That is a large part of it, but the shift was underway 20 years ago. Villains from WWII naturally get less airtime during a time when the public wants to mentally process WTC or Bataclan.
20 years ago was Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. Maybe this is just an American perspective? We certainly didn't spend a lot of mental energy on Bataclan.
That is a large part of it. Another part is that terrorism sucked a lot of air from the room. Until 2001, people - certainly in my country - just did not think much about terrorism. After 9/11, it was all anyone thought about. That mindset made WWII issues seem more remote and somewhat stale.
