This article considers how memory and history are negotiated and constructed. The analysis takes by way of example the current conflict in Colombia and the two German dictatorships of the 20th Century (Third Reich and RDA). Although the situation is different -and quite complex - in both countries, not allowing for a simple comparison, the juxtaposition of some common characteristics allows us to gain some general understanding of the dynamics of memory. We examine how both societies, German and Colombian, do not have a voluntary rapprochement to each corresponding difficult and painful past, but instead owe it to an internal or external pressure. We show how in both cases it involves long and slow processes, and we argue that the discourses of the past are in a state of constant negotiation.