Contemporary history research center Ingolstadt

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The contemporary history research center Ingolstadt e. V. (short: ZFI, also known as the Institute for Contemporary History Research Ingolstadt ) is a history revisionist association in Ingolstadt . At their events, the war crimes of the Germans in World War II were or are being played down, the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust was denied and contacts with right-wing extremist groups were maintained.

history

The ZFI was mainly founded on November 21, 1981 by Alfred Schickel (1933–2015), Hellmut Diwald (1924–1993) and Alfred Seidl (1911–1993) as a counterpart to the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich. In 2005 it had around 500 to 600 members, organizes larger conferences twice a year and publishes the contemporary history library and the ZFI information .

The SPD and others criticized the fact that Alfred Lehmann ( CSU ), Lord Mayor of Ingolstadt from May 1, 2002 to April 30, 2014, took part in ZFI conferences several times and that Horst Seehofer (CSU), then Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection sent words of praise for the opening of the event in 2006.

In an inquiry to the Bavarian State Parliament in 2007, the Ministry of the Interior confirmed: "In contrast, relevant right-wing extremist publications, citing the person of the head of the ZFI and his articles, occasionally propagate ideas that are incompatible with the free democratic basic order ."

After the death of Alfred Schickel in 2015, the ZFI elected Gernot Facius as its new chairman in June 2016 .

In November 2019, the city of Ingolstadt canceled the rental agreement for events in the rooms of the local adult education center with the ZFI “for an important reason”. The city relied on a statement by the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution that the association was promoting “unconstitutional or illegal ideas”.

The ZFI has been monitored by the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution since 2018. A mention in its 2019 report was prevented by a lawsuit by the ZFI. Irrespective of this, the authority may continue to monitor the association.

Content-related profile and classification

According to the statutes of the ZFI, the association serves "exclusively to promote education, national and vocational training" and is dedicated to "at the same time promoting international attitudes, tolerance in all areas of culture and the idea of ​​international understanding". These tasks would be fulfilled “in particular through the promotion of scientific work on contemporary history, public lectures and seminars and the preparation of expert reports”.

For right-wing extremism expert Bernd Wagner , the ZFI in Germany is an “intellectual center of right-wing extremist circles for historical research”. At conferences and events, National Socialism is systematically played down and war guilt is denied. There is close cooperation with newspapers and magazines such as Junge Freiheit , Europa Vorn , Nation and Europa and Germany in the past and present , who pursue similar goals. But also the aim of the publications of the ZFI is to absolve the German armed forces and the Third Reich of any guilt. Wolfgang Wippermann said of the long-time director of the ZFI : "Schickel's historical revisionism is changing into a political revisionism aimed at changing the status quo."

According to the “Lexicon of“ coming to terms with the past ”in Germany”, the ZFI is part of a strategy of a “self-referential system” in which the downplaying and denial of the Holocaust is practiced. Schickel, for example, wrote in 1980 that the number of six million murdered Jews “is no longer seriously represented in contemporary history today”. The deceased founders of the ZFI worked together with right-wing extremists and historical revisionist organizations.

financing

The ZFI is mainly financed through donations and contributions from around 750 sponsoring members. The city of Ingolstadt funded the ZFI in the 1990s with an annual amount of 2,000 euros.

Dr. Walter Eckhardt gift of honor for research on contemporary history

The institute also awards the Dr. Walter Eckhardt honor for research on contemporary history . Previous winners have included:

Publications

literature

  • Andreas Angerstorfer, Annemarie Dengg: Right structures in Bavaria. A documentation with a focus on Upper Bavaria, Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria . 2nd updated edition. Bayernforum, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-89892-416-5 .
  • Anton Maegerle : "Club of Revisionists". For 25 years now, the "Contemporary History Research Center Ingolstadt" has been busy twisting historical facts . In: look to the right . No. December 25 , 2006.
  • Bernd Wagner : Handbook of right-wing extremism. Networks, parties, organizations, ideology centers, media . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-499-13425-X (rororo 13425).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anton Maegerle, Political and journalistic career of authors of the "Junge Freiheit" , In: Stephan Braun, Ute Vogt, The weekly newspaper "Junge Freiheit": Critical analyzes of the program, contents, authors and customers , VS-Verlag 2007, p. 206
  2. ^ Andreas Angerstorfer, Annemarie Dengg: Right structures in Bavaria. A documentation with a focus on Upper Bavaria, Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria. Second updated edition. Munich 2005, p. 131
  3. ↑ SPD legal politician Florian Ritter sees the contemporary history research center Ingolstadt (ZFI) in the twilight . SPD press office, December 22, 2006
  4. ↑ Printed matter 15/7335 of February 22, 2007 Answer to a written question from the Member of Parliament Florian Ritter, SPD. (PDF; 22 kB) Bavarian State Parliament
  5. ^ Johann Osel, lease terminated - Ingolstadt excludes controversial club from VHS rooms , Sueddeutsche Zeitung of November 6, 2019
  6. ↑ Matthias Köpf, court declares the current report on the protection of the constitution in Bavaria inadmissible , Sueddeutsche Zeitung of July 22, 2020
  7. ↑ Timo Frasch, Bavaria's report on the protection of the constitution may no longer be distributed , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of July 22, 2020
  8. ↑ a b Bernd Wagner : Handbook for right-wing extremism . Reinbek 1994, p. 164
  9. ↑ a b Katja Eddel, The magazine MUT - a democratic opinion forum ?: Analysis and classification of a politically changed magazine , VS-Verlag, 2011, p. 232
  10. ^ Wolfgang Wippermann: Honored Revisionists. Alfred Schickel and the Contemporary History Research Center Ingolstadt (ZFI). In: Johannes Klotz, Ulrich Schneider (Ed.): The self-conscious nation and its historical image. New Right history legends. Papyrossa, Cologne 1997, p. 87.
  11. ↑ Torben Fischer, Matthias N. Lorenz, Lexicon of "Coping with the Past" in Germany: Debate and Discourse History of National Socialism after 1945 , transcript Verlag, 2015, p. 93
  12. ↑ redok here quotes a sentence from the article The most controversial number in contemporary history. The unexplained extent of the Jewish victims by Alfred Schickel, published in the right-wing extremist magazine Deutschland in Geschichte und Gegenwart (DGG) 28 (1), 1980, p. 10
  13. ^ Historical revisionist association . ( Memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) redok , December 14, 2006

Web links

Homepage of the ZFI