Memory Matters juxtaposes in tripartite structure a close analysis of two texts that comprise memories of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, two that consider memories of the narrators' parents, and two concerned with the narrators' grandparents' past. Focusing on genealogies of women, the book examines the tensions between war and postwar generations against the backdrop of a complicated mother-daughter relationship. Linking memories of Nazi Germany to those of the Holocaust, Schaumann's approach questions the assumption that German-Gentile and German-Jewish postwar experiences are necessarily diametrically opposed.

Caroline Schaumann, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.