Remarkably, fascination with the Second World War has increased as proximity to it has diminished. A glance at old newspapers gives an indication of this. On the 10th and 20th anniversaries of the end of the war, The Times published only brief commemorative reports. Even in 1970, at the 25th anniversary, there was nothing remotely on the scale of 1985, 1995 or 2005.

For each of these last big anniversaries, the scale of the reportage grew larger. German newspapers show a similar pattern. Films, documentaries, books, the school curriculum and novels all lend support to the notion of continued, even intensified, fascination.

Why? Partly, it has to do with memory and history. Memories of the war were much fresher in the 1950s and 1960s and were more “normal”, because they were relatively fresh and shared by so many. In addition, people often did not want to remember. Most wanted to put the recent past behind them and begin new lives. For millions, memories of war were so painful, or bitter, that they preferred to draw a veil over them.

Generational change saw this start to alter in the 1960s. Optimism about a better world has evaporated. The postwar slogan, “never again”, came to sound hollow as war, ethnic cleansing and genocide left their stain on modern times. But their prevalence meant that the part played by the Second World War in shaping the modern world gained sharper contours. The scale of the bloodletting — more than 50 million dead — seemed ever more inconceivable. And the genocide against the Jews (which by the 1960s had been termed “the Holocaust”) loomed larger, and appeared all the more incredible, as human rights became more established and racism was increasingly outlawed.

“Never again” gave way to “How on earth could this have happened?” Historical research interacted with memory, public consciousness and the growing impact of mass media to focus attention on the Second World War and the Holocaust. Systematic research on the Holocaust only gathered pace as late as the 1980s but fed directly into growing awareness of the genocidal nature of the war, particularly in Eastern Europe. The war was looked at through different lenses. Interest in its military course became partially displaced by a growing concentration on its victims. With the end of the Soviet bloc, newly-opened archives highlighted the horrific experiences and revealed ever wider circles of complicity in crimes against humanity.

This affected new generations of young people. When an exhibition in Germany showed ordinary soldiers perpetrating atrocities in occupied Eastern Europe, young Germans naturally asked what their grandfathers had been doing during the war. This was more than fascination. It was close to home.

The Second World War entered the history syllabus in schools and universities. Schoolchildren and students were exposed to the reasons for the war, the monumental nature of the conflict and its lasting impact on Europe and the world after 1945. Interest was fuelled by the mass media.

Television documentaries brought the war into sitting rooms. As the generation that had fought and suffered in it started to pass away, many who had been reluctant to talk wanted to relate their experiences. Feature films such as Schindler’s List or Saving Private Ryan dramatised the horror of war. Anniversaries played their part. The 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of the end of the war were brought to millions through television.

New revelations about the Second World War will inevitably become fewer. Maybe we are moving to an era in which fictionalised and dramatised versions of events will take over from genuine history in shaping public consciousness. Whether that happens or not, it seems certain that interest in the war shows no sign of abating.

Ian Kershaw, Tuesday 21, Peppers Theatre, will discuss some forgotten aspects of the Second World War

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