Klaus-Dietmar Henke

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Klaus-Dietmar Henke (born April 10, 1947 in Räckelwitz / Kamenz district ) is a German historian . Until 2012 he held the chair for contemporary history at the TU Dresden .

Life

After completing his military service, Henke studied modern and contemporary history as well as political science at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich from 1969 to 1974 . He received his doctorate in 1977 on denazification policy .

After a brief activity at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich , Henke joined the Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) in 1979 and worked there as a research assistant in the research project “Society and Politics in the American Zone of Occupation”, which was led by its director Martin Broszat . During this time, his main work, The American Occupation of Germany , was written, the attempt to create a complete history of the year of the collapse of 1944/1945 and the first meeting of winners - the "friendly enemy" - and the vanquished. The moral failure of the Wehrmacht leadership becomes just as clear as the unleashed National Socialist warfare against its own population. At the same time, he dealt with the controversial determinants of French occupation policy and, together with Hans Woller, with the social, political and psychological conditions of political cleansing in Germany and Europe after the Second World War. Henke and Woller called attention to the retarding social conditions that always stand in the way of a thorough cleansing. In 1986 Henke became deputy editor-in-chief of the quarterly journal for contemporary history published by Karl Dietrich Bracher and Hans-Peter Schwarz . After Martin Broszat's death in 1989, he acted provisionally as deputy director of the IfZ under the aegis of Ludolf Herbst .

In 1992, Henke moved to the agency of the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the Former German Democratic Republic (BStU) in Berlin, where he took over under Joachim Gauck and his director Hansjörg Geiger , who later became State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, set up and managed the Education and Research Department. In the politically tense atmosphere of upheaval, it was possible to get a research and education program off the ground that set standards and met the demands of a critical public. The department quickly developed into a center of dispute with the communist secret police in Germany and beyond, with its functional logic and its role in the SED dictatorship .

From 1997 to 2012 Henke held the chair for contemporary history in Dresden, and until 2002 he was also director of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarian Research (HAIT) there, a Saxon state institute that suffered from attempts at political instrumentalization from the start, but at times a general one noted scientific boom. Renowned advisory board members like Saul Friedländer as chairman, Hans Günter Hockerts as deputy or Christoph Kaehler supported this new start. Henke resolutely opposed the attempt made by the institute to deny the resistance fighter Johann Georg Elser the moral justification for his actions. At the instigation of the then chairman of the board of trustees and Saxon science minister Matthias Rößler (CDU), this fundamental conflict led to Henke's directorate not being extended after five years. The genesis of this didactic piece of political influence was subsequently made public by him in a meticulous reconstruction in the Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft . In addition to the history of National Socialism in Saxony, the main focus of Henke's directorate was the GDR social policy or the institutional anchoring of the rehabilitation of victims of Soviet arbitrary justice. In addition to such predominantly empirical projects, which also included a four-volume history of the Dresdner Bank in the Nazi era, there was an attempt to end the daily political exploitation of Arendt's thinking , which was enjoying a boom at the time, and to narrow down a leveling approach to totalitarianism by means of a " functional totalitarianism theory ”.

In Berlin, Henke, a reviewer of political literature in the FAZ , has been intensively involved in the discussion of the SED dictatorship on advisory boards and commissions, namely as chairman of the advisory board and member of the foundation board of the Berlin Wall Foundation since 2006. He has dealt with revolution in several publications und Vereinigung 1989/90 as well as the history of the Berlin Wall and its worldwide impact in the collective memory . Recently, however, he turned against the hypertrophic become in his eyes state institutional facilities for the processing of GDR history, a position he also as a member of the Bundestag of "expert panel appointed on the future of the authority of the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic ( BStU) ”represented.

Since 2011, Henke has been the spokesman for the " Independent Commission of Historians for Research into the History of the Federal Intelligence Service 1945–1968 ", whose research results have been published in 16 volumes since 2016, a worldwide unique project in which a fully functioning secret intelligence service makes its archives accessible. In this context, he wrote a two-volume monograph on the domestic political activities of the service during the Adenauer period (Volume 1: Geheime Dienst. The political domestic espionage of the Gehlen Organization 1946-1953, Berlin 2018; Volume 2: Geheime Dienst. The political domestic espionage of the BND in the Adenauer era, probably 2022). In addition, Henke and others have long been committed to the realization of a place of remembrance that is supposed to thematize the years of the East-West confrontation and the Cold War at the former Checkpoint Charlie border crossing in Berlin .

