Volksgemeinschaft: tra storiografia e memoria

In recent years a debate has been taking place among historians of National socialism about the role played by the concept of Volksgemeinschaft (popular community) in the Third Reich. Though historians agree on the general relevance of this ideal for the National Socialist regime, the debate revolves around the question, whether this concept can be also useful employed for understanding material, political and social processes. In this section three German historians present their argumentations in favor or against the use of the concept of Volksgemeinschaft in this sense. Their stances imply different evaluations of how extensive and intense was the participation of the common Germans in the Nazi policy.