“An Asiatic Deed”: The Cambodian Genocide and the West German Right, Or a Study of an Illiberal Variant of Multidirectional Memory

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores West German commentary on the Cambodian genocide (1975–1979) to theorize the existence of an illiberal multidirectional memory. Multidirectional memory, as defined by Michael Rothberg, involves the intercultural interaction between different memory regimes. Since Rothberg coined the term, scholars in Holocaust and Genocide Studies have used this concept to investigate how the memory of the Holocaust informed political battles waged in the aftermath of colonial violence. Yet, few scholars have considered how multidirectional memory functions as a tool for right-wing political commentators. Examining the West German New Right’s response to the Cambodian genocide and the Historikerstreit of 1986–1987, a famed debate over the historicization of the Holocaust, this article uncovers an illiberal variant of multidirectional memory. It shows how right-wing thinkers in the 1970s and 1980s forged multidirectional discourses, connecting Nazi and Khmer Rouge violence, to condemn the organized left and promote self-exculpatory narratives. Scholars have recently argued for the necessity of studying the right’s memory politics. This article demonstrates that such studies should feature investigations into Europe’s illiberal, multidirectional memories.