Reconciliation kitsch

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Reconciliation kitsch is a term that was first thrown into the debate by the German journalist Klaus Bachmann in an article in the taz on June 4, 1994. In November of the same year a similar article appeared in the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita .

origin

The articles from the taz and the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita had the same thrust. They polemicized against a tendency in German-Polish relations, which on the one hand tried to focus only on things that unite from the past, and avoided discussing real conflicts of interest between the two countries and discussing these, as well as mutual negative stereotypes in both societies, to cover up with reconciliation rituals. "Reconciliation kitsch is when every normal political act between two neighboring states is no longer considered a normal act, but rather as a reconciliation," says the taz article. “This applies to student exchanges, in which people who were never enemies are reconciled, as well as to German loans, investments, wreath-laying ceremonies, meeting centers, renovated aristocratic palaces and anthologies. Even one of Poland's largest foundations, founded with German money, is called reconciliation. She supports former forced laborers, many of whom do not want to reconcile. "

The author was invited to numerous discussion events in both countries and the term was subsequently often adopted by Polish opponents and critics of rapprochement with Germany, who then applied it to all activities that were intended to promote Poland's integration into the West. On the other hand, it also found its way into a speech by the Federal German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel . Many intellectuals, journalists and politicians quoted him regardless of the history of his origins and his content, mostly to suggest that their initiatives and activities did not just include empty rhetoric, but also signified real changes in German-Polish relations. In September 2006, an academic conference organized by German scholars, Polonists and historians took place at the University of Poznan , which dealt only with “reconciliation kitsch” and resulted in a collective publication of the same name.

In the meantime, individual authors also applied the term to the relationship between the Federal Republic of Germany and other countries and peoples, in particular to the German-Israeli and German-Jewish relationship.

literature

  • Piotr Buras: Poland debate on ZDF: Farewell to the reconciliation kitsch . In: Spiegel Online . ( spiegel.de ).
  • Philip Springer: Review of the volume Memory Culture and Reconciliation Kitsch ( h-net.msu.edu ).
  • Klaus Bachmann : The reconciliation must come from Poland. taz, August 5, 1994 (detailed parts of it are freely accessible dpg-brandenburg.de )
  • Klaus Bachmann: Niemieccy rewanżyści i polski antysemityzm, czyli kicz pojednania. Marnowane szanse dialogu. In: Rzeczpospolita November 22, 1994 ( archiwum.rp.pl ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Bachmann: The reconciliation must come from Poland. Taz August 5, 1994
  2. ↑ Klaus Bachmann: Niemieccy rewanżyści i polski antysemityzm, czyli kicz pojednania. Marnowane szanse dialogu. In: Rzeczpospolita November 22, 1994
  3. ^ Jerzy Robert Nowak: Polska-Niemcy. Kicz pojednania
  4. ↑ Wojciech Pieciak: reconciliation kitsch instead enlargement ; Janusz Tycner: September 1st - ritual. No kitsch of reconciliation. In: Bieler Tagblatt March 17, 2013; Erich Follath, Jan Puhl: The Miracle Next Door: Poland Emerges as a Central European Powerhouse Der Spiegel, May 25, 2012
  5. ^ Hahn, Hans Henning; Heidi Hein-Kircher ; Kochanowska-Nieborak, Anna (Hrsg.): Memory culture and reconciliation kitsch (= conferences on East Central Europe research 26). Marburg: Herder Institute Verlag 2008. ISBN 978-3-87969-346-7 ; VII, 318 pp.
  6. ↑ In memory of Eike Geisel: Truth against the kitsch of reconciliation.
  7. ↑ Zabić wszystkich, wybaczyć wszystkim 9 = Magazine Więź wywiad z Konstantym Gebertem ( Memento of the original from July 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tezeusz.pl