The Holocaust through the Prism of East German Television: Collective Memory and Audience Perceptions

The German Democratic Republic never took the same responsibility for Holocaust memory as the Federal Republic of Germany. East Germans learned relatively little about the Holocaust thorough their popular culture. East Germans were less likely to identify the Holocaust as a critical piece of German history than West Germans, but by examining the muted narrative of the Holocaust that did appear on East German television, this article also shows how East Germans came to have a distinct collective memory of the Holocaust, notwithstanding their viewing of West German television. The following makes use of rarely cited viewer surveys, which offer unique insights into what East Germans thought about the programs they watched.