TRAUMALAND – Tracing Germany's Past and Present

  • A look at past traces in the present, exploring memory and responsibility, and advocating for humanity and solidarity.
  • Betrachtungen einer Barbarin was nominated for the German Non-Fiction Prize 2021.

Unable to wipe away the blood or erase the fact that it was shed. Making the deed and the guilt visible, even if the perpetrators never lifted a hand and the victims remained invisible: "Blood is on your hands." This is how Asal Dardan justifies the necessity of remembering and the responsibility of future generations. In Traumaland, she creates a new topography of Germany, traces the past, and explores parallel and contrasting experiences in immigrant society. The painful past reaches into our present, with Nazi crimes echoing cruelly in today's racist violence and the traumatic experiences of minorities.

Who shapes German history? Who bears responsibility for past guilt? Which memories are told, and which remain unheard? Asal Dardan challenges entrenched memory discourses with her quest for connections, simultaneous experiences, and hope for a shared remembrance that accommodates different realities.

"Asal Dardan maps a fragile landscape that guides us toward new ways of remembering." Deniz Utlu

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  • Publisher: Rowohlt Hardcover
  • Release: 28.01.2025
  • ISBN: 978-3-498-00348-7
  • 288 Pages
  • Author: Asal Dardan

Awards

  • 2025: empfohlen - Sachbuch-Bestenliste

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Buchcover von TRAUMALAND – Tracing Germany's Past and Present: Eine Spurensuche in deutscher Vergangenheit und Gegenwart
Asal Dardan TRAUMALAND – Tracing Germany's Past and Present
Portrait von Asal Dardan
© Cihan Çakmak
Asal Dardan

Asal Dardan , born in 1978 in Tehran, grew up in Cologne, Bonn, and Aberdeen. She studied Cultural Studies in Hildesheim and Middle Eastern Studies in Lund, and now lives in Berlin. Her essays have won and have been nominated for several prices, such as the German Non-Fiction Prize.