Date of Completion
2025
Thesis Type
College of Arts and Science Honors
Department
German, Russian, and Hebrew
First Advisor
Helga Schreckenberger
Keywords
Germany, Holocaust, Art History, Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, Vergangenheitsbewältigung
Abstract
Gerhard Richter and Anselm Kiefer are two of the most prominent German artists of the post war generation. At different times in their careers they both wrest with the culpability and guilt of Germany for the Holocaust. Birkenau (2014) and Sulamith (1985) stand as pivotal works in each respective artists’ oeuvres and, in their different critique, contexts, and interpretations, highlight two sides of approaching the Vergangenheitsbewältigung by the Nachkriegsgeneration.
Recommended Citation
Potter, John R., "Works in Progress: German Guilt and Reckoning Through Abstract Art" (2025). UVM College of Arts and Sciences College Honors Theses. 166.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/castheses/166