JEN_F_02 Relativization, Revisionism, and Recurrence: Rejecting Memories of National Socialism since 1990 and its Consequences for Social Cohesion

Objectives/ Research Questions

Since the 1990s, the memory of the Holocaust and National Socialism has been part of a raison d’état of unified Germany and thus, at least at the official political level, part of the German understanding of identity and cohesion. However, since the reality of the National Socialist past stands in the way of an uninterrupted identification with the German nation, efforts to relativize National Socialism and to marginalize the memory of the Nazi past (for example, as a Vogelschiss, or “just a bird shit”, in history) continue to exist at the societal as well as the individual level – from parts of the middle of society to anti-democratic and extreme right-wing forces. This research project aims to examine tendencies towards relativizing National Socialism and rejecting the memory of the Nazi past since 1990 as factors that undermine social cohesion at the macro-, meso-, and micro-levels. In doing so, we aim to identify which inclusionary and exclusionary perceptions of social cohesion (e.g. ethnic and anti-Semitic world views) are associated with these forms of historical revisionism.

Against the background of the institutionalized commemoration of the Nazi past since the 1990s, our overarching objective looks into the ways in which the memory of National Socialism in Germany at the political and cultural macro-level has proved to be a guiding force for the constitution of (normatively conceived) social cohesion. Based on this, and following the heuristic approach formulated at the beginning, we seek to identify at which institutional, collective, and individual levels and in which forms the rejection of memory and relativization of National Socialism has occurred since the 1990s. The research project is based on the assumption that such relativizing patterns of argumentation have semantically changed in the wake of German unification – especially under the condition of the now “competing” memory of former East Germany (see Wippermann 2009).

Thematic relation to social cohesion

Based on the working definition of social cohesion, this research project examines the culture and politics of remembrance in Germany as the sources and roots of different forms of social cohesion. The construction of conceptions of cohesion through the recourse to history is one of the cognitive-cultural factors that condition the formation of social cohesion. Both the dominant discourses and political narratives among different public spheres at the macro-level as well as individual cognitive and emotional dimensions at the micro-level play a role in this project.

At the macro-level, we are interested in examining political semantics and narratives found in public discourse in Germany that seek to legitimize social cohesion by recurring to the past. Our analysis operates on the assumption that national and cultural self-perceptions, and thus ideas about social cohesion, are created and reproduced by means of historical meaning. In order to collectively establish social continuity, consistency, and coherence, one necessary element is an “understanding of time encompassing the past, present and future” (in other words, a narrative) that normatively organizes historical events (Rüsen 2012). However, such a narrative of the continuous passage of time is rendered impossible in Germany due to the civilizational rupture represented by the Shoah (Kantsteiner 2013). Since the late 1980s, and especially after reunification, efforts have been made in Germany to institutionally anchor the memory of the Holocaust within the German perception of self (Knigge 2016). As such, by no later than 1990, the memory of the Holocaust and National Socialism had become part of the normative conceptions about identity and cohesion of the reunified German republic. At the same time, however, a variety of social actors and individuals have consistently sought to relativize or trivialize the Nazi past in order to create a positive image of German communitization (Salzborn 2020, Frei et al. 2018, Wiegel 2001). This research project is based on the assumption that such relativizing models of argumentation have semantically changed in the wake of German unification – especially under the condition of the now “competing” memory of former East Germany (see Thiele i.E., Wippermann 2009).

At the mico-level, individual cognitive operationalizations of social cohesion come into play, as well as emotional and affective dimensions. Within the framework of family and society, feelings of guilt and shame play a role in how the National Socialist past is handled and addressed (Rees et al. 2018), a process that may generate resistance to memories and confrontations with the past or even ancillary feelings of anti-Semitic resentment (see Bergmann 2007). Along with a discussion on social cohesion, this project also examines the perceptions associated with operationalizations that resist, relativize, or even revise the Nazi past. This may encompass völkische, nationalistic, or even anti-Semitic orientations (see Pohl 2006).

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