German interest in Hitler at record levels
GERMANS are more interested in Adolf Hitler than at any time since the end of World War 2, a study has concluded.
The German Media Control research group, which monitors broadcasting, found that documentaries about Hitler are aired twice a day on German television channels and that books and films about the Nazi leader are being produced in record numbers.
It established that 242 programmes dealing specifically with Hitler had been shown during the first four months of 2013, and 500 other films and documentaries that dealt with the Nazi era in general had also been aired. Some 2 000 books on Hitler were published in Germany last year.
The documentaries had ti- tles that included Hitler’s Wonder Weapons, Hitler and the Holy Lance, Hitler’s War and Hitler’s Blitzkrieg.
Another film dealt with Hitler’s decision to ban traditional Rhineland Catholic carnivals.
Germany’s public ZDF Info channel has screened 109 documentaries on Hitler this year alone. Robert Bachem, its di- rector, said: “As history is one of our main fields of interest, it is not surprising that we run many programmes about National Socialism.”
Sociologists have attributed the rise of interest in Hitler and the Nazis to the fact that the majority of today’s Germans have had no experience of World War 2, are less ashamed of the period than previous generations and more eager to learn about it.
In many German families, the war remained a taboo subject for decades after 1945.
However, this aspect is now also under scrutiny. A rash of new books by German authors in their 50s and 60s have sought to lift the lid on their families’ dark past.