Of course, Germany’s eagerness to discharge the burden of history is not new. Back in 1998, the renowned intellectual Martin Walser publicly attacked the pervasiveness of Auschwitz in Germany’s remembrance culture, declaring that the Holocaust had become a “moral cudgel” with which to intimidate all Germans and keep them “in a perpetual state of guilt.”
当然，德国渴望甩下历史包袱并非新鲜事。1998年，著名知识分子马丁·瓦泽尔（Martin Walser）公开抨击德国纪念文化中无处不在的奥斯维辛身影，称大屠杀已经成为“道德大棒”，恐吓着所有德国人，让他们“永久背上负罪感”。