Contested Commemorations

Benjamin Ziemann is Professor of Modern German History at the University of Sheffield. An expert on the social, political and cultural history of modern Germany, his previous publications include War Experiences in Rural Germany, 1914–1923 (2007) and The German Soldiers of the Great War. Letters and Eyewitness Accounts (co-edited with Bernd Ulrich, 2010).

• Introduction; 1. 'A short period of insight': symbolizing defeat as liberation, 1918–23; 2. Republican war memories: the Reichsbanner Black Red Gold; 3. The personal microcosm of Reichsbanner activism; 4. Public commemorations and republican politics; 5. In search of a national symbol, 1924–33; 6. Pacifist veterans and the politics of military history; 7. Mass media and the changing texture of war remembrance, 1928–33; Conclusion; Bibliography.

'Benjamin Ziemann's book, filled with surprising new material, vigorous new characters and above all, strikingly new perspectives, will significantly alter several generations' understandings of what happened during Weimar … compellingly written, exhaustively researched and rigorously argued, [it] is a powerful contribution to the continuing effort to comprehend the multiple meanings of the Great War.' German History