Forgive? About the Phenomenon of Historical Unforgiveness and Uncompromising Memory

Abstract

In the article the metamorphoses of “uncompromising memory” are considered on the example of the transformation processes of the German society in the second half of XX century and the Russian society at the turn of XX and XXI centuries. It investigates the problem of guilt and historical forgiveness in modern historical culture and raises ethical themes of relationships and ethnic contexts in the reconsidering of the past. The authors try to assess the prospects of the formation of the historical identity based on the strategy of guilt and forgiveness and to identify the core values of the culture of historical forgiveness in the modern world.