The variety of approaches and intellectual reflections in Memory Studies has accumulated a new knowledge base for any scholar who ventures to research on memory, memorialization and remembrance. The influence of post-modern theories over the past decades has raised the awareness that every autobiographical story can, and indeed should, also be analysed with respect to the construction of the identity it displays, the genres it uses and the topoi and motifs it reflects. The combination of undogmatic approaches and elements of cultural memory studies promises a differentiated understanding of how these autobiographical narratives are constructed, how they influence discourses and where their limits lie. This opens a whole new field for the analysis of life writing and political memoir. This volume encompasses a variety of examples which prove the usefulness and productivity of such an approach. As a result of interdisciplinary collaboration it aims to trigger further cooperation and discourse.

Dr. Magnus Brechtken ist seit Juli 2012 stellvertretender Direktor des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte München-Berlin.