Der Spiegel: ‘In March, the U.S. National Archives uploaded all remaining membership cards of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) to the internet for the first time.

‘Since then, roughly 12 million index cards have become digitally accessible, complete with enlistment dates, membership numbers, and occasionally photographs. More than ten million men and women joined the NSDAP; by the end of World War II, more than one in ten citizens was a card-carrying party comrade. Index cards are believed to still exist for about 80 to 90 percent of NSDAP members.’

And: ‘For years, many Germans have patted themselves on the back as world champions of mastering the past (Vergangenheitsbewältigung). Critics of this remembrance culture, however, such as sociologist Michal Bodemann, prefer the term “memory theater.”’

Remembrance culture, memory theater, virtue signaling, all at the same time. The past can become addictive, especially this particular past.

(a sf 2145)