Since the Second World War, large parts of the Nazi past have been off limits to critical discussion in Germany and across Europe. The unexpected turn taken by German capitalist society following the rise of the Nazis ended with the catastrophe of World War II, and the institutionalization of mass slaughter. Issues connected with the Nazi period in Germany have created considerable internal debate among major historians and philosophers focused on questions such as the uniqueness of Nazism and its crimes, and whether the German tradition after World War II enshrined an avoidance of dealing with issues linked to the Nazi period out of feelings of guilt and self-reproach felt by German historians. However, a number of new directions in historical research in Germany have opened up the subject of the Nazis and related issues. The history of the everyday life (Alltagsgeschichte) forms one of the new avenues in German historiography that has been able to overcome the taboos around the period following the fall of the Third Reich. An exploration of this topic could shed light on a previously neglected, unique experience in European history.