The decontamination of German history
Jürgen Habermas and the 'Historikerstreit' in West Germany
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2160364 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeremy Leaman |
| Year | 1988 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 518-520 |
| Publication date | 1988-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Economy and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0308-5147 • E-ISSN: 1469-5766 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03085148800000022 |
| OpenAlex | W2474129555 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 1 |
The 'Historikerstreit' in West Germany was opened by the non-historian Habermas who sought to expose what he saw as a 'scandalous' revision of aspects of the history of German fascism on the part of leading conservative historians like Nolte, Hillgruber and Stürmer. Habermas sees this revisionism in the wider context of the perceived need to foster a new German nationalism as a means of legitimation. The attempt to decontaminate German history would seem to derive from the need to resist the demands for political realignment in West Germany and to establish a strong pedigree of German anti-communism which takes in National Socialism and its membership of the Anti-Comintern Pact as well as West Germany's membership of NATO. Habermas's critique of conservative historians and the non-rational assumptions of their philosophy of history is essentially linked to his critique of Nietzsche, Heidegger, Derrida and Foucault and his identification of a common paralyzing influence on discourse
Archaeology · Communism · Context (archaeology · German · Historicism · Legitimation · Nationalism · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Socialism · Sociology · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · European history and politics · German History and Society · History · Law
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,17 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2020 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |