Henning Köhler (historian)

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Henning Köhler (born August 9, 1938 in Berlin ) is a German historian .

Life

Köhler studied history , German and philosophy in Berlin . He received his doctorate in 1967 with a thesis on voluntary labor service and completed his habilitation in 1972. Until 2005, he was Professor of Modern History at the Friedrich Meinecke Institute of the Free University of Berlin . In 1981/82 he was visiting professor at Stanford University , 1987/88 and 1996/97 visiting member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton . Köhler is married and has two daughters. He lives in Berlin-Lichterfelde .

Works and controversies

In his research approach, Köhler is a representative of classical political history , who - unlike the structural-historical and sociologically oriented representatives of so-called social history - puts political actors and the state at the center of consideration. Henning Köhler is considered to be a “lateral thinker” and for that very reason a “controversial historian”, whose work is often sparked by contradicting the theses of other historians. Köhler's theses on the Reichstag fire , on the so-called “ Historikerstreit ”, on the November Revolution of 1918, on Adenauer and on the overall interpretation of German history in the 19th and 20th centuries caused a particular stir .

In 1969 he contradicted with an article in the Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte the prevailing opinion that the deflationary policy of Reich Chancellor Heinrich Brüning 1930–1932 was the result of a medium-term strategy to get rid of the reparation obligations. Köhler saw this as only short-term crisis management under strong, domestic political constraints.

In his History of the Weimar Republic , first published in 1982 , Köhler opposed “the danger of a theses-like shortened view” of the first German republic. On the one hand, the Berlin historian criticizes the widespread view of "the missed opportunities" of a "missed fundamental democratization" with the help of the council movement "in the pre-Republican times of the so-called November Revolution . Rather, it was more a collapse of the old order The majority of those involved, on the other hand, lacked the will to truly revolutionize the situation. For Köhler, the result of the elections for the constituent national assembly in January 1919 shows that the moderate and pro-republican parties started the new republic with a leap of faith The Weimar Republic was doomed to failure from the start. Overall, Köhler therefore also opposes “the tendency to emphasize the continuity from the Empire to the Third Reich.” In contrast, there was no direct and irreversible path from the Empire to the Third Reich rt. Köhler also argues against the thesis, mainly advocated by Fritz Fischer , that the "old elites" who had already prepared the "reach for world power" with the First World War, "only temporarily stepped a little more in the background", but actually continued to do so "The epoch-defining forces" remained.

In 1986 Köhler achieved great publicity when he accused Walther Hofer and Edouard Calic of the fact that the sources they edited on the Reichstag fire were forgeries . Based on the essays, the book develops the thesis that targeted falsification of sources was intended to prove that the National Socialists caused the Reichstag fire in a cool and deliberate manner in order to actually override the Weimar constitution via the so-called "Reichstag Fire Ordinance". On the other hand, the thesis is put forward that Marinus van der Lubbe , who was arrested at the time, was technically able to set the fire as an individual. Only afterwards did the National Socialists seize the opportunity presented by the arson. In the dispute over this different interpretation, the historian Golo Mann also brought up “popular educational” arguments: If it should turn out that the Reichstag was not set on fire by the National Socialists - so Mann - the other crimes could soon also be questioned.

Also in 1986, Köhler was one of the first historians to take a stand in the historians' dispute against the theses of Ernst Nolte , who considered the crimes of Stalinism to be more original and causal for those of National Socialism . In a letter to the editor to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , he accused Nolte, who, like him, taught at the Friedrich Meinecke Institute, that he wanted to "relativize Auschwitz through the GULag archipelago ".

In his biography Konrad Adenauer , published in 1994 , he dealt critically with the Adenauer biography of Hans-Peter Schwarz , whom he accused, among other things, of smoothing out or enhancing the contradictions in the politics and personality of the first Federal Chancellor. Spiegel editor Rudolf Augstein praised the fact that Koehler's portrayal strives for objectivity. In contrast to the representation by Hans-Peter Schwarz, the founding chancellor is not glorified here, but rather transformed back into "a normal mortal". Köhler sought and found "the general ambivalence of this Chancellor". He introduced the whole of Adenauer, “the deeply contradicting one: who relies on the Rhine state and the French in disaster situations, after both world wars; in other constellations, however, thinks and acts surprisingly nationally ”. Kurt Sontheimer , on the other hand, comes to the judgment that “a personality of the rank of Adenauer” certainly has “many facets and character traits” ”, but in Koehler's presentation this does not result in“ a really tangible and reliable overall picture of his person. ”Despite that of Koehler at Adenauer The contradictions outlined above, Köhler came to a very positive overall assessment of the statesmanship of the founding Chancellor of Germany as a result, “nationalism and militarism… no longer had any chance” in the West German state.

