The Adenauer Era: Anxieties and Traumas of Violence in the Postwar Period

Abstract

Researching and writing contemporary history move forward in acertain rhythm. Today, the 1960s are the decade of major interest,whereas the 1970s increasingly are becoming the testing ground ofnew approaches and reinterpretations. By contrast, the 1950s seemof little interest—with most of the issues solved and most sourcesaccessible. But this could be a false impression, especially if onetakes into account the dominant views on this period that havebecome popular in the last years. After 1989/90, with the fall of theBerlin Wall, the unification of Germany, and the end of the ColdWar, many historians developed and corroborated an interpretationof the postwar decades—a now widely accepted master narrative ofthe “German question.” With the benefit of hindsight, they claimedthat Konrad Adenauer’s policy of Western integration was a necessaryand inevitable course, which facilitated eventual reunification.Other political options would have rendered the Federal Republic ofGermany (FRG) dangerously open to stronger communist pressure oreven would have presented the Soviet Union with the opportunity toexpand its empire to Germany as a whole.