Appeal May 8, 1945 - against forgetting

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The appeal May 8, 1945 - against forgetting was a new right-wing political campaign in 1995 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht and the end of the Second World War in Germany.

occasion

May 8, 1995 marked the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. On this occasion, the federal government planned extensive events to celebrate the day of liberation from National Socialism . In right-wing conservative circles in particular , a different, less submissive perspective was called for.

The roll call May 8, 1945

The initiator of the Berlin appeal Rainer Zitelmann , Alfred Dregger and the publicists Klaus Rainer Röhl , Heimo Schwilk and Ulrich Schacht called on April 7, 1995 in an advertisement in the FAZ entitled Appell May 8, 1945 - Against Forgetting, and called for a rethink referring to former Federal President Theodor Heuss , who called the end of the war a “paradox” of the Germans - “because we were redeemed and destroyed in one”. According to the initiators of the appeal, “it was threatened to be forgotten that this day not only marked the end of the National Socialist reign of terror, but also the beginning of the terror of expulsions and new oppression in the east and the beginning of the division of our country ”. The characterization of May 8, 1945 “by the media and politicians as 'liberation'” is “one-sided”. This “historical image” could “not be the basis for the self-image of a self-confident nation”.

In his autobiography If you don't burn anymore, start anew , the initiator of the appeal, Rainer Zitelmann, describes the origin of the appeal and the role of Alfred Dregger from his point of view. Dregger had originally agreed to be the keynote speaker at a Zitelmann event. “But in the phone calls with me, Dregger admitted that Chancellor Helmut Kohl was pressuring him to withdraw his commitment. The reason was not so much the advertisement text or the May 8th topic than Manfred Brunner's planned appearance at the panel discussion. He was a thorn in Kohl's side because Brunner was a vehement opponent of the euro - the project that was particularly close to Kohl's heart. "

They opposed the position of Richard von Weizsäcker , which he had taken in his speech on the 40th anniversary of the end of the war (1985). Weizsäcker had also emphasized “what serious ailments for many people began on May 8th and then followed”, but “it became clearer from day to day what we all have to say today: May 8th a day of liberation ”.

The appeal was signed by around 300 people, including numerous German university professors and high-ranking military personnel (including 12 Bundeswehr generals ). From political circles there are Ottmar Wallner and Ingeborg Seifert (both Republicans ), Carl-Dieter Spranger , Friedrich Zimmermann and Peter Gauweiler (all CSU), Heinrich Lummer (CDU), Alexander von Stahl (FDP). Furthermore, publicists signed, especially the Junge Freiheit ( Dieter Stein , Karlheinz Weißmann ), scientists and doctors.

Hans Apel (SPD) withdrew his signature after the publication.

The appeal was also the start of the initiators' own event plans. On May 7, 1995, Alfred Dregger, Ulrich Schacht and Manfred Brunner were supposed to contest a counter-event to the "Liberation Day" in Munich.

On May 7, 2005 (the 60th anniversary of the end of the war) the advertisement with the appeal was published again in the FAZ. At that time, the appeal already had over 1,000 supporters.

The Institute for State Policy hosted its 9th Berlin College on May 8, 2005 and dedicated it to the appeal. The speakers were Ernst Nolte , Gert Schultze-Rhonhof and Johann Adolf Graf von Kielmansegg .

Media coverage

The appeal was taken up by various national media and mostly heavily criticized. Heribert Prantl from the Süddeutsche Zeitung and Ralph Giordano (for the TAZ) accused the appeal of revisionism .

In Friday and in the Frankfurter Rundschau, Andreas Förster presented the consistent connection between right-wing conservative scandal and members of the Bundeswehr and also highlighted the “May 8th 1945 Appeal” with its broad circle of supporters from the military.

In April 1995 Zitelmann took part in the SAT.1 television discussion in the tower .

Political reactions

Michel Friedman (CDU) complained that the appeal was orienting “young people in the wrong direction”. Also Heiner Geissler insisted on the exclusive historical rating of 8 May 1945 as a "day of liberation". Criticism also came from Ignatz Bubis , who in turn received opposition from the FAZ and Heiner Kappel . Co-signer Carl-Dieter Spranger was backed by Theo Waigel . Guido Westerwelle and Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger expressed their dismay at the appeal, which had also been signed by FDP members. In a counter appeal, Hanna-Renate Laurien advised the signatories to distance themselves from their position in the “May 8th 1945 appeal”.

The SPD also called for distance, which was followed by ex-Federal Minister Hans Apel . SPD-MdB Siegfried Vergin discussed the appeal in the German Bundestag critically.

Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl obtained Dregger's withdrawal from the planned event on May 7, 1995. Wolfgang Schäuble , however, defended Dregger's position in terms of content, which Dregger maintained against further public criticism. On April 28, 1995, the event was canceled entirely.

The Berlin CDU members Matthias Seegrün, Norman Gutschow and Gerard Bökenkamp resigned from their party under pressure from the party leadership after their signature on the roll call became known.

Wilhelm von Gottberg (member of the AfD since 2013 ), who describes the Holocaust as a “means of criminalizing the Germans”, defended the appeal in the Ostpreußenblatt .

