Gestaltung des kollektiven Gedächtnisses im deutschen Mediendiskurs
Shaping Collective Memory in the German Media Discourse

Summary/Abstract: Collective memory is a set of beliefsCollective memory as a set of beliefs held by members of a community about some pastevents is a valuable source of knowledge on the cultural and communicative conditionof individuals and whole societies. At the beginning of the article, in order to point out itsdistinguishing features, the author presents various attempts to define collective memory.Next, he describes changes in the Poles’ collective memory from the end of World War IIto the present. Moreover, he concentrates on the relationship between collective memoryand the media, which impart a shared meaning and cultural dimension to past events.The aim of his analysis is to answer the question how the current German media discourseshapes the German culture of memory and impacts on the relationships between Polandand Germany. The analysis covers selected German television films. They confirm thebelief, popular in Poland for the last few years, that the Germans are becoming reluctantto take responsibility for their crimes committed during World War II.

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