People in the Federal Republic of Germany live in the shadow of the repression and the denial of events which cannot be undone. The technique of screening out is expanding, and the incapacity for mourning results in a psychological immobilization; that is, in the inability to discover adequate, innovative solutions for the contemporary problems of our society in its international context. A self-image based on denial is easily damaged; criticism is intolerable. But the way to the future leads through the confrontation with the unmastered past.