Reinhard Kühnl

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Reinhard Kühnl (born May 25, 1936 in Schönwerth , Czechoslovakia , † February 10, 2014 in Marburg ) was a German political scientist . He was best known for his work on the history and interpretation of fascism .

Life

Kühnl studied history , political science, German and sociology in Marburg and Vienna . In 1965 he received his doctorate in political science at the University of Marburg under Wolfgang Abendroth with a thesis on the "National Socialist Left". Shortly after his habilitation in 1971, which was cumulative, he was appointed professor of political science at the University of Marburg in the same year.

The habilitation process itself did not go smoothly. The historian Ernst Nolte , who was directly involved , also criticized the scientific quality of Kühnl's writings by publishing letters to the editor. Kühnl himself replied with a letter to the editor. Wolfgang Abendroth defended him as the first reviewer and ensured that the proceedings were continued. Kühnl had applied for the habilitation procedure in the summer of 1969 and submitted several papers as a basis. In addition to Nolte, two other reviewers initially submitted negative evaluations, but Ernst-Otto Czempiel later changed his evaluation. In January 1971 the department meeting finally voted, the next day there was a vote in the faculty, both of which concluded the procedure positively for Kühnl.

In 1972 Kühnl was one of the initiators of the establishment of the Association of Democratic Scientists (BdWi). In 1973 a one-year visiting professorship in Israel at Tel Aviv University followed at the invitation of Walter Grab . In the 1970s and 1980s, Kühnl was one of the best-known representatives of the Marburg School in German political science. In 2001 he retired. Most of his work has been translated into up to 14 languages. In the last years of his life he suffered from Alzheimer's disease .

His academic students included a. Dietrich Heither , Gudrun Hentges and Gerd Wiegel .

In 1984 he ran for the peace list in the European elections .

Research priorities

The main focus of his research was fascism research . He published works on both German and international fascism - from its origins to the present day. Other focal points are analysis and criticism of ideologies , studies of the history and structure of bourgeois rule on the one hand and human rights movements on the other. Kühnl's book forms of bourgeois rule: Liberalism - Fascism had very high editions in the 1970s, but was also exposed to sharp criticism because it gave the impression that the difference between liberalism and fascism was merely of a formal nature.

Memberships

Fonts (selection)

Monographs:

  • The National Socialist Left 1925–1930. Verlag Anton Hain, Meisenheim am Glan 1966 (dissertation, University of Marburg, 1965).
  • The Third Reich in the press of the Federal Republic: Critique of a historical image. European Publishing House, Frankfurt am Main 1966.
  • The NPD: structure, program and ideology of a neo-fascist party. Voltaire, Berlin 1967; with Rainer Rilling , Christine Sager: The NPD: Structure, program and ideology of a neo-fascist party. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1969.
  • Germany between Democracy and Fascism: On the Problems of Civil Society since 1918. Hanser, Munich 1969; 4th, revised edition 1972.
  • Forms of bourgeois rule. Liberalism, fascism. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1971; 176-178. Thousand 1990.
  • with Martin Greiffenhagen , Johann Baptist Müller : Totalitarianism: On the problem of a political term. List, Munich 1972, ISBN 3-471-61556-3 .
  • The political forces represented by FJ Strauss and their relationship to fascism . Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1972.
  • Theories of Fascism: A Guide. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1979; updated new edition: Distel, Heilbronn 1990.
  • Fascism: causes, structure of rule, topicality. An introduction. Distel, Heilbronn 1983; 4th, revised edition 1998.
  • The Weimar Republic. Establishment, power structure and destruction of a democracy. A lesson. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1985; Revised new edition: Distel, Heilbronn 1993.
  • Nation - nationalism - national question: what is it and what is it? Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-7609-1046-7 .
  • Danger from the right: past and present of the extreme right. Distel, Heilbronn 1990, ISBN 3-923208-23-5 ; 2nd edition 1991 ( digitized version ( memento from June 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive )); 3rd edition 1993.
  • Germany since the French Revolution: Investigations into the German special path. Distel, Heilbronn 1996, ISBN 3-929348-10-1 .

Edited volumes:

  • Arno Klönne, Kurt Lenk, Wolf Rosenbaum & Gerhard Stuby: The bourgeois state of the present. Forms of bourgeois rule II. Ed. By Reinhard Kühnl. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1972, ISBN 3-499-11536-0 .
  • History and ideology. Critical analysis of German history books. Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek 1973, ISBN 3-499-11656-1 .
  • German fascism in sources and documents. Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1975, ISBN 3-7609-0173-5 .
  • with Gerd Hardach: The Destruction of the Weimar Republic. Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1977, ISBN 3-7609-0289-8 .
  • with Karen Schönwälder : You talk about peace and prepare for war. Peace demagogy and preparation for war in the past and present. Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-7609-1063-7 .
  • Past that does not pass. The “Historians Debate”. Documentation, presentation and criticism. Contributions to the historians' dispute . Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1987, ISBN 3-7609-1114-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Karl-Heinz Janßen : Habilitation of a Marxist . In: The time . No. 6/1971 , February 5, 1971 ( zeit.de ).
personal data
SURNAME Kühnl, Reinhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German political scientist
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Schönwerth
DATE OF DEATH February 10, 2014
Place of death Marburg