Historikerstreit

On June 5, the Badische Zeitung published an article titled “What Remains of the Historians' Dispute.”

The Historikerstreit was sparked by an article by historian Ernst Nolte, “Vergangenheit, die nicht vergehen will (A Past That Refuses to Fade),” published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 40 years ago.

Nolte wrote, “The Nazi past hangs over Germany like an executioner's sword,” and he started to put in perspective the Holocaust with the extermination of the bourgeoisie in the Soviet Union under Stalin, although the communist regime massmurdered “with the exception of the technical process of gassing.”

Which of the two was less bad? Is a collective “class genocide” against the bourgeoisie equivalent to a collective “genocide” against the Jews?

An answer came from the social philosopher Jürgen Habermas with an article in the weekly Die Zeit titled "Eine Art Schadensabwicklung (A Kind of Damage Settlement)": “No one should question the singularity of the Nazi crimes. Auschwitz cannot be shrunk to the level of a technical innovation.”

At German Stammtische (pub tables), people often call for drawing a “Schlussstrich (final line)” under Germany’s past so that it no longer differs fundamentally from other pasts. “Shouldn’t we erect a wall against the desire for ever-ongoing confrontation with National Socialism?”

While there have been many horrific genocides throughout history, the systematic, industrial-scale murder of six million people simply because they were Jewish is unprecedented in history.

This view has become part of the self-image of German democrats. This is reflected in a culture of remembrance that encompasses the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, more than 100,000 Stolpersteine commemorating individual victims of the Nazi regime, documentation centers in many cities that focus on Germany's historical past, such as the Dokumentationszentrum Nationalsozialismus in Freiburg.

Still, the uniqueness of Auschwitz is being questioned by both the right and the left. Alternative for Germany stands for the right. Infamous is the statement by former AfD federal spokesperson Alexander Gauland, who claimed that Hitler and the Nazis were “just a bird dropping in over 1,000 years of successful German history.” Chairwoman Alice Weidel has drawn attention with the statement that a “cult of guilt” is being perpetuated around the Nazi past.

The left criticizes the apparent uncritical German support for Israel. The Australian genocide researcher Anthony Dirk Moses wrote in an article, "Der Katechismus der Deutschen (The Catechism of the Germans,)" that the uniqueness of the Holocaust had been elevated to a dogma in Germany. It lies in the Germans’ desire to be seen internationally as good people: ”We have come to terms with our dark past with radical openness."

As a result, Dirk Moses moaned, “The freedom of speech is restricted.“ In fact, in Germany, denying the Holocaust is a criminal offense.

Let me be clear and honest: The rupture in civilization between 1933 and 1945 was so stark that it left the Germans with a past that will not fade for generations to come.

Where do we go from here?

Habermas wrote in 1986, “The only German patriotism still permissible today is constitutional patriotism, i.e., pride in democracy and the rule of law.”

Our modern Basic Law served as a blueprint for many of the constitutions of the young nations emerging from colonialism.

Meron Mendel, director of the Anne Frank Educational Center in Frankfurt am Main, naturally has a lot of contacts with young people and school groups, and calls for more than just the constitutional patriotism advocated by Habermas.

Erinnerungskultur (remembrance culture) should be expanded to encompass the history of German democracy and migration in the Federal Republic. Young people should be proud of our democracy that dates back to 1848. “Let them fight for this democracy, so that something like the Holocaust never happens again."

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