Multiple Restorations: German Political Traditions and the Interpretation of Nazism, 1945–1946

Abstract

In the longer continuity of German history, the year 1945 will always, in part, represent the “Stunde Null” (zero hour), of catastrophic military defeat and complete moral disgrace and bankruptcy following Nazism and the Holocaust.1 The term “Stunde Null” evokes the need for a new beginning, a moral and political break with disastrous and ultimately criminal national traditions. Yet, because the Third Reich lasted only twelve years, and because there were non- and anti-Nazi traditions and leaders that survived in inner and external emigration, the postwar rejection of Nazism took the form of multiple restorations of these still extant German political traditions. In the first postwar years, the turn away from Nazism in both Germanies, as well as the break with totalitarian dictatorship in general in Western Germany, was taken by political leaders who had been active in Weimar politics and who returned to take center stage in German politics after 1945.2 To be sure, they were all deeply affected in their lives and thinking by the Third Reich. But what changes it did bring about in their political views amounted to rearrangements and different emphases of long-held convictions rather than to wholly new beginnings.

Beyond `Restoration'? Assessing and Accounting for West German Liberalization and Democratization, 1945—1965

“…3 Critics might have preferred a decisive break with the authoritarian past in toto, but the origins of West Germany are to be found in a mixture of responses to the immediate post-war situation and the emerging Cold War on the one hand and the continuity or restoration of competing pre-, non-, and anti-Nazi traditions on the other. 4 On the whole, the works examined here suggest that the Spiegel is correct to discern a trend which is, if anything, more sympathetic than hostile to 1950s West Germany, but which does not attempt a whitewash. 5 Across a range of fields of study, each author weighs up the question of rupture and continuity.…”

Plastik und politische Kultur in Westdeutschland

“…In den letzten Jahren hoben mehrere zeitgeschichtliche Arbeiten auf die Technikfixierung der öffentlichen Diskussion in der frühen Bundesrepublik ab. 5 Laurien 1991, 162-168;Herf 1993;Schildt 1995, 324-350;Steinmetz 1995;Nolte 2000, 273-318;Metzler 2005, 62-80. 6 Schildt 1995.…”

Nazi Almanya’sında Nazizm İdeolojisiyle Şekillenen Kitap Okuma Kültürünün Sinemadaki Sunumu: “Kitap Hırsızı” Filminin Göstergebilimsel Analizi

“…Okuma kültürü gibi Nazizm ideolojisi üzerine de çok sayıda akademik çalışma gerçekleştirilmiştir (Kirchheimer, 1941;Dülffer, 1976;Mason, 1977;Taylor, 1981;Wagner, 1981;Farias, 1989;Paskow, 1991;Herf, 1993;Dunlop, 1996;Rockmore, 1997;Young, 1998;Herkommer, 2008;Geyer ve Fitzpatrick, 2009;Kuhl, 2002;Eley, 2013;Patel ve Reichardt, 2016;Zakić, 2017). Bu çalışmalarda da: Collingwood (1940), Hansen (1981), Nazizm ve Faşizm'i; Loomis ve Beegle (1946), Nazizm'in kırsal alanlarda yayılmasını; Sternhell (1973), Frosh (2015), antisemitizm ve Nazizm'i; Stein (1988), Nazizm'in köklerini; Fischer (1991), Harsch (1993), Hamilton (2003), Campbell (2004), Häberlen (2013), Falter (2014), Nazizm'in yükselişini; Berman (1992), Herman (2001), Yahudiler ve Nazizm'i; Weindling (1993), ulusal birleşme ve Nazizm arasında sağlık, ırk ve Alman siyasetini; Davidson (1997), Nazizm'in doğuşu ve yükselişini; Ian (1997), Stalinizm ve Nazizm'i; Geary (2002), Hitler ve Nazizm'i; Kirk (2002), Nazizm ve işçi sınıfını; Mühlberger (2003), Nazizm'in sosyal temellerini; Stone (2003), İngiltere'deki Nazizm'e tepkileri; Forti (2006), ırkçılık ve Nazizm'i;…”