A central challenge of understanding 20th century Germany can be summarised in one word: Auschwitz. What were the deeper roots, and how was it made possible? How have people from different communities coped with the legacies and selectively remembered this past? What were the wider implications of war and division for different generations of Germans - and what are the continuing implications of a 'past which refuses to pass away' for notions of German national identity, even into the 21st century?