This chapter engages the interrelation between German agency and non-German interest in the pursuit of the “Final Solution” and other projects of ethnic, economic, or political restratification; and discusses the European dimensions (including imperial/colonial aspirations) in the history of these projects and the specifics of the “Final Solution” in the attempt to locate the Holocaust on the historical map of genocides.

The Introduction introduces broader structural aspects: the importance of war, process development and its determinants, the differences and similarities between Axis partners concerning the “Jewish question,” the fluidity of victim groups as defined or perceived by perpetrators; the links and variations among German/Axis mass atrocities (”final solution,” “euthanasia,” “ethnic cleansing,” Soviet POWs, “pacification”). It addresses controversies over the meaning of a “perpetrator” (referring also to the multiplicity of historic manifestations, functions, and usages introduced in the volume) and approaches to “becoming perpetrators”; it introduces correlation with other (partly artificial or otherwise problematic) categories such as “bystander,” “complicity,” and “rescuer” and their constructive engagement by the chapter authors.- outlines the organization of the volume into sections, the sequence of chapters, and raises to attention some of the key points to be considered in the different contributions.

Nazism and war had devastated Berlin. The city was divided into different zones under Allied administration, but cooperation soon broke down. While the Soviets retained control over the central and eastern districts, the western sectors were administered by the Americans, British, and French. Following the Berlin blockade and airlift of 1948–49, the division of Berlin was effected with the foundation of the Federal Republic (FRG) in the west and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the east. The two halves of the city began to diverge, with rebuilding under different ideological auspices in the 1950s. Growing discontent with an economically constrained and politically repressive system under communism meant that many East Germans were using crossing points that were still open within Berlin in order to escape via West Berlin to West Germany. The erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961 sealed both the division of the city and the division between West and East Germany.

On 3 October 1990 the newly constituted federal states (Länder) joined an enlarged Federal Republic of Germany, as the Unification Treaty came into effect. Reunification had a fundamental impact on Berlin in just about every respect: topographically, in terms of borders, buildings, and infrastructure; socially, in terms of the economy, communities, culture, and life-styles; and also in the sphere of the imaginary, of self-representations and reflections, and selective preservation of traces of an always controversial past. A third of a century later, the divided Berlin of the Cold War era was becoming virtually unimaginable. Alongside major social and economic transformation, the landscapes of memorialisation became overwhelming. Berlin is perhaps unique among major capital cities in displaying such a level of national shame in public remembrance of the victims of its own previous misdeeds.

Berlin was devasted by the destructive impact of the Thirty Years War. But Elector Frederick William, who had been brought up as a Calvinist and educated in the Netherlands, transformed challenges into opportunities. Using the threat of continued warfare as a pretext, he took advantage of the weakness of both the landed nobility and urban burghers to impose new taxes in order to maintain a standing army. Known as ‘the Great Elector’, he also engaged in active immigration policies to repopulate devastated lands and stimulate manufacturing and trade. The immigration of French Huguenots, as well as a small Jewish community, significantly affected Berlin’s profile and subsequent development. Frederick III, who took over as Elector in 1688, crowned himself King in Prussia in 1701, and transformed Berlin into the seat of a royal residence.