The Social Making of a Historian: Fritz Fischer’s Distancing From Bourgeois-Conservative Historiography, 1930–60

Abstract

In 2003, revelations about Fritz Fischer’s Nazi past caused surprise in Germany. To many commentators it appeared mysterious, if not suspicious, that an outspoken critic of German national history had changed his views so radically after 1945. This article explores Fischer’s socialization into the historical profession during the Third Reich and the legacy of this socialization after 1945. It points to significant continuities in the way Fischer positioned himself vis-a-vis the dominant historical traditions in Germany. The article demonstrates that embracing national socialist views provided Fischer with an opportunity to distinguish himself from the bourgeois-conservative mainstream that dominated late Weimar historiography. This disposition turned into a relatively stable professional identity. Although Fischer significantly altered his political views and his interpretation of German history after 1945, his postwar experiences only provided the historiographical ingredients for an already existing socio-cultural disposition. As a result, he developed a particular approach to the study of German history which was at odds with established views. The publication of Griff nach der Weltmacht in 1961 was thus not the beginning of his disagreements with his more conservative colleagues, but rather the culmination of a process which had already begun in the 1930s.