‘Superación del pasado’ y ‘memoria histórica’: similitudes y diferencias entre Alemania y España

Abstract

The article presents a comparative analysis of the different forms, how two countries (Ger-many and Spain) have dealt and still are dealing with their respective past of violence and war. In Germany, the term used for this type of analysis is Vergangenheitsbewältigung (‘superation of the past’), in Spain recuperación de la memoria histórica (‘recuperation of historical memory’). For both cases, the text analyzes critically the moment, when the collective and self-critical reflec-tion about the problematic past began; it contrasts the different views of the corresponding wars and dictatorships, it stresses the importance of the following postbelic phases and the postdictatorial generations that up to now had to deal with the past. Even if there exist more differences than similarities between the Spanish and the German cases, many aspects result more comprehensive comparing both cases.