Vergangenheitsbewältigung
Vergangenheitsbewältigung is a German phrase meaning "facing the past" or "confronting the past". It refers to how a society deals with the events of its past, in particular those parts of it which were violent or painful. This could be the suffering that people experienced during war, where many people died, or the effects of discrimination or racism. A society that does vergangenheitsbewältigung will talk about its past, remember the people who suffered and try to learn from what happened, so that it does not happen again.
Related topics others have asked about:
Anschluss,
Auschwitz bombing debate,
Bottom-up approach of the Holocaust,
Clean Wehrmacht,
Concentration camp,
Culture of Remembrance,
Debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
Functionalism versus intentionalism,
German nationality law,
Historikerstreit,
Historiography of Germany,
I Apologize campaign