Two Germany theory

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The Zwei-Deutschland-Theory was used primarily during the First and Second World Wars to determine the philosophical and political position. It differentiated between a “Germany of man like ourselves” versus a “Germany of men of the war party” and found representatives mainly in France and England as well as - in later reception - also in Germany.

In times of war in particular, a coherent image of the enemy was sought as a social consensus. As a result, Germanophile citizens in the respective countries found it difficult to explain, as they were viewed in public as sympathizers of the war opponent in their admiration for German cultural assets.

The position in foreign policy towards Germany can also be determined in peacetime by the degree of approval of the two-Germany theory in parliaments.

During the First World War, the two Germany theory in the political sense meant "... the separation of Weimar and Potsdam ...", that is, the distinction between a culturally and a militaristically oriented Germany.

In the philosophical context, the Zwei-Deutschland-Theory differentiates "between a positively understood philosophical tradition of Germany, to which Kant and / or Fichte and Hegel were assigned depending on the preference ."

The two Germany theory was also used during the Second World War to determine political position. The German exiles were split into two camps. On the one hand, the supporters of Vansittartism , i.e. the collective guilt thesis , and on the other hand, the opinion that the existence of a non-fascist Germany, a so-called “other Germany”, cannot be ruled out. Since the term “other Germany” could not be precisely defined, this camp agreed on the common reference to the two Germany theory.

Representatives of the two Germany theory include Bertolt Brecht , Paul Tillich , Jean Giraudoux , Amy Buller , Madeleine Kent, Nora Waln and Evelyn Wrench.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Hoeres: War of the Philosophers. The German and British philosophy in the First World War, Paderborn: Schöningh 2004, ISBN 3-506-71731-6 , p. 118.
  2. ^ France and Germany: the image of Germany in the French parliament 1919–1933, Frano Ilić, Münster LIT 2004
  3. ↑ Peter Hoeres, War of the Philosophers ..., p. 126.
  4. ↑ Peter Hoeres: War of the Philosophers ..., p. 131.
  5. ↑ Herr Hitler in Germany: Perception and Interpretations of National Socialism in Great Britain 1920 to 1939, Detlev Clemens, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Zurich, 1996.
  6. ↑ Matthias Wolbold: Talking about Germany. The radio speeches of Thomas Mann , Paul Tillich and Sir Robert Vansittart from the Second World War. Tillich studies series, 17th lit., Münster 2005 ISBN 3-8258-9024-4 .
  7. ^ The literary republic: West German writers and politics, Helmut L Müller, Weinheim u. a. Beltz, 1982
  8. ↑ Winfrid Halder: Exile calls to Germany. The radio speeches by Thomas Mann, Paul Tillich and Johannes R. Becher 1940 - 1945. Tillich studies, supplement, Lit, Münster 2002 ISBN 3825858758 .
  9. ^ Franz Knipping & Ernst Weisenfeld : An unusual story. Germany and France since 1870. Europa-Union , Bonn 1988
  10. ↑ Nora Waln: Reaching for the stars. Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia 1934–1938 . (Annotated and expanded new edition). Autonomie und Chaos publishing house, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-9232113-2-6 pdf, 280 pages, 2.6 MB . First publication: Reaching for the Stars , as a series in The Atlantic Monthly from January 1939; Non-identical book editions: Boston / London 1939
  11. ↑ Angela Schwarz: The Journey into the Third Reich. British eyewitnesses in National Socialist Germany 1933 - 1939. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , Göttingen 1993, p. 156.