After a period of intense work on national memory cultures, we are
observing a growing interest in memory both as a social and an
individual practice. Memory studies tend to focus on a particular field
of memory processes, namely those connected with war, persecution and
expulsion. In this sense, the memory - or rather the trauma - of the
Holocaust is paradigmatic for the entire research field. The Holocaust
is furthermore increasingly understood as constitutive of a global
memory community which transcends national memories and mediates
universal values. The present volume diverges from this perspective by
dealing also with everyday subjects of memory. This allows for a more
complete view of the interdependencies between public and private memory
and, more specifically, public and family memory.