Fonts (selection)

Monographs

  • Political cleansing under French occupation. Denazification in Württemberg-Hohenzollern. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-421-01999-1 .
  • The American occupation of Germany. Oldenbourg, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-486-56175-8 .
  • Dresdner Bank 1933–1945. Economic rationality, proximity to the regime, complicity (=  The Dresdner Bank in the Third Reich. Volume 4). Oldenbourg, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-486-57868-5 .
  • Secret services. The political domestic espionage of the organization Gehlen 1946–1953 (=  publications of the Independent Historical Commission for Researching the History of the Federal Intelligence Service 1945–1968. Volume 10). Ch.links , Berlin 2018, ISBN 3-96289-023-8 . Also as volume 10336 in the publication series of the Federal Agency for Civic Education, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-7425-0336-7 .

Editorships

  • Years of apprenticeship at the CSU . A post-war party in the mirror of confidential reports to the American military government (together with Hans Woller), Munich 1984.
  • After Hitler. The difficult handling of our history - contributions by Martin Broszat (together with Hermann Graml ) . Oldenbourg, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-486-53881-0 . ISBN 3-486-64548-X .
  • From Stalingrad to currency reform . On the social history of upheaval in Germany (together with Martin Broszat / Hans Woller) , Oldenbourg, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-486-54133-1 .
  • Political cleansing in Europe. The settlement with fascism and collaboration after the Second World War (together with Hans Woller), Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-423-04561-2 .
  • With the pathos of sobriety. Martin Broszat, the Institute for Contemporary History and Research into National Socialism (together with Claudio Natoli), Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt / M. 1991, ISBN 3-593-34540-4 .
  • State Security Anatomy. History, structure, methods. (MfS handbook) (together with Siegfried Suckut, Ehrhart Neubert , Clemens Vollnhals , Walter Süß and Roger Engelmann ), Berlin 1995 ff.
  • When does a state ever collapse? The debate about the Stasi files and the history of the GDR at the 39th Historikertag 1992. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-423-02965-X .
  • File situation. The significance of the documents of the State Security Service for contemporary history research (together with Roger Engelmann), Links, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-86153-098-8 .
  • The seductive power of the totalitarian. Saul Friedländer / Hans Maier / Jens Reich / Andrzej Szczypiorski at the Hannah Arendt Forum 1997 in Dresden , Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarian Research, Dresden 1997, ISBN 3-931648-11-7 .
  • 20 days in the 20th century. A series published by Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag in 20 volumes (together with Norbert Frei and Hans Woller), Munich 1997 ff.
  • Totalitarianism. Six lectures on the content and scope of a classic concept of dictatorship research. Dresden 1999, ISBN 3-931648-19-2 .
  • Resistance and opposition in the GDR (together with Peter Steinbach and Johannes Tuchel ), Weimar 1999, ISBN 3-412-15698-1 .
  • Auschwitz. Six essays on happenings and visualizations. Dresden 2001, ISBN 3-931648-35-4 .
  • Dresdner Bank in the Third Reich. 4 vol., Munich 2006.
  • Where are GDR memories drifting? Documentation of a debate (together with Martin Sabrow et al.), Göttingen 2007, ISBN 3-525-36299-4 . 
  • Deadly medicine under National Socialism. From racial hygiene to mass murder, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-412-23206-1 .
  • History of social policy in Germany since 1945, Volume 10: German Democratic Republic 1971–1989. Movement in social policy, solidification and decline (together with Christoph Boyer / Peter Skyba), Baden-Baden 2008, ISBN 978-3-7890-7331-1 . 
  • Revolution and union. When reality overtook fantasy in Germany, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-423-24736-8 .
  • The wall. Establishment, overcoming, memory. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-423-24877-8 .
  • with Jost Dülffer , Wolfgang Krieger , Rolf-Dieter Müller : Publications of the Independent Historical Commission for Research into the History of the Federal Intelligence Service 1945–1968 (11 volumes). Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2016–2019.

