This article examines lives and WWII-related works of Winfried Georg Sebald and Gerhard Richter, particularly pictorial representation of Nazis in Sebald's Vertigo (1990) and Richter's Uncle Rudi (1965).

How "postguilt", mentioned in this article can be defined? How does the pictorial representation of Nazi relatives help to understand how "ordinary Germans" could have perpetrated genocide? How found image of a Nazi soldier and Richter's painting from the family photo differ? Is it okay to exploit found photographical images in fiction novel or in mocumentary? How the fact that in Vertigo (Sebald, 1990) it's not clear to which character the photograph of a young man in Nazi uniform relates to, affects the plot and the reader's perception of the text? Does it disturb or on the contrary intrigue the reader? What is the difference between Richter painting his Wehrmacht officer-uncle and Sebald mentioning his father in Vertigo? Authors of the article link pragmatism of Nazi military service to de-demonization of Nazis. Can it work like this?

The most discussed throughout the article ethical question is "how do we mourn the guilty?"

#painting #writing #photography #Holocaust #memory #history #family #postmemory