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A Discours Social Perspective of Del- FallJenninger By Jean Déraps Department of Comparative Literature McGi11 University, Montréal July, 1997 • Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts. • © Jean Déraps • Montréal • 1997 National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A DN4 Ottawa ON K1 A DN4 canada Canada Your flle Votre refersnce Our flle Notrs rsfé,once The author bas granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library ofCanada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distnbute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies ofthis thesis in microfo~ vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership ofthe L'auteur conselVe la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son perrmsslon. autorisation. 0-612-37200-6 Canada • li il la ,néfnoÎre de InOIJ père. Gabriel Déraps • et mOIJ anri. Claude Rot/x • ID • Thanks l would like to thank the following people and organizations for their contributions to this project: Marc Angenot, my thesis supervisor, for his wisdom, patience and words ofencouragement during his supervision of my project. Robert Holub, who accorded me the privilege of attending the Interdisciplinary Seminar in German Studies entitled Recent Controver­ sies in German PoUtics and Culture, at the University of Califomia, Berkeley (co-sponsored by the OAAD). l acquired there many insights that have proven to be invaluable for my analysis. Douwe Fokkema, Oirector of the Onderzoeksinstituut Voor Geschiedenis En Cultuur at the Rijksuniversiteit Te Utrecht, for his warm welcome during my year as guest of his institute. Jürgen Scheipers, for his unswerving support in the archives of the FAZ, where he helped me obtain piles of material chat would have otherwise remained beyond my reach. Barbara Elsberger, who provided me with important documentation on numerous occasions, and whose letters of encouragement helped me to remain steadfast in the face ofadversity. Friso Wielenga, Professor of History at the Rijksuniversiteit Te Utrecht, • and the Jakob Kaiser Stiftung for providing my class, "Das Nachkriegs­ deutschland und das 'Dritte Reich' ", with the opportunity to experience first hand the past and the present in Kônigswinter, Berlin and Buchenwald. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung (Germany), Der Spiegel, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, and Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich) for their help in providing me with source material. Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et l'Aide à la Recherche (FCAR) for a scholarship that not ooly helped me get a stan on my thesis, but allowed me to pursue my research in the Netherlands and in Germany. The Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) twice over; once, for the scholarship that allowed me to spend a year (1987-88) at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat-München, thus allowing me to he a 'witness' of Der Fal!Jenninger, and a second time for a scholarship that allowed me ta attend the aforementioned summer seminar directed by Robert Holub at the University ofCalifomia, Berkeley (Summer 1993). Finally, l would Iike to thank my mother, Monique Déraps, without whose support-through thick and thin-I would have hardly been able • ta get this whole project offthe ground. iv • Abstract On November 10, 1988, Philipp ]enninger, President of the German Bundestag (FRG), held a speech in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of Reichskristallnacht, or 'night of broken glass', a pogrom which was orchestrated by the National Socialist govemment against Germany's ]ewish citizens. The speech proved to be extremely controversial and provoked heated reactions in Gennany and around the world. The following is an analysis of the discourse generated by the speech in Gennany. The goal of my project is to elucidate the discursive structures that subtended the state of the German discours social in • arder to show the way in which the 'text' of Der FaU jenninger was formed and informed by it. The first part of the thesis shaH serve as an introduction ta the incident of Der FailJe1lninger. Part two will outline the precepts upon which l will be basing my analysis. Part three will consist of my analysis ofDer Fal!]enninger. • v • Résumé Le 10 novembre, 1988, Philipp ]enninger, Président du Bundestag Allemand (RFA), a tenu un discours lors d'une commémoration du cinquantième anniversaire du Reichskristallnacht, ou la 'nuit de cristal', un pogrome orchestré par le gouvernement National Socialiste contre les citoyens juifs du Reich Allemand. Le discours a été extrêmement controversé et a déclenché de vives réactions, autant en Allemagne qu'ailleurs. Le présent ouvrage est une analyse du discours produit par l'événement en Allemagne. Le but de mon projet est d'élucider les structures discursives sous-jacentes à l'état du discours social allemand • afin de pouvoir indiquer la façon dont le 'texte' de Der Fall jenninger a été formé et informé par celui-ci. La première section de cet ouvrage servira d'introduction au cas Der Fal! jenninger. La section suivante résumera le cadre théorique de mon analyse. L'analyse de Der Fal! jenninger sera entreprise dans la troisième section. • vi • Table of Contents Thanks III Abstract IV Résumé v Table of Contents VI Chapter One: An Introduction to Der Fall jenninger 1 Der Falllenninger: The Event 2 Why study Der Fall Jenninger? 8 übject and Method of study 10 Chapter Two: Basic Concepts of the Discours Social 14 On the Origins of Meaning 15 The Discours Social 16 Hegemony and the Discours Social 20 Chapter Three: A Discours Social Perspective of Der Falllenninger 24 Historia Magistra VitêE and die Vergangenheit 25 • The Historikerstreit and die Vergangenheit 26 Der Fall Jenninger and die Vergangenheit 32 History in the Making: The Story of Der Falllenninger 46 A Chronology of Der Fa If Jenninger 50 Oer Fall Jenninger. The Media Event 54 Stories about Der Fall Jenninger 70 Jenninger: The Failure 71 Jenninger: The Hero 75 Jenninger: A Victim of the Media 80 Chapter Four: Closing Remarks 87 Appendix A The Jenninger Speech 90 Works Consulted 113 Theoretical Considerations 113 German Historical Diseourse 114 Sources Specifie to Der Falljenninger 119 • • vii J/e11 make Iheir OWII history, but Ihey do /lot make ifjust as they p/etlse; tlrey do /lot moke if tll,der circull/stonces chosen by themselves. but ullder circumstonces direct/y fOlll/d, givef/ al/d traflsmilfedfrom the post. The traditio/l ofail the deadgellerafions weighs like a Ilightmare 011 the broill ofthe living. Karl wlarx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte • • • Chapter One: An Introduction to Der Fall jenninger U1Voœ' fUr/lier. .. proeeeded AlIfonÏtIS, "whot c1ass ofora/or, O!ld how great 0 moster oflanguage is qllalified, ÙI .vour opinion. fo wri/e history?" "Jfhe is 10 write os the Greeks have wnltell, " answered Catll/IIS, ua maIl ofsllpreme obi/i'Y is reqllired: ifthe standardis fo be that ofollr OWII fellow-eolIl1trymell, no oratorot 011 is 1/eeded; it is enotJgh that the man sholl/d flot be 0 fiar. ft Cicero. De Oratore ~VOVOIJ mail niehf spreehen kOJlIl. donïber mujJ man schiJJ.'eigel/. ~Vitfgenslein. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus • CHAPTER ONE: AN INTRODUcnON TO DER FAUJENNINGER 2 • Der Fall Jenninger:. The Event During the night of November 9/10, 1938 an incontrovertible tragedy took place in Germany, for on that night a pogrom swept through the Greater German Reich. By the time it was ail over sorne 8 000 shops, 29 warehouses and 171 homes had been destroyed; 191 synagogues razed by tire and another 76 demolished; 14 ]ewish community centers, cemetery chapels and similar buildings were torched or gutted; at least 30 000 jewish men were arrested and dragged off to concentration camps, many of whom were only to finally escape their torment through the flues of Auschwitz. Around 230 people were killed and another 600 permanently maimed. 1 As astounding as these numbers are they hardly begin to describe the human suffering and humiliation to which German ]ews were subjected on that fateful night in German history.