The End of Memory? German-American Relations under Donald Trump

This article examines recent dynamics of collective memory in German-American relations. After an introduction which outlines the importance of history and memory for bilateral relations, the article traces the evolution of collective memories of the two countries and identifies the key filters through which they evaluate each other. It then identifies the key characteristics of German-American relations since the advent of Donald Trump to the American presidency. This is followed by an analysis which examines Trump's use and abuse of history and memory and what that means for his foreign policy in general and German-American relations in particular. In view of the way Donald Trump has taken the subjective nature of collective memories to an extreme by largely disconnecting these memories from their historical context at the same time as extensively referencing his own history and experience, the article argues that we might be witnessing the end of memory, in particular the end of memory's direct impact on political discourse and policy.