German Historians and the Trivialization of Nazi Criminality: Critical Remarks on the Apologetics of Joachim Fest, Ernst Nolte and Andreas Hillgruber

Abstract

Australian Journal of Politics & HistoryVolume 33, Issue 3 p. 273-278 German Historians and the Trivialization of Nazi Criminality: Critical Remarks on the Apologetics of Joachim Fest, Ernst Nolte and Andreas Hillgruber WALTER GRAB, WALTER GRAB *This article, translated and annotated by the editor of this Journal, appeared first in the Hamburg journal 1999 - Zeitschrift für Sozialgeschichte des 20 and 21 Jahrhunderts, April 1987, and in Reinhard Kühnl (ed.), Vergangenheit, die nicht vergeht (Köln, 1987), 195–99. The author was the founder and long-time Director of the Institute for German History in Tel Aviv and is arguably the foremost authority on the development of German political culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As such, Walter Grab (who was born in Vienna and who as a student in that city's university in 1938 had to flee the Nazis to seek refuge in Palestine) is a formidable opponent of all those nationalistic conservatives—both in Germany and Israel—who would manipulate the facts of history to support a nationalist myth. As will be seen from this present article, Professor Grab observes things with a clinically penetrating vision that exposes the obfuscation and downright dishonesty of an entire clique of historians in the Federal Republic of Germany who are presently engaged in a so-called Historikerstreit with their more rational and democratically-minded colleagues. So extensive is this dispute, at the base of which is the search for an historically-grounded German national identity, that the publisher, Pieper of Munich, has recently issued a volume entitled Historikerstreit - Die Dokumentalion der Kontroverse um die Einzigartigkeit der nationalsozialistischen Judenvernichtung (1987) in which some forty-two articles by Germany's most prominent history professors are collected and republished. These illustrate both the extent of the debate and the emotion which it has generated. It surely demands the attention of all historians committed to eradicating nationalism from historical writing.Search for more papers by this author WALTER GRAB, WALTER GRAB *This article, translated and annotated by the editor of this Journal, appeared first in the Hamburg journal 1999 - Zeitschrift für Sozialgeschichte des 20 and 21 Jahrhunderts, April 1987, and in Reinhard Kühnl (ed.), Vergangenheit, die nicht vergeht (Köln, 1987), 195–99. The author was the founder and long-time Director of the Institute for German History in Tel Aviv and is arguably the foremost authority on the development of German political culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As such, Walter Grab (who was born in Vienna and who as a student in that city's university in 1938 had to flee the Nazis to seek refuge in Palestine) is a formidable opponent of all those nationalistic conservatives—both in Germany and Israel—who would manipulate the facts of history to support a nationalist myth. As will be seen from this present article, Professor Grab observes things with a clinically penetrating vision that exposes the obfuscation and downright dishonesty of an entire clique of historians in the Federal Republic of Germany who are presently engaged in a so-called Historikerstreit with their more rational and democratically-minded colleagues. So extensive is this dispute, at the base of which is the search for an historically-grounded German national identity, that the publisher, Pieper of Munich, has recently issued a volume entitled Historikerstreit - Die Dokumentalion der Kontroverse um die Einzigartigkeit der nationalsozialistischen Judenvernichtung (1987) in which some forty-two articles by Germany's most prominent history professors are collected and republished. These illustrate both the extent of the debate and the emotion which it has generated. It surely demands the attention of all historians committed to eradicating nationalism from historical writing.Search for more papers by this author First published: December 1987 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8497.1987.tb00152.xCitations: 1 Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume33, Issue3December 1987Pages 273-278 RelatedInformation