Michael Klundt. Heldenmythos und Opfertaumel: Der Zweite Weltkrieg und seine Folgen im deutschen Geschichtsdiskurs. Köln: PapyRossa Verlag, 2004. 191 S. EUR 13.50, paper, ISBN 978-3-89438-288-9.
Reviewed by Matthew Stibbe
Published on H-German (November, 2005)
The sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Sec‐ culture. Unfortunately, though, several of the con‐ ond World War and the gradual aging of the last tributors are guilty of the same tendencies that participants in that confict have inevitably given they oppose in others, namely the substitution of rise to an increased output of historical and com‐ personal perspectives and emotion-laden styles of memorative studies. In Germany in particular this argumentation for sober and balanced forms of process has been accompanied by new debates analysis. This necessarily undermines the impact over whether "ordinary Germans" should be seen of the volume as a whole. as victims of the war rather than as perpetrators This can be seen in particular in the essays of war crimes. Recent books such as Günter written by Michael Klundt (the editor) and Kurt Grass's Crabwalk, Antony Beevor's Berlin: The Pätzold (a respected East German historian). In Downfall, 1945, and Jörg Friedrich's Der Brand the view of both of these authors, the recent dis‐ have attracted a great deal of media interest, and cussion of the Allied bombing campaign over Ger‐ have prompted considerable debate within the in‐ many between 1940 and 1945 ofers no fresh in‐ ternational academic community as well.[1] In sights into the historical causes of the war, but the process, a number of old taboos seem to have simply provides a new ideological justifcation for been broken, including criticism of the Allies' the "militarization" of German foreign policy bombing campaign in the fnal months of the war, since the late 1990s. If Germans were "victims" and discussion of the plight of German expellees too, so the argument goes, then they have a moral from the East in the years 1944-1947.[2] right or even duty to intervene to save others Heldenmythos und Opfertaumel, a collection around the world from the terrible consequences of essays by left-wing writers and scholars, sets it‐ of civil war, dictatorship and "ethnic cleansing." self frmly against this new trend and ofers in‐ According to Pätzold "Was sich an den Zeiten stead a radical critique of the representation of wirklich geändert hat, war der Schritt ins größere the Second World War in contemporary German Deutschland und die Neuverwendung seiner Stre‐ H-Net Reviews itkräfte. Der Wandel hieß Jugoslawien und heißt nist-led anti-fascist German nation," which was Afghanistan und Irak" (p. 28). Klundt puts this also used to justify rearmament and the creation even more bluntly: "Sichtbar wird ... bereits, dass of a National People's Army against the supposed die Debatten bis zum Ende der 90er Jahre (Holo‐ threat from "fascist" West Germany.[3] Admittedly caust-Denkmal, Goldhagen, Wehrmacht etc.) eher Pätzold does touch on this subject, but only very von deutschen Tätern und Mitläufern handelten, briefy and without linking GDR criticisms of An‐ während die neuerlichen Kontroversen glo-American imperialism and Kriegsbarbarei to (Bombenkrieg, Vertreibung, Stalingrad, deutsche East Germany's own reluctance to engage in an Kriegsgefangene) stärker den Charakter der open confrontation with the Nazi past. Instead, kollektiven deutschen Opfergemeinschaft her‐ his main target seems to be Jörg Friedrich and lib‐ vorheben ... Dazwischen liegt ein völkerrechts- eral newspapers like Die Zeit, and while I agree und grundgesetzwidriger Angrifskrieg gegen Ju‐ with many of the points he makes, they are hardly goslawien (1999)" (p. 8). convincing as a general indictment of German The problem here is that the authors ofer ab‐ politics and historical discourse today. The same solutely no hard evidence to support their claims. must be said of the contributions from Klundt and The fact that Konrad Adenauer was declared to be from Gerhard Zwerenz on the recent discussion the "best German of all time" ("Unsere Besten") in around Wehrmacht deserters. a poll conducted by the German television net‐ Some of the essays, it is true, develop a more work ZDF in November, 2003, can hardly be taken critical distance from current polemics over Ger‐ as concrete proof of a sudden return to the con‐ man foreign policy and Vergangenheitsbewälti‐ servative views of the 1950s, let alone of a desire gung. Erich Später, for instance, discusses the his‐ for the emergence of a new "Greater Germany" in torical background to the expulsion of some 2.5 the twenty-frst century. Economic problems at million ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia in home have not led and will not lead to an in‐ the late 1940s, which he puts down to the role creased aggressiveness in German foreign policy, played by the Sudeten Germans in the destruction particularly as Germany is now fully integrated of the frst republic in 1938/9 and in the mass into the structures of NATO and the EU. The au‐ murder of their fellow citizens (including 260,000 thors also completely overlook the impact of the Czechoslovak Jews) between 1939 and 1945. The Brandt-Schmidt era (1969-1982) on (West) German astonishing speed with which Jewish property historical consciousness, and of the Second World was "aryanized" in the aftermath of the annexa‐ War itself in turning Germany into a predomi‐ tion of the Sudetenland in October 1938 is a case nantly pacifst nation. After all, Germany did not in point, paving the way for the near complete an‐ take part in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, nihilation of the Jewish community a few years in spite of considerable pressure to do so. later. As Später shows, the participants in and Conversely, the authors say little about the benefciaries of this process included signifcant "militarization" of East German political culture numbers of local Germans who were supporters under Ulbricht and Honecker and the develop‐ of Konrad Henlein's pro-Nazi Sudetendeutsche ment of an SED-sponsored Opferdiskurs which Partei. Some of them went on to play leading continues to have underlying echoes in today's roles in West German political life after 1945, es‐ discussions. As Josie McLellan has shown, from pecially in organizations representing the ex‐ the 1950s onwards "ordinary East Germans were pellees and their descendants. relieved of their responsibility for Nazi war Gerd Wiegel ofers a critical look at the work crimes" through the historical myth of a "commu‐ of the television documentary maker Guido
