Speech on November 10, 1988 in the German Bundestag

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Philipp Jenninger (1987)

The speech on November 10, 1988 in the German Bundestag by Philipp Jenninger ( CDU ), later also known as the Jenninger speech , was given by the President of the Bundestag at the time to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the November pogroms in 1938 . "Jenninger tried for the first time to dispel the lie, according to which Adolf Hitler had gained power over the Germans with a criminal entourage and led the people (allegedly against their knowledge and will) to their ruin." A planned before the speech and regardless of the content The protest carried out after the speech led to a storm of protest inside and outside Germany and Jenninger's resignation the following day.

content

In the particularly heavily criticized section of the speech (from 13 m 33 s) Jenninger set out in a kind of confession of guilt with which lines of thought many Germans excused National Socialism at the time and were entangled in it:

“For the Germans, who had seen the Weimar Republic predominantly as a series of foreign policy humiliations, all of this (Hitler's successes) must have seemed like a miracle. And that's not all: mass unemployment turned into full employment, mass misery turned into something like prosperity for the broadest classes. Instead of despair and hopelessness, there was optimism and self-confidence. Wasn't Hitler doing what Wilhelm II had only promised, namely to bring the Germans forward to glorious times? Wasn't he really providential, a leader such as is given to a people only once in a thousand years? "

“Of course, ladies and gentlemen, in free elections Hitler never got a majority of Germans behind him. But who would doubt that in 1938 a large majority of Germans stood behind him, identified with him and his politics? Certainly some 'troublemaker complainers' did not want to rest and were persecuted by the security service and the Gestapo, but most Germans from all walks of life - from the bourgeoisie as well as from the working class - were probably convinced in 1938 that Hitler was the greatest statesman in our history to see. "

“And one more thing must not be overlooked: all of Hitler's astonishing successes were, overall, and each individually a slap in the face for the Weimar system. And Weimar was not only synonymous with weakness in foreign policy, with party bickering and changes of government, with economic misery, with chaos, street battles and political disorder in the broadest sense, but Weimar was also a synonym for democracy and parliamentarism, for the separation of powers and civil rights, for the press - and freedom of assembly and finally also for a maximum of Jewish emancipation and assimilation. "

“That means that Hitler's successes later discredited above all the parliamentary, liberal system, the democracy of Weimar itself. For many Germans, the question was no longer which system should be preferred. Perhaps one enjoyed less individual freedom in certain areas of life; but one was personally better off than before, and the empire was undoubtedly great again, yes, larger and more powerful than ever before. - Hadn't the leaders of Great Britain, France and Italy just paid their respects to Hitler in Munich and helped him achieve another of these unlikely successes? "

“And as far as the Jews were concerned: hadn't they in the past assumed a role - it was said at the time - that wasn't theirs? Didn't they finally have to accept restrictions? Didn't they even deserve to be put in their place? And above all: Didn't the propaganda - apart from wild, not to be taken seriously exaggerations - correspond in essential points to your own assumptions and convictions? "

“And when it got too bad, as in November 1938, you could still say to yourself in the words of a contemporary: 'What is it to us? Look away when you're dreadful. It's not our fate. '"

reception

Already during the speech, some MPs left the plenary hall, starting with Jutta Oesterle-Schwerin (Greens), which she had planned from the start.

The presentation was because of the style, especially the stylistic device extensively used by Jenninger of indirect discourse , but also received very controversial, an inappropriate manner of performance because of the content. Among other things, it was criticized that the President of the Bundestag quoted the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler in detail . Der Spiegel saw in the speech that Germany had failed to come to terms with the past: “The Union, as Jenninger made clear in an oppressively simple-minded but significant way, cannot get rid of the shadows of the past. Under rhetorical clichés, behind the best will and pure convictions, unmistakable figures of thought of right-wing bourgeoisie shimmer, world views of a regular table brotherhood that is essentially hard to teach. ” In this context, Walter Jens named Konrad Adenauer as the spiritual father of a mentality and political culture that disregard the“ basic precepts of Moral, Sensitivity and Tact "after 1945 apparently without hesitation pursued" the subsequent humiliation of German Jews ".

