Why World War I is Germany’s forgotten conflict

The stark concrete slabs of the Holocaust memorial stand just outside the city’s Brandenburg Gate. Then there are the thousands of brass “stumbling stones” carefully set into the city’s sidewalks, memorializing victims of the Holocaust. In Germany, it’s called Erinnerungskultur, a “culture of remembrance” that takes an unflinching look into the darkest corners of the country’s history.

Yet, when it comes to remembering World War I, there are far fewer memorials. At the Columbiadamm Cemetery in Berlin more than 7,000 World War I soldiers are buried. The rows of crosses are kept neat and tidy but are rarely visited, said Anne-Susann Schanner, an education officer at the Berlin branch of the German National Federation for the Care of War Graves.