Generation as a symbolic form

in: Germanic Review, Nr. 4, Vol. 77, Fall 2002, 264-277.

“Generationen werden gezählt und erzählt. – Generations get counted and recounted.”

Departing from the currently increasing discourse on generations the article describes the archaeology of the concept and examines the transgenerational structure of post-war-memory, especially concerning the transmission of both trauma and guilt. In respect of the discourse on the second and third generation it points to the concealed first generation (i.e. the generation of the perpetrators) in the distorted post-war-genealogy.