Due to the German solidarity with Israel, which was declared a "Staatsraison" (raison d'être) in Germany, and the prevailing reference of the culture of remembrance to the Holocaust, she wanted to describe trauma and the respective memory of genocide and other crimes against humanity in regions such as Africa, Asia or the Arab world as equally important historical events that deserve worldwide recognition.
These traumas cited in the book include expulsion and crimes against humanity during German, French or Dutch colonial periods in Namibia, West Africa, Algeria, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Further, she draws parallels between so-called punitive actions of the German Waffen-SS in Oradour-sur-Glane in occupied France and the murder of hundreds of local men in the Massacre in Rawagede in Java by Dutch soldiers.
The significance of Stalinist crimes in the culture of remembrance in Eastern European countries, as well as the victims of historical or current armed conflicts and right-wing extremist violence are further examples.
"[8] For 9 November 2022, the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Goethe-Institut in Tel Aviv and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Israel had announced a panel discussion on the topic of the German "Erinnerungskultur" (culture of remembrance) in relation to the Holocaust and the Nakba.
"[9] Before this panel discussion, many Israelis felt that the implicit demand that they should deal with the Nakba on the day of remembrance of the November pogroms in Nazi Germany was presumptuous.
[11] As the tageszeitung reported, Wiedemann had expressed indignation in view of the cancellation: "No one intended to equate the Holocaust and Nakba events, which are completely different in their dimensions and consequences."
According to the review, Wiedemann's "instructive changes of perspective and food for thought", based on several examples of colonial crimes and genocides in Asia, the Middle East and Africa are expanding the concept of a culture of remembrance.
Her references to the respective traumas resulting from colonial exploitation and national wars represent impulses in coping with history, especially for Germany, to "sharpen our senses and our judgement, and expand our ability to empathise.