Essays

  • Politics of contradictions. On the characteristics of the French military government in Germany after the Second World War. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 30 (1982), pp. 500–537; Reprinted in: Claus Scharf / Hans-Jürgen Schröder (eds.): The German policy of France and the French zone 1945–1949 , Wiesbaden 1983, pp. 49–90.
  • Did denazification have to fail? On a fundamental question in post-war history. In: Dieter Galinski / Wolf Schmidt (eds.): Young people research the post-war period , Hamburg 1984, pp. 15–33.
  • The way to Potsdam - The Allies and the expulsion. In: Wolfgang Benz (Ed.): The expulsion of the Germans from the East. Causes, Events, Consequences , Frankfurt / Main 1985, pp. 49-69; 2nd edition 1990; 3rd edition 1995.
  • The limits of political cleansing in Germany after 1945. In: Ludolf Herbst (Ed.): Westdeutschland 1945–1955 , Munich 1986, pp. 127–133.
  • The Institute for Contemporary History under the aegis of Martin Broszat 1972–1989. In: Ders./Claudio Natoli (ed.): With the pathos of sobriety. Martin Broszat, the Institute for Contemporary History and Research into National Socialism , Frankfurt / Main 1991, pp. 39–57; Italian reprint: L 'Institute for Contemporary History negli anni della direzione di Martin Broszat. In: Claudio Natoli (ed.): Stato e Società durante il Terzo Reich , Milan 1993, pp. 192-211.
  • The separation from National Socialism. Self-destruction, political cleansing, “denazification”, law enforcement. In: ders./Hans Woller (ed.): Political cleansing in Europe. The settlement with fascism and collaboration after the Second World War , Munich 1991, pp. 21–83.
  • Facadia. The documents of the state security and the research into the Honecker / Mielke socialism. In: Wolfgang-Uwe Friedrich (Ed.): Totalitäre Herrschaft - totalitares Erbe , Tempe 1994, pp. 199–204 (= German Studies Review , Special Issue, Fall 1994). 
  • The friendly enemy: Americans and Germans in 1944/45. In: Heinrich Oberreuter / Jürgen Weber (eds.): Friendly enemies? The Allies and the Founding of Democracy in Germany , Munich 1996, pp. 41–50.
  • State security. In: Werner Weidenfeld / Karl-Rudolf Korte (eds.): Handbook on German Unity , new edition, Frankfurt / Main 1996, pp. 646–653.
  • The American Conquest of Germany. In: Gerhard Krebs / Christian Oberländer (ed.): 1945 in Europe and Asia. Reconsidering the End of World War II and the Change of the World Order , Munich 1996, pp. 51-63.
  • Human spontaneity and the security of the state. On the role of the ideological executive organs in both German dictatorships and in the reflections of Hannah Arendt. In: Siegfried Suckut / Walter Suess (ed.): State party and state security. On the relationship between the SED and the MfS , Berlin 1997, pp. 293–305.
  • Spadek po komunizmie jako problem Praktyczny. Do oewiadczenia niemieckie. In: Wlodzimierz Borodziej (ed.): Obrachunki z historia , Warsaw 1997, pp. 127-137.
  • For an “anatomy of SED socialism”. The quiet terror of the late state socialism needs a place of learning and remembrance. In: Deutschland Archiv 31 (1998), pp. 83–86.
  • Conjectures about Victor Klemperer's life in two German dictatorships. In: Christoph Wielepp (Red.): Life in two dictatorships , Dresden 1998, pp. 15–19.
  • Germany - two ends of the war. In: Ulrich Herbert / Axel Schildt (ed.): The end of the war in Europe. From the beginning of the German collapse of power to the stabilization of the post-war order 1944–1948 , Essen 1998, pp. 337–354.
  • End of war west - end of war east. On the political impact of collective key experiences in 1944/45. In: Hartmut Mehringer / Michael Schwartz / Hermann Wentker (eds.): Conquered or liberated? Germany in the international field of forces and the Soviet zone of occupation (1945/46) , Munich 1999, pp. 13-17.
  • Axes of attention in historical totalitarian research. In the S. (Ed.): Totalitarianism. Six lectures on the content and scope of a classic concept of dictatorship research , Dresden 1999, pp. 9-18.
  • The Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarian Research at the Technical University of Dresden. In: Études Germaniques 54 (1999), pp. 77-83.
  • The confrontation with National Socialism in the two German states during the first post-war years. In: Ludger Kühnhardt / Alexander Tschurbarjan (eds.): Russia and Germany on the way to an anti-totalitarian consensus , Baden-Baden 1999, pp. 75–85 (Russian translation Moscow 2000).
  • The soft conquest in the west. Americans and Germans 1944/45. In: Detlef Junker (Ed.): The USA and Germany in the Age of the Cold War 1945–1990. Volume I: 1945–1968 , Stuttgart 2001, pp. 775–784 ( Gentle Conquest in the West: Americans and Germans, 1944–1945. In: Detlef Junker (Ed.): The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War, 1945-1990. Volume I: 1945-1968 , Cambridge 2004, pp. 508-514).
  • Advanced totalitarianism: The most obvious contradiction to democracy ?. In: Stein Ugelvik Larsen (Ed.): The Challenge of Theories on Democracy. Elaborations over New Trends in Transitology , New York 2000, pp. 395-406.
