German history from 1918-1945 is well known as being one of the most heavily researched topics in human history, yet some historians claim there is still much to uncover and also to revise (I read this two days ago in a journal article, I will update the post when I can add the info to cite it).
For the Germanists among you, which topics within this area jump out at you as being the more important or salient ones for historians to start or continue to delve into? For instance, is the structuralist versus intentionalist debate at or nearing a consensus stage? Have new (last 10 years) archival findings prompted Germanists to ask new questions, or reframe existing questions? What are the current 'trends' in Third Reich scholarship? And are they likely to change in the near future in your opinion? Lastly, is this still an exciting area to research, or is there some feeling perhaps that it has been mined to the point of excess or to the detriment of other important areas of historical inquiry?
I'm a Third Reich scholar and I would say that yes, there are always new things to discover or reframe. Currently, one of the thing that is somehow new (relatively speaking) is all the scholarship on gender dynamics during the Third Reich and questions such as sexual abuse. There's still a lot to be done. So, yes, it is still interesting, or exciting as you say.
For the future, I'm not sure it will always be the case. However, now you also have scholarship on the heritage of the Third Reich, for example neo nazis of course or current national narratives about it and how they serve political goals. But also, just to give you another example on the other side, the trauma of the survivors and how it impacts the second and third generations.
As for the debate intentionalist versus structuralist, idk if we can say its really settled as there are still different perspectives on it but I would say that nowadays it's not such a huge thing anymore and scholars tend to think that it's more nuanced than that.