Flirting With the Unsayable? A Discours Social Perspective of Der Fadl Jen ninger By Jean Déraps Department of Comparative Literature McGill University, Montréal July, 1997 Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requiremencs of the degree of Master of Arts. O Jean Déraps Montréal 1997 National Library Bibliothèque nationale I*l of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your bk, Votre raterence Our lüe Notre refdrence The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfom, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de rnicrofiche/ih, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L' auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts firom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otheMlise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. canada Thanks 1 would like to thank the foliowing people and organizations for their contributions to this project: Marc Angenot, rny thesis supervisor, for his wisdom, patience and words of encouragement 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 Politics and Cultzwe, at the University of California, Berkeley (CO-sponsoredby the DAAD). I acquired there many insights that have proven to be invaluable for my anaiysis. Douwe Fokkema, Director of the Onderzoeksinstitztut Voor Gescbiedenis En Cultuur at the Rijksuniversiteit Te Utrecht, for his wam welcome du~grny 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 that 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 of adversity. 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 Konigswinter, Berlin and Buchenwald. The Frankfurter Allgerneine Zeitung, Presse- und Itzfonnntionsarnt der Bundesregierung (Germany), Der Spiegel, Norddeutscber Rundfunk, and Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich) for their help in providing me with source material. Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et l'Aide ci la Recherche (FUR) for a scholarship that not only helped me get a start on rny thesis, but allowed me to pursue my research in the Netheriands 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 be a 'witness' of Der FullJenninger, and a second time for a scliolarship that ailowed me to attend the aforementioned surnmer seminar directed by Robert