  • The "banality" of evil. Hannah Arendt and Eichmann in Jerusalem. In the S. (Ed.): Auschwitz. Six essays on happening and visualization , Dresden 2001, pp. 75–80.
  • Claims of validity in state socialism. Construction of tradition and social and consumer politics in the GDR (together with Christoph Boyer / Peter Skyba). In: Gert Melville / Hans Vorländer (eds.): Validity stories. On the stabilization and legitimation of institutional orders , Weimar 2002, pp. 349–373.
  • The separation from the west. The collapse of the anti-Hitler alliance and the setting of the course for the implementation of communist dictatorship in East Germany. In: Rainer Behring / Mike Schmeitzner (eds.): Enforcing dictatorship in Saxony. Studies on the genesis of communist rule 1945–1952 , Cologne 2003, pp. 413–458.
  • Interest and knowledge. A lesson in concerted crisis regulation in the humanities using the example of the Dresden Hannah Arendt Institute 1999-2002. In: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft 51 (2003), pp. 205–236.
  • GDR research since 1990. In: Rainer Eppelmann / Bernd Faulenbach / Ulrich Mählert (Eds.): Balance and Perspectives of GDR Research , Paderborn 2003, pp. 371–376.
  • Evil - just banal? Hannah Arendt wanted to demonize Adolf Eichmann and thus coined an ambiguous formula. In: Stefan Aust / Gerhard Spörl (ed.): The present of the past. The long shadow of the Third Reich , Munich 2004, pp. 252–258.
  • 1989: la rivoluzione in Germania . In: Gian Enrico Rusconi / Hans Woller (eds.): Italia e Germania 1945–2000. La costruzione dell'Europa , Bologna 2005, pp. 405–419 (German: The Revolution in Germany 1989. In: Gian Enrico Rusconi / Hans Woller (ed.): Parallel History? Italy and Germany 1945–2000 , Berlin 2006, Pp. 445-459).
  • Please no German standard meter. Challenges in dealing with the communist past in East Central Europe. In: Volkhard Knigge / Ulrich Mählert (ed.): Communism in the museum. Forms of conflict in Germany and East Central Europe , Cologne 2005, pp. 101–105.
  • The dramatic decade. About Dresden in the forties of the 20th century (together with Christiane Schmitt-Teichert). In: Dresdner Geschichtsbuch 12, Dresden 2007, pp. 203–230.
  • Scientific dehumanization and political mass killing. In the S. (Ed.): Deadly Medicine in National Socialism. From racial hygiene to mass murder , Cologne 2008, pp. 9–29.
  • 1989. In: Ders. (Ed.): Revolution and Unification. When reality overtook fantasy in Germany , Munich 2009, pp. 11–46.
  • The Berlin Wall. In the S. (Ed.): The Wall. Establishment, overcoming, memory , Munich 2011, pp. 11–31.
  • Adventure Gauck Authority. Secret police research between political expectations, official constraints and scientific demands: a personal report. In: Carlos Collado Seidel (ed.): Secret services, diplomacy, war. The machinery of international relations , Berlin 2013, pp. 117–129.
  • On the domestic political role of the foreign intelligence service in the Adenauer era. In: From Politics and Contemporary History , No. 18-19, April 28, 2014.
  • The German Reunification: An Analysis a Quarter Century After 1989/90. In: International Journal of Korean Unification Studies , Vol. 23, No. 1, 2014, pp. 1-24.
  • Memory shift? For a categorical asymmetry in dealing with the Nazi and SED times. In: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft 64 (2017), Issue 1, pp. 54–65. Reprinted in: Volkhard Knigge (Ed.): Understanding crime. National Socialism, Institutionalized Memory and Historical Learning according to the Zeitgenossenschaft, Göttingen 2020, pp. 166-177.
  • Dealing with the Nazi past . In: Norbert Lammert (Ed.): Christian Democratic Union. Contributions and positions on the history of the CDU, Munich 2020, pp. 277-298.

literature

  • Dorit Petschel : 175 years of TU Dresden. Volume 3: The professors of the TU Dresden 1828–2003. Edited on behalf of the Society of Friends and Supporters of the TU Dresden e. V. von Reiner Pommerin , Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2003, ISBN 3-412-02503-8 , p. 352.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adolf M. Birke: Politics and society in the American zone of occupation . In: Horst Möller, Udo Wengst (Eds.): 50 Years Institute for Contemporary History . Munich 1999, p. 409-426 .
  2. ↑ Jörg Lau: A self-harm. January 13, 2000, accessed January 6, 2017 .
  3. ^ Klaus-Dietmar Henke: Interest and knowledge. A lesson in concerted crisis regulation in the humanities using the example of the Dresden Hannah Arendt Institute 1999–2002 . In: Journal of History . tape 51 , 2003, p. 205-236 .
  4. ↑ Klaus-Dietmar Henke: Memory Shift? For a categorical asymmetry in dealing with the Nazi and SED times . In: Journal of History . No. 64 , 2017, p. 54-65 .
personal data
SURNAME Henke, Klaus-Dietmar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German contemporary historian
DATE OF BIRTH April 10, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Räckelwitz