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Knopp, who has gained consistently high audi‐ paradigm, such as Wolfgang Staudte's Die Mörder ence ratings for his remarkable run of flms on sind unter uns (1946) and Volker Schlöndorf's Die the German experience of the Second World War Blechtrommel (1978), based on the Günter Grass (as well as successfully sponsoring Adenauer as novel of the same name, have not been able to the "best German" in the ZDF poll). In Wiegel's match the box ofce success of their mainstream view the main problem with Knopp is not that he rivals (although they are occasionally still shown has sought to popularize history as a form of in art house cinemas in the UK and perhaps else‐ prime time family entertainment, but rather the where). manner in which he deals with historical explana‐ Finally, Silke Schneider ofers a competent tion and causation. Taking the 2001 series and ac‐ and clear summary of recent debates on the sta‐ companying book Die große Flucht as an example, tus of women as victims or perpetrators in the [4] he shows how a presentation of history that Third Reich, covering both academic and more relies on individual tales of sufering without con‐ popular forms of writing (and flmmaking). How‐ sidering the broader context can lead, perhaps ever, like Später and Wiegel she ofers no evi‐ unintentionally, to a "Dämonisierung Hitlers" and dence, direct or indirect, to support the Klundt- the "implizite Freispruch der Bevölkerung durch Pätzold hypothesis of a link between changing die Delegierung der Schuld auf die enge perceptions of the Second World War in German Führungsspitze" (p. 85). "Hitler's war," for in‐ culture and new foreign policy objectives since stance, is juxtaposed against "Germany's pain" af‐ the late 1990s. Indeed, as she convincingly argues, ter 1945, brought to life by pitiful images of de‐ while women's autobiographical accounts of ev‐ fenseless German civilians in fight. As a result, eryday life in the Third Reich are increasingly the viewers--mostly older Germans--are ofered popular, there are numerous examples of this only a limited framework within which to consid‐ genre today which do not ft at all easily into the er their own responsibility for Nazi war crimes neat categories of (female/German) "victim" and and for the fate which befell their communities in (male/Nazi/Soviet) "perpetrator." Even the most the East after 1944/5. harrowing accounts of rape and violence commit‐ Similar themes arise in Bernd Kleinhans's ted by Red Army soldiers display some awareness contribution on the portrayal of the Second World of historical context, although, as with all texts, War era in (West) German cinema since 1945. The multiple meanings and interpretations are possi‐ "triumph of entertainment," which began under ble. "Wir Deutschen sind kein Partisanenvolk. Wir Goebbels and survived, in only slightly altered brauchen Führung und Befehl," wrote the un‐ form, into the Adenauer era and beyond, has led, named diarist whose stark depiction of life in So‐ he believes, to the reproduction of a familiar nar‐ viet-occupied Berlin between April and June, rative (familiar, that is, to successive generations 1945, has sold thousands of copies since being re‐ of Nazi and West German cinema audiences) in published in a new edition in 2003, and on anoth‐ which the human consequences of the war (ad‐ er occasion: "Verbrecher und Hasardeure haben venture, comradeship, sacrifce, betrayal, despair uns geführt, wir haben uns führen lassen wie die and ultimately defeat) are separated from its Schafe zur Schlachtbank" (p. 149).[5] Once again, structural causes (fascism and German imperialist though, no serious comment is made in this ac‐ aggression). The result is a constant, if latent, rein‐ count, or others like it, on the causes of the war forcement of the authoritarian agenda of the (and in turn on the real causes of Germany's de‐ 1930s, shorn of its more blatant ideological and feat at the hands of the Red Army). racial messages. Sadly, those flms which have sought to break entirely from the "entertainment"
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Having read the contributions discussed [5]. Anonyma, Eine Frau in Berlin. Tage‐ above, I am more convinced than ever of the need buchaufzeichnungen vom 20. April bis 22. Juni for a robust and hard-hitting response on the part 1945 (Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn Verlag, 2003). of the German left to the recent Opfertaumel ("vic‐ This diary was frst published in English transla‐ tim-frenzy") in the German media and German tion in 1954 and then in a German edition in 1959, history writing. Otherwise Pätzold's warning but interestingly these earlier versions did not at‐ might well turn out to be prophetic: "Geht das so tract the same levels of media or scholarly atten‐ fort ... so werden die Nachgeborenen in der BRD tion as the 2003 reprint. See also the H-German eines Tages 'alles über diesen Krieg wissen,' review by Bianka J. Adams at
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Citation: Matthew Stibbe. Review of Klundt, Michael. Heldenmythos und Opfertaumel: Der Zweite Weltkrieg und seine Folgen im deutschen Geschichtsdiskurs. H-German, H-Net Reviews. November, 2005.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=11241
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