[The (in)ability to mourn in East and West Germany. What mourning could mean]

Together, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the reunification of Germany and the public reactions to the war in the Gulf form a syndrome that poses anew the question of the specifically German "ability to mourn". On the one hand, the author registers a continuing rejection of the onerous task of facing up to the reality of the past via recollection and mourning. On the other, she sees indications both on the individual and collective level that this rejection is beginning to crumble, thus encouraging the emergence of attitudes that challenge the validity of German "ideals" to an increasing extent.