The Other '68ers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna von der Goltz
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
The Other ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Christian Democracy ◽  
Protest Movement ◽  
History Of

This is the first book about West German centre-right students in 1968, a major moment of political and cultural contestation in the Federal Republic and indeed across much of the globe. Based on interviews with former activists and a wealth of new archival sources, it examines the ideas, experiences, and repertoires of activists we do not normally associate with 1968. Writing them back into the history of 1968 and its afterlives, as this book does, reveals that the protest movement of these years was a broader, more politically versatile, and, ultimately, even more consequential phenomenon than the traditionally narrower focus on left-wing radicals allows. Many of the protagonists of this book would later play major roles in Christian Democratic politics, especially during the era of Helmut Kohl. By tracing their influence on German political culture, this study helps us to understand why the age of Christian Democracy was interrupted but never really ended in the Federal Republic—at least until now.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Anna von der Goltz
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Postwar Germany ◽  
Life Paths ◽  
Career Trajectories ◽  
German Student ◽  
History Of ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
Long Term Impact

This chapter introduces the book’s protagonists and main subject: the other ‘68ers, a group of centre-right activists who had participated in the West German student movement of the late 1960s and 1970s and later commemorated their efforts as a form of democratic resistance against left-wing radicals. It argues that a close examination of the other ‘68ers’ ideas, experiences, repertoires, and remarkable career trajectories enables us to rethink the history of 1968 and its afterlives in important ways. Studying the hitherto neglected role these individuals played at the time, as well as their life paths and long-term impact on West German political culture, opens up new vistas for understanding the history of protest in 1968, the late Federal Republic, and the role that generation played in postwar Germany. The Introduction also discusses the different sources used for this study, including the oral history methodology on which parts of the book are based.

Digital Resources: Chile’s Centro de Investigación y Documentación (CIDOC) and Anti-Communism in the 1964 Elections

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Botto Stuven
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Contemporary History ◽  
Christian Democracy ◽  
Salvador Allende ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right

The Documentation Center of the Contemporary History of Chile (CIDOC), which belongs to the Universidad Finis Terrae (Santiago), has a digital archive that contains the posters and newspapers inserts of the anti-communist campaign against Salvador Allende’s presidential candidacy in 1964. These appeared in the main right-wing newspapers of Santiago, between January and September of 1964. Although the collection of posters in CIDOC is not complete, it is a resource of great value for those who want to research this historical juncture, considering that those elections were by far the most contested and conflicting in the history of Chile during the 20th Century, as it implicted the confrontation between two candidates defending two different conceptions about society, politics, and economics. On the one hand, Salvador Allende, the candidate of the Chilean left; on the other, Eduardo Frei, the candidate of the Christian Democracy, coupled with the traditional parties of the Right. While the technical elements of the programs of both candidates did not differ much from each other, the political campaign became the scenario for an authentic war between the “media” that stood up for one or the other candidate. Frei’s anticommunist campaign had the financial aid of the United States, and these funds were used to gather all possible resources to create a real “terror” in the population at the perspective of the Left coming to power. The Chilean Left labeled this strategy of using fear as the “Terror Campaign.”

THE INTELLECTUAL MIGRATION AND THE “OTHER WEIMAR”

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 597-606
Author(s):  
NOAH B. STROTE
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Weimar Germany ◽  
Jewish Heritage ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of

These two books bring fresh eyes and much-needed energy to the study of the intellectual migration from Weimar Germany to the United States. Research on the scholars, writers, and artists forced to flee Europe because of their Jewish heritage or left-wing politics was once a cottage industry, but interest in this topic has waned in recent years. During the height of fascination with the émigrés, bookstores brimmed with panoramic works such as H. Stuart Hughes's The Sea Change: The Migration of Social Thought, 1930–1965 (1975), Lewis Coser's Refugee Scholars in America: Their Impact and Their Experiences (1984), and Martin Jay's Permanent Exiles: Essays on the Intellectual Migration from Germany to America (1985). Now, while historians still write monographs about émigré intellectuals, their focus is often narrowed to biographies of individual thinkers. Refreshingly, with Emily Levine's and Udi Greenberg's new publications we are asked to step back and recapture a broader view of their legacy. The displacement of a significant part of Germany's renowned intelligentsia to the US in the mid-twentieth century remains one of the major events in the intellectual history of both countries.

scholarly journals Johann Damgaards Alithia (1597). Genrehistorie, teksthistorie og idehistorie: Omkring et dansk fyrstespejl til Christian 4.

