Abstract
In unified Germany, Jews and non-Jews alike continue to struggle with what Caroline Pearce calls the 'dialectic of normality,' i.e., the desire for normalization that is irreconcilable with the dual burden of Holocaust crimes and present continuity of anti-Semitism. While Pearce and others deplore the instrumentalization of the Holocaust by Jews and non-Jews alike, a number of recent German films express variations of this dialectic. Filmmakers Michael Verhoeven, Malte Ludin, Robert Thalheim, Dani Levy and Oliver Hirschbiegel demonstrate how searching for justice requires a continued effort of revealing the truth about the past while conceding that there are limits to understanding it.