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Germany’s Lessons on Confronting a Racist Past

The philosopher Susan Neiman explains what the United States can learn from postwar Germany.

By , an associate editor at Foreign Policy.
Roses rest on the ground between Stolpersteine, brass stumbling blocks for victims of the Holocaust, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogroms in Berlin on Nov. 9, 2013.
Roses rest on the ground between Stolpersteine, brass stumbling blocks for victims of the Holocaust, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogroms in Berlin on Nov. 9, 2013.
Roses rest on the ground between Stolpersteine, brass stumbling blocks for victims of the Holocaust, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogroms in Berlin on Nov. 9, 2013.

Despite a centurieslong history of violent racism and its bitter legacy that remains very much alive, American society has long managed to avoid fully confronting its brutal past. It was only the tumult of the Trump era and last year’s protests following the killing of George Floyd that have led to a crescendo of pleas for the United States to finally reckon with its history. But exactly how such a reckoning would look has opened up a whole new debate.

Allison Meakem is an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @allisonmeakem

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