in Books (See Top 100 Books Bestsellers)
• #32186 in Miscellaneous (See Top 100 Miscellaneous Bestsellers)
• #32186 in Others (See Top 100 Others Bestsellers)

Browse more products related to "Utopia or Auschwitz?: Germany's 1968 Generation and the Holocaust"

Browse more products related to "Hans Kundnani"

The left-wing students who demonstrated in the streets of West Berlin and Frankfurt in 1968 differed from their international counterparts in one crucial way. These young Germans, who would become known as the 1968 generation, or the "Achtundsechziger," were raised knowing their parents were responsible for Nazism and the Holocaust. Consequently, this generation dreamed of making a better world, but they also felt compelled to save Germany from itself. For them, it was an all-or-nothing choice: Utopia or Auschwitz.

Though these demonstrators imagined their struggle against capitalism to be an ex post facto resistance against Nazism, they also exhibited a tendency to relativize the Holocaust. Some in fact wanted to highlight their country's Nazi past, and despite the anti-fascist rhetoric of the "Achtundsechziger," nationalist and anti-Semitic currents emerged from the student movement and took root in the rhetoric of the West German New Left.

It can be argued, therefore, that the 1968 generation had a deeply ambivalent relationship with their Nazi past. "Utopia or Auschwitz." explores these contradictions as it traces the political journey of Germany's 1968 generation through the left-wing terrorism of the 1970s and the Social Democrats and Greens of the 1980s. It concludes with the 1990s and the first-ever "red-green" government in Germany. Hans Kundnani examines the foreign policy of this new coalition government, especially its response to the Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq crises, which reflects the 1968 generation's ambivalent relationship with its Nazi heritage.

There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!

• Great Deals on CDs under $9.99

  New Releases, Bestsellers and Classic Albums all for under $10! Great Music for Everyone's Tastes!

• Great Deals on DVDs under $12.99

  New Releases, Bestsellers and Classic DVDs all for under $13! Great Movies, TV and DVD Specials for Everyone's Tastes!

• Great Deals on Books under $14.99

  New Releases, Bestsellers and Classic Books all for under $15! Great Reads for Everyone's Tastes!