A discursive and ideological study of the debates on "the negative past" in post-war Germany

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K00480
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02040:European literature-related
• Research Institution: Nihon University
• Principal Investigator: HATSUMI Motoi 日本大学, 文理学部, 研究員 (90198771)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 集団の罪 / 戦後ドイツ / 負の過去

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research is positioned as part of a comprehensive study of post-war German culture and society, the pillars of which are the systematic collection of materials and their careful analysis.
During this period of research, I have mainly followed the changes in the treatment of the "negative past" of the Nazi era in public discourse in West Germany, from the immediate aftermath of the war defeat until the mid-1980s.
Through this analytical work, I found that after the 1950s, when the "negative past" became taboo, discussions about "overcoming the past" expanded from the 1960s onwards, and awareness of this issue became more widespread during the period of social and political upheaval around 1968. The process by which it developed in the mid-1980s and came to be seen as an issue for the 'post-war generation' has been traced in the history of discourse and ideology.

Free Research Field

ドイツ研究

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究にあっては、戦後ドイツの公論に見られる「負の過去」への向かい方の変遷をたどることを通じて、戦後ドイツの文化と社会が成立する基盤のひとつの層が確認された。これは今後、個別の文化・社会的事例に向けた研究を遂行するうえで、重要な前提となるものである。
また、2000年代に入って顕在化、そして先鋭化していった、「新しい反ユダヤ主義」の名のもとでイスラエル批判を公的議論のなかで封じようという傾向は、2023年以降とみに強まっているが、今後これを批判的に分析してゆく作業にとっても、本研究は礎石となるものと期待される。
さらに、日本の戦後思想を再検討するうえでも、本研究成果は対比的に参照してゆくに値する。