Politics of the past

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The term politics of the past is used by some authors instead of the term coming to terms with the past . In addition, the term has been used generally in international political research since the 1990s in connection with the processing of states' own history, for example with regard to dictatorial regimes and human rights violations .

Term in the German post-war period

The term refers to the judged as too lenient policy of the young Federal Republic of Germany against NS - followers at the same time hard pursuit less principal offenders with the aim, on the one hand to secure the West integration of Germany and also the internal cohesion of the population.

This thesis is represented by authors such as Heiko Buschke and Norbert Frei . The latter is not used as a general term, but has introduced it as a designation of a specific historical phase that includes about the first five years of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The German policy towards the past under Adenauer's government was also recognized across parties and supported by the majority of the population, as it served the Germans' need for amnesty and held out the prospect of a return to normality. The results of these domestic political efforts were, for example, the 131 legislation or the Law on Impunity in 1954 .

See also

literature

  • Buschke, Heiko: German press, right-wing extremism and nationalist past in the Adenauer era , Campus Verlag, Frankfurt, 2003. ISBN 3593373440 .
  • Frei, Norbert : politics of the past. The beginnings of the Federal Republic and the Nazi past , Munich: Beck, 1996, ISBN 3406413102 .
  • Oettler, Anika, Remembrance work and politics of the past in Guatemala , Frankfurt am Main: Vervuert Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-86527-110-3 ( review ).
  • Glienke, Stephan Alexander / Paulmann, Volker / Perels, Joachim (eds.): Success story Federal Republic? Post-war society in the long shadow of National Socialism . Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2008. ISBN 3-8353-0249-3 ( review ).
  • Ralf Steckert: Exciting suffering. On the media staging of the “brand” and its historical-political impact in the run-up to the Second Iraq War (= culture - education - society 3). ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-89821-910-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Norbert Frei: Politics of the Past. The beginnings of the Federal Republic and the Nazi past , Munich: Beck, 1996 p. 13