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung also criticized the fact that the speech expressed lamentable “clumsiness”, but saw more style and structure than the content as problematic. This assessment was underpinned by a speech given by Ignatz Bubis on November 9, 1989 in a synagogue in Frankfurt , in which the later chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany intentionally adopted the problematic passages from Jenninger's controversial speech without being criticized for the statements become. Bubis stated that he understood the speech, which in his opinion led to the resignation of the then Bundestag President as an overreaction, as an entirely accurate description of followers.

There were also those who appreciatively speech with the speech in 1985 by von Weizsacker compared.

A detailed analysis on the Jewish portal Hagalil.com shows the course of the misunderstandings.

effect

The speech is one of the internationally best-known speeches by a German Bundestag President. It was published on phonograms and is cited in numerous specialist books - especially on linguistics.

literature

  • Ian Buruma : Inheritance of Debt. Coming to terms with the past in Germany and Japan. 1994, ISBN 3-446-17602-0 .
  • Jeffrey Herf : Philipp Jenninger and the Dangers of Speaking Clearly . In: Partisan Review . 56, 1989, pp. 225-236, ISSN  0031-2525 , online
  • Hans Jürgen Heringer : How not to say something: The Jenninger case. In: Ders .: "I give you my word of honor". Politics - language - morality. Beck, Munich 1990, pp. 163-176, ISBN 3-406-34017-2 .
  • Jan CL König: Once you're in the coffin, you can't get out. Approved minutes of the interview with retired Bundestag President Dr. Philipp Jenninger, on Tuesday, May 16, 2006. In: Monthly books for German-language literature and culture. Edited by Hans Adler. Vol. 100, No. 2, Summer 2008. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison (WI) 2008, ISSN  0026-9271 , pp. 179-190.
  • Jan CL König: About the power of speech. Strategies of political eloquence in literature and everyday life. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht unipress, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 3-89971-862-3 . (Therein: Not what was meant: rhetorical discourse analysis of Philipp Jenninger's speech on the occasion of the commemoration of the German Bundestag on November 10, 1988 on the 50th anniversary of the pogroms against the Jews in Germany. Pp. 153–220)
  • Astrid Linn: ... still a fascination today ...: Philipp Jenninger on November 9, 1938 and the consequences. (=  Communication: research and teaching,  2) Lit-Verl., Münster 1990, ISBN 3-89473-094-3 (207 pages)
  • Harald Schmid : Remembering the “day of guilt”. The November pogrom of 1938 in German historical politics. Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-87916-062-7 .
  • Yasushi Suzuki: Experienced speech versus indirect speech - Ignatz Bubis quotes Jenninger's controversial passage . In: Institute for German Studies, University of Koblenz-Landau (Hrsg.): Journal for Applied Linguistics (ZfaL) . No. 33 , 2000, ISSN  1433-9889 , pp. 91–100 ( uni-koblenz.de [PDF; accessed on April 21, 2011]). archived ( memento from April 21, 2011 on WebCite )
  • A speech that excited the nation. November 10, 1988. German Bundestag. The President of the Bundestag Dr. Philipp Jenninger. Why did this speech trigger such emotions? Göttingen / Atzenhausen 2008. Read: http://dr-ulonska.de/html/jenniger_rede.html
  • Armin Laschet / Heinz Malangré (eds.): Philipp Jenninger: Speech and reaction. Aachen: Einhard; Koblenz: Rheinischer Merkur, 1989, ISBN 3-920284-49-6

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ [1] Wolfgang Benz - Federal Agency for Political Education, accessed on December 30, 2017
  2. ↑ Lucian Hölscher: Political Correctness. Wallstein Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0344-7 , p. 202. Limited preview in the Google book search
  3. ↑ a b Rainer Poeschl: After the speech in free fall. Philipp Jenninger. In: The Parliament . No. 15, 2011. German Bundestag, April 11, 2011, archived from the original on April 21, 2011 ; Retrieved April 21, 2011 .
  4. ↑ Peter Schmalz: Nobody noticed anything. In: world. Axel Springer SE, January 1, 1995, accessed January 30, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Die Zeit No. 50/95 , source unclear
  6. ↑ Too true to be beautiful: Ex-Bundestag President Philipp Jenninger is giving speeches again . In: Der Spiegel . No. 6 , 1989, pp. 53-56 ( online ).
  7. ↑ [2] Detailed analysis on the Hagalil.com portal “Communication and Understanding”: The Jenninger case