Scientific classification

According to political scientist Wolfgang Gessenharter , this appeal was formulated by an initiative whose members were called the New Right . The “appeal against forgetting” shows a new tone “in the new right-wing debate” when the campaign no longer “only” sought “cultural hegemony”, but also “aimed at taking steps to political supremacy”. The central objective of the initiators, "the bringing together of all 'nationally-minded forces in Germany' in order to make the 'New Democratic Right' an 'unmistakable' power factor and thus to drive 'the left worldview cartel' out of its positions of power," became clear .

Several historical and political science publications classify the appeal as a relevant event in the blossoming of the New Right . Jan-Holger Kirsch and Thomas Pfeiffer also come to this judgment.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Redeemed and destroyed. In: Focus . April 3, 1995. Retrieved August 21, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e http://zitelmann-autobiografie.de/leseproben/128-worte-die-fuer-viel-aufregung-sorgen/
  3. ↑ 128 words that cause a lot of excitement | Reading samples | Rainer Zitelmann | Autobiography | When you're no longer burning, restart. Retrieved on May 21, 2020 (German).
  4. ^ Richard von Weizsäcker on May 8, 1945: “A day of liberation” - the big speech. In: Der Tagesspiegel . January 31, 2015, accessed August 21, 2019 .
  5. ^ Institute for State Policy ( Memento from September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ https://staatspektiven.de/chronik-2005/
  7. ↑ Dieter Rulff: Rightists mourn the liberation. In: taz . March 30, 1995. Retrieved August 21, 2019 .
  8. ↑ End of the war: Full truth . In: Der Spiegel . No. 16 , 1995, pp. 91 f . ( online - April 17, 1995 ).
  9. ↑ Andreas Förster: Spirit of the Wehrmacht. In: Friday . May 24, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Andreas Förster: The officers and the new right. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . May 12, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2019 .
  11. ↑ "Dangerous and inadmissible". In: Focus . April 15, 1995. Retrieved August 21, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Stenographic report of the 172nd meeting. (PDF) German Bundestag, April 24, 1997, p. 106 , accessed on August 21, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Dregger: I'll be there. In: taz . April 24, 1995. Retrieved August 21, 2019 .
  14. ^ André Freudenberg: Freedom-conservative small parties in reunified Germany . Leipzig 2009, ISBN 978-3-86901-228-5 ( p. 367 in the Google book search).
  15. ↑ Young rights had to go. In: Der Tagesspiegel . May 21, 2005, accessed August 21, 2019 .
  16. ↑ http://archiv.preussische-allgemeine.de/1995/1995_06_17_24.pdf
  17. ↑ Wolfgang Gessenharter, Recall to the «self-conscious nation» - analysis of a new right frame from the perspective of movement theory , In: Kai-Uwe Hellmann, Ruud Koopmans, Paradigms of Movement Research: Origin and Development of New Social Movements and Right-Wing Extremism , Springer-Verlag 2013, p. 166
  18. ↑ Wolfgang Gessenharter, Recall to the Self-Confident Nation - Analysis of a New Right Frame from a Movement - Theoretical Perspective , In: Kai-Uwe Hellmann, Ruud Koopmans, Paradigms of Movement Research: Origin and Development of New Social Movements and Right-Wing Extremism , Springer-Verlag 2013, p. 179
  19. ↑ Michael Pechel: The understanding of history of the weekly newspaper "Junge Freiheit" . In: Stephan Braun, Ute Vogt (ed.): The weekly newspaper "Junge Freiheit". Critical analyzes of the program, content, authors and customers . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-531-15421-3 , p. 95–115 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-531-90559-4_5 ( p. 107 in the Google book search).
  20. ↑ Martin Langebach : May 8, 1945 . In: Martin Langebach, Michael Sturm (ed.): Places of remembrance of the extreme right . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-00130-8 , p. 213–243 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-658-00131-5_11 ( p. 220 in the Google book search).
  21. ↑ Michael Pechel: The understanding of history of the weekly newspaper "Junge Freiheit" . In: Stephan Braun, Ute Vogt (ed.): The weekly newspaper "Junge Freiheit". Critical analyzes of the program, content, authors and customers . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-531-15421-3 , p. 95-115 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-531-90559-4_5 ( springer.com ).
  22. ↑ Patrick Keßler: The “New Right” in the gray area between right-wing extremism and conservatism? Protagonists, programmatic and positioning movements . LIT Verlag, Münster 2018, ISBN 978-3-643-13844-6 ( p. 116 in the Google book search).
  23. ^ Wolfgang Gessenharter: The new intellectual right and its support by politics and the media . In: Stephan Braun, Daniel Hoersch (ed.): Right networks - a danger . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 978-3-8100-4153-1 , p. 17-25 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-322-81009-0 ( p. 21 in the Google book search).
  24. ↑ Martin Langebach : May 8, 1945 . In: Martin Langebach, Michael Sturm (ed.): Places of remembrance of the extreme right . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-00130-8 , p. 213-243 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-658-00131-5_11 ( springer.com ).
  25. ↑  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / zeitgeschichtedigital.de
  26. ^ Thomas Pfeiffer: Media of a new social movement from the right . Ruhr University , Bochum 2003, urn : nbn: de: hbz: 294-2527 ( gwdg.de [PDF; 2.6 MB ; accessed on August 21, 2019] dissertation).