The importance of remembering history

Quote

Chapter

“What were the dangers of knowing? Or the dangers of ignoring the past and doing it all again, with different coloured flags or neckerchiefs of helmets?”

7

“Can you rework your past, the grit that rubs into you, until it is shiny and smooth as a pearl?”

16

“History was so quickly remade... that the easterners did not feel then, and do not feel now, that they were the same Germans as those responsible for Hitler’s regime.

This sleight-of-history must rank as one of the most extraordinary innocence manoeuvres of the century.”

16

“There have probably been enough ‘genuine’ fragments of the Wall sold to build it twice over... ‘Look’ (Koch) says, ‘there’s a certificate to prove it”

26

“Most of the people at these parties are too young to remember the GDR anyway. They are just looking for something to yearn for.”

28

“And, suddenly, it is clear to me why the new museum was so irritating. Things have been put behind glass, but they are not yet over”

28