The charge of falsification of history rose Köhler a second time in 2001, when he was in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung put forward the theory that the story of a German by Sebastian Haffner was not authentic but had been written until after the Second World War. The allegations have been refuted both philologically and forensically.

In 2002 Köhler published a comprehensive account of German history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Not only because of the title (Germany on the way to itself. A story of the century) Köhler's presentation can be understood as an “alternative” to Heinrich August Winkler's German history of the 19th and 20th centuries, which bears the heading The Long Way to the West . While Winkler sees German history as a farewell to a German special path in the 19th and 20th centuries, which ultimately led to the center of the modern western community of states and values, Köhler, on the other hand, sees clear German "lines of continuity that go beyond all political caesuras and crises and wars have survived and have been pushed into the background by a historiographically “talked-to-death” nation-state ”. With this interpretation, Köhler also rejects the otherwise common view that German history in the 20th century is divided into a “warlike, catastrophic and a democratic, stable half”. It is true that the country has become heavily democratized and parliamentized. Overall, however, after the upheavals of the Third Reich and the smashing of the nation state after World War II, Germany returned to the former lines of national continuity with reunification. Köhler sees today's Germany in domestic and foreign policy close to the constellations that shaped Bismarck Germany. In contrast to other interpretations, Köhler's “clear turning away from the dominance of national guilt and shame” is associated with this. From Köhler's understanding, therefore, no path led purposefully from the German Empire to the Third Reich. This interpretation is close to the point of view of Köhler's institute colleague Arnulf Baring .

Köhler's story of the century met with a mixed response. Rainer Blasius gave the book a positive review in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung : It offers "a pointed overview" and "brushes some research results thoroughly against the grain". The Potsdam historian Manfred Görtemaker described Köhler's history of the century as a “sometimes provocative” but “very ponderous interpretation” that enabled a “long overdue” controversial discussion. Hans-Ulrich Wehler , on the other hand, came to a negative judgment at the time : Wehler, who, as the head of the so-called Bielefeld School, represents a sociologically shaped, structural-historical approach, saw in Köhler's traditional political-historical representation an "escape into resentment": Köhler showed an "undisguised urge to the reactionary verdict ”, yes“ neo-revisionism ”.

In November 2014 Köhler published a biography about Helmut Kohl . He presented a first partial result of this research in April 2010 in the journal Die Politische Demokratie . Köhler, who had numerous personal conversations with Kohl, interpreted Kohl's reign as the “high point” and “end point” of the Chancellor's democracy shaped by Adenauer . Kohl's European political importance as Chancellor is still underestimated and can only be compared with that of Bismarck , Stresemann and Adenauer. From Köhler's point of view, the European unification process of the 80s and 90s was shaped to a considerable extent by Kohl. In this foreign policy context, Köhler also opposes the widespread assessment that Kohl only sat out problems. In addition, the "Kohl system", which was often criticized during Kohl's reign, which relied heavily on personal ties, has proven to be an important foreign policy instrument to enforce German unity .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Manfred Görtemaker: Review of: Köhler, Henning: Germany on the way to itself. A story of the century. Stuttgart 2002, in: H-Soz-u-Kult, January 2, 2003, http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/rezensions/2003-1-001
  2. ^ Henning Köhler: Job creation, settlement and reparations in the final phase of the Brüning government. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. 17 (1969), pp. 276-306 ( PDF file, 5.6 MB ).
  3. ↑ Henning Köhler: History of the Weimar Republic (contributions to contemporary history, Vol. 4. Colloquium Verlag, Berlin 1982)
  4. ^ Henning Köhler: History of the Weimar Republic (contributions to contemporary history, Vol. 4. Colloquium Verlag. Berlin 1982, p. 7)
  5. ↑ Reinhard Rürup: Problems of the Revolution in Germany 1918/1919, Wiesbaden 1968
  6. ^ Henning Köhler: History of the Weimar Republic (contributions to contemporary history, Vol. 4. Colloquium Verlag. Berlin 1982, p. 11)
  7. ↑ Ibid, p. 22.
  8. ^ Fritz Fischer: Alliance of the Elites. On the continuity of power structures in Germany 1871–1945. Düsseldorf 1979
  9. ^ Henning Köhler: History of the Weimar Republic (contributions to contemporary history, Vol. 4. Colloquium Verlag. Berlin 1982, p. 7)
  10. ↑ Henning Köhler: The "documentary part" of the "documentation" - forgeries churning out. In: Uwe Backes, Karl-Heinz Janssen, Eckhard Jesse , Henning Köhler, Hans Mommsen and Fritz Tobias : Reichstag fire - clearing up a historical legend. Piper, Munich and Zurich 1986, pp. 167-216.
  11. ↑ Gotthard Jasper: The failed taming. Paths to Hitler's seizure of power 1930–1934. Frankfurt am Main 1986, p. 132, ISBN 3-518-11270-8 .
  12. ^ Henning Köhler: Adventurous three-step. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of June 26, 1986, p. 12.
  13. ^ Henning Koehler: Adenauer. A political biography. Propylaea, Berlin 1994.
  14. ^ Rudolf Augstein: Nix zo kriesche. In: Der Spiegel 41/1994 ( [1] ).
  15. ^ Kurt Sontheimer, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, March 6, 1995, p. 11.
  16. ^ Henning Köhler: Germany on the way to itself. A history of the century. Hohenheim Verlag, Stuttgart and Leipzig 2002, p. 15.
  17. ^ Henning Köhler: Germany on the way to itself. A history of the century. Hohenheim Publishing House. Stuttgart and Leipzig 2002, p. 16.
  18. ↑ Henning Köhler: Notes on Haffner. Haffner's posthumous bestseller “History of a German” is not historically authentic. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from August 16, 2001.
  19. ^ TAZ August 18, 2001
  20. ^ Neue Zürcher Zeitung November 2, 2001
  21. ^ Henning Köhler: Germany on the way to itself. A history of the century. Hohenheim-Verlag, Stuttgart 2002.
  22. ↑ eforum-zeitgeschichte.at/rez3_03 Review by Michael v. Prollius
  23. ↑ Germany on the way to itself. A history of the century. Hohenheim-Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, p. 12.
  24. ↑ for example in: Arnulf Baring: Long live the Republic, long live Germany. Stations of democratic renewal 1949–1999. Stuttgart 1999, 264.
  25. ^ Rainer Blasius: From Wilhelm II. To Helmut II. For advanced students. Henning Köhler's overall presentation of Germany in the 20th century. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of March 20, 2002.
  26. ↑ Manfred Görtemaker: Review of: Köhler, Henning: Germany on the way to itself. A story of the century. Stuttgart 2002, in: H-Soz-u-Kult, January 2, 2003, http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/rezensions/2003-1-001
  27. ↑ Hans-Ulrich Wehler: Escape into Resentment. It wasn't easy for Hitler either: How the historian Henning Köhler explains German history in the 20th century. In: Die Zeit of May 16, 2002.
  28. ↑ Henning Köhler: High point of the Chancellor's Democracy In: Die Politische Demokratie 485 (4/2010). Helmut Kohl on his 80th birthday , pp. 43–49. ( [2] ).