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Correctness ◽  
The Other ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Interesting Point ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
History Of ◽  
Bull's Eye

The history of Danish political thought is a neglected field of study. This is due to scholarly traditions as well as to the lack of “great texts.” The present article presents a Danish manuscript mirror of princes, Alithia, written in 1597 by Johann Damgaard and presented to King Christian 4. The text itself is neither original nor of exceptional literary merit, but the King liked it and discussed it chapter by chapter with the author. In other words: Damgaard’s Alithia seems to have hit the bull’s eye of political correctness and royal taste. This makes it an interesting source for Danish political culture in the decades around 1600. It represents a synthesis of humanist and reformation ideology where humanism has determined the form while the contents is mostly traditional Christian kingship in the protestant tradition. An exploration of Damgaard’s sources reveals that Damgaard’s text represents a sofisticated writing up of material found in two earlier manuscript mirror of princes by Jens Skafbo from 1590 and 1592 respectively. Skafbo, on the other hand, compiled his mirror of princes on the basis of Paulus Helie’s Danish adaption (printed 1534) of Erasmus of Rotterdam’s Institutio principis christiani and diverse other texts mainly from the 1580’s. This plagiarism, as modern eyes would see it, was typical of the age. The interesting point is the thorough stylistic and ideological twist towards humanism that Damgaard gave his text. A last interesting point is that these mirrors of princes were not destined for the King alone. In more modest and shortened manuscript editions they circulated among the higher nobility. In one such edition of Damgaard’s Alithia one finds a paragraph with no parallel in the King’s version. It describes the relation between King and realm by means of a parable about a lion (the king) and a unicorn (the realm). If the lion behaves peace is assured, but if the lion offends the unicorn it will throw him out by means of its sharp and strong horn (the nobility). The paragraph ends with some barbed verses about the expulsion of King Chrsitian 2. in 1523. This is precious evidence for a radical aristocratic ideology which only occasionally, if at all, surfaces in the sources.

scholarly journals The Places of Memory in a Square of Monuments: Conceptions of Past, Freedom and History at Szabadság Tér

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 94-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Thorstensen
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
The Other ◽  
Memory Culture ◽  
Places Of Memory ◽  
History Of

In this paper I try to approach contemporary Hungarian political culture through an analysis of the history of changing monuments at Szabadság Tér in Budapest. The paper has as its point of origin a protest/irredentist monument facing the present Soviet liberation monument. In order to understand this irredentist monument, I look into the meaning of the earlier irredentist monuments under Horthy and try to see what monuments were torn down under Communism and which ones remained. I further argue that changes in the other monuments also affect the meaning of the others. From this background I enter into a brief interpretation of changes in memory culture in relation to changes in political culture. The conclusions point toward the fact that Hungary is actively pursuing a cleansing of its past in public spaces, and that this process is reflected in an increased acceptance of political authoritarianism.

The Reparations Agreement between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany

1954 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 564-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Honig
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
The Other ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Legal Form ◽  
Short Account ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Diplomacy

The Agreement which was concluded between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany on September 10, 1952, and went into force on March 27, 1953, is in some ways unique in the history of diplomacy. It is a treaty between two states which do not entertain diplomatic relations and do not even intend to establish such relations for the purpose of carrying into effect their mutual contractual undertakings. Furthermore, it is a treaty between states of which one was not in existence as a state and the other was not yet constituted in its present legal form when the events giving rise to the payment of reparations occurred. These are the somewhat unusual circumstances in which the Agreement was concluded, and they must be borne in mind when considering some of its features which, at first sight, might seem strange. A short account of the history preceding its conclusion may therefore be of assistance in providing the correct perspective.

Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 267-272
Author(s):  
Anna von der Goltz
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
Student Activism ◽  
German Society ◽  
The Political ◽  
German History ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Christian Democracy

The Conclusion summarizes and expands upon the findings of the book’s six chapters. It offers some overarching comments about how this study helps us to rethink the existing scholarship on 1968 and postwar German history more broadly. It highlights three contributions, in particular: revealing the striking political breadth and versatility of student activism around 1968 and the relational character of activism of the Left and centre-right; the book’s implications for writing histories of generation; and rethinking the long-term effects of 1968 on (West) German society to account for the manifold ways in which these years left their mark on Christian Democracy and the political culture of the late Federal Republic.

Introduction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Necati Polat
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
The Other ◽  
Common Pool ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Form ◽  
Human Desire

This chapter rehearses an answer to the following question: how did the pursuit of ‘advanced democracy’, as initially promised, develop into a new form of authoritarianism in Turkey, more than replicating the old one, shortly after the former regime was no more? The chapter describes a ‘loop’ throughout the history of political modernisation locally, notwithstanding some dramatic splits and reshuffles, ultimately submitting to a more profound level of recurrence and cloning of ‘desire’ in a common pool of amazingly resilient local political culture. In putting forward this contention, the discussion relies on Girard’s work on the machinations of basic human desire. Accordingly, desire is notably mimetic, modelled on the other. The model is none other than the ‘rival’, held subliminally in esteem, while being detested at the same time. The chapter argues that the new, populist authoritarianism in Turkey could be understood as a play of desire in this mould.

German Neoconservatism and the History of the Bonn Republic, 1968 to 1985

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Jerry Z. Muller
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
English Language ◽  
Definitive Treatment ◽  
The Political ◽  
History Of ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Subject

German neoconservatism and its role in the political culture of the Federal Republic is largely uncharted scholarly territory. Especially for English-language historians and political scientists, its place on the historical map is marked, “Here lie monsters.” This article is intended not as a definitive treatment, but as a sketch suggesting the contours of the subject. It has become commonplace to regard 1968 as a pivotal year in the history of the Bundesrepublik. This article suggests that this may be true in a broader sense than is usually meant: that the significance of 1968 derives not only from the 68ers and their transformation of the political culture of the left, but also from the neoconservative reaction to the 68ers, which helped recast the political culture of the non-left. The article begins by exploring some of the difficulties in getting a conceptual and definitional handle on German neoconservatism. It then proceeds to examine in some depth the career and ideas of one of the most prominent German neoconservatives, Hermann Lübbe. Then the article discusses several key issues, events, and processes that defined neoconservatism, before touching briefly on the reasons for its dissolution as a coherent phenomenon and reflecting on its place in the history of the Bundesrepublik.

scholarly journals Cohesive Difference: Germans and Italians in a Postwar Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-86
Author(s):  
Karrin Hanshew
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Eurozone Crisis ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Postwar Europe ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
National Difference ◽  
National Framework

AbstractThis article makes a case for rupturing the national framework used in traditional narratives of the Federal Republic, and it does so by revisiting the Italo-German relationship in particular. The state of Europe—and of Germans’ place in it—are in flux in the wake of the recent Eurozone crisis and “Brexit.” A study of German-Italian entanglements cannot offer definite answers about whether Germans or Italians feel “European,” but it does demonstrate, on the one hand, that perceptions of national difference do not preclude collaboration and closer relations, and, on the other, that the construction and deployment of difference can actually help create and maintain bonds between populations. Making a case for the importance of a history of German-Italian entanglements, the article offers evidence for how perceived national differences have brought Germans and Italians together, from the beginning of the Federal Republic to roughly the present, with a focus on Germans’ (and Italians’) recent turn to an apolitical or even anti-political lifestyle politics, and on the uncertain consequences that this has for the European project as a whole.

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