二十世紀上半葉，德國與波蘭的關係大多為積極競爭領土與重新安置人民。波蘭和東德的共產政權垮台後，緊接著德國的統一，波蘭和德國的關係史被放入歐洲整合的脈絡下重新理解。儘管整體而言有所進展，仍有許多巨大的障礙需要克服。因此，由記憶文化的角度觀之，重新建立的鄰國關係，以及兩國要求國內和雙方關係正常化仍是十分脆弱的。自1945年起， 一系列「受害者的持續競爭」發生於兩國的人民與政府之間； 其中，國家身份藉由淡化或去合理化彼此錯誤的行徑，而建立於深刻的過錯感之上。雙方的和解工作迅速在1994年至1995年達到高峰，然而當兩國意識到仍有許多過往尚未解決的問題時，如此快速的重修舊好便在千禧年時脫軌。這些事件標誌出重新以更國家化的方式處理歷史記憶之轉向。十年後，儘管雙方對過去仍有許多分歧的觀點，但是也日益意識到需要以更實際的方式對待彼此，以進一步發展兩國關係。因此，我們能看到，過去三十年中，基於歐洲化的潮流、競爭性的普世化或反饋性的特殊化，讓德國與波蘭在處理二十世紀歷史糾葛中核心層面的記憶時，著重於不同的面向。

The relationship between Germany and Poland in the first half of the 20th century had been mostly one of aggressive territorial competition and resettlement of people. After the collapse of the communist regimes in Poland and East Germany, followed by German reunification, the history of this relationship has been reconceptualised within the framework of European integration. Despite overall progress, there are still numerous obstacles that need to be overcome. Thus, seen from the perspective of cultures of remembrance, it becomes obvious how fragile the re-established neighbourly relationship and both countries' quest for internal and bilateral normalization still are. Ever since 1945, there has been an ＂on-going saga of competitive victimhood＂ between people in both countries, where the wrongs one has done to the other have to be minimized or delegitimized in order to build a national identity on a sense of being deeply wronged. Reconciliation efforts quickly reached a short-lived peak in 1994/5 but this rapid rapprochement was derailed around the millennium when both sides realized that there were still a number of unresolved issues concerning the recent past. These incidents signalled a return to more re-nationalized approaches to historical memories. Another ten years later, both sides became increasingly aware that a more pragmatic approach to the opposite side was needed in order to further develop the bilateral relationship despite remaining differences concerning the views of the past. Thus, we can see over the past three decades a succession of different emphases in German and Polish approaches to the memory of central aspects of their entangled 20th century history, which were alternately based on trends towards Europeanization, contested cosmopolitanisation or reflexive particularism.