Publications (selection)

  • Labor service in Germany. Plans and forms of implementation up to the introduction of compulsory labor service in 1935. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1967, ISBN 3-428-00804-9 .
  • Job creation, settlement and reparations in the final phase of the Brüning government. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. 17 (1969), pp. 276-306 ( PDF file, 5.6 MB ).
  • Autonomy movement or separatism. The policy of the Kölnische Volkszeitung 1918/1919. Colloquium Verlag, Berlin 1974, ISBN 3-7678-0364-X .
  • Social policy from Brüning to Schleicher. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. 1973, 21, pp. 146-150.
  • November Revolution and France. The French policy on Germany 1918–1919. Droste, Düsseldorf 1980, ISBN 3-7700-0558-9 .
  • History of the Weimar Republic. Colloquium Verlag, Berlin 1981, ISBN 3-7678-0558-8 .
  • The end of Prussia from a French perspective. De Gruyter, Berlin and New York 1982, ISBN 3-11-008780-4 .
  • Knut Borchardt 's 'Revision of the Traditional Image of History' of Economic Policy in the Great Crisis - An Obsession? In: International scientific correspondence on the history of the German labor movement . 19: 164-180 (1983).
  • The Kissinger Dictation - A Key Document in Bismarck's Foreign Policy? In: Henning Köhler (Ed.): Germany and the West. Lectures and contributions to the discussion at the symposium in honor of Gordon A. Craig . Organized by the Free University of Berlin from 1-3. December 1983. Colloquium Verlag, Berlin 1984, ISBN 3-7678-0638-X , pp. 34-43.
  • Adenauer and the Rhenish Republic. The first attempt 1918–1924. Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 1986, ISBN 3-531-11765-3 .
  • The "documentary part" of the "documentation" - forgeries incessantly. In: Uwe Backes, Karl-Heinz Janßen , Eckhard Jesse , Henning Köhler, Hans Mommsen and Fritz Tobias : Reichstag fire - clearing up a historical legend. Piper, Munich and Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-492-03027-0 , pp. 167-216.
  • Adenauer. A political biography. Propylaea, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-549-05444-0 .
  • Germany on the way to itself. A story of the century. Hohenheim-Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-89850-057-8 .
  • The climax of the Chancellor's Democracy In: The Political Opinion 485 (4/2010) Helmut Kohl on his 80th birthday , pp. 43–49.
  • Helmut Kohl. A life for politics. Quadriga Verlag, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-86995-076-1 .

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personal data
SURNAME Koehler, Henning
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin