SETTLING SCORES VERSUS DENIAL. GERMAN GENERATION '68 AND THE NAZI PAST (Rozrachunek kontra wyparcie. Niemieckie pokolenie '68 wobec nazistowskiej przeszlosci)

The article takes up an analysis of the psychological and social conditions of settling scores with the Nazi past, on the example of selected novels of writers belonging to the West German generation '68. An analysis of particular novels leads to the conclusion that the Nazi past in which the war generations had been entangled, continues to plays a vital role in shaping the identity of generation '68. Life in a community of perpetrators and the ensuing necessity of confrontation with the burden of non-culpable blame appears to be a situation that leads to intergeneration conflicts. The latter consequently resulted in attempts to dissociate from generations embroiled in the crimes of national socialism. The complexity of the problem is evidenced by an intertwining of mechanisms of settling scores and denial both among the war generations and within generation '68 itself.