Apologies play a central role in the process of reconciliation. Societies that experienced a major conflict often struggle to recreate a stable order. The memory of trauma can linger for decades and give rise to new animosities and conflicts. We argue that public apologies play an influential role in breaking this vicious cycle, particularly when the apology contains a symbolic visual dimension. In such cases the act of apology can become an important collective memory itself, influencing political representations of the conflict and thus the manner in which subsequent generations view and engage the issues at stake. We examine several iconic visual apologies. One of them is how the West German chancellor, Willy Brandt, travelled to Poland in 1970 and silently kneeled before the monument marking the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 1943. This visual apology created international headlines and was much discussed in both Poland and Germany. To this day the photographs of this gesture remain influential, more so perhaps than any verbal repentance of the Holocaust.
