Imigracja - nowa perspektywa niemieckiej pamięci kulturowej
Immigration - A New Perspective of the German Cultural Memory

Summary/Abstract: Contemporary Federal Republic of Germany defines itself as an immigrant country, and the statement fully corresponds with the actual situation. As a result of a mass inflow of foreigners, which began in 1950s, one out of every five German citizens can tell his/her own or family history of immigration. These facts serve as a basis for the question concerning the extent to which immigration that turned the FRG into a multicultural country, has become a part of the German collective memory. While referring to the concept of cultural memory by Jan and Aleida Assmann, the author presents and analyzes modern ways of preserving the immigrant past as well as expressing remembrance about it in the public sphere (jubilees, exhibitions, and monographs on culture). The process of including migration in the national history is highly dynamic, with its initiators being most often the descendants of immigrants who demand greater pluralism within Germany’s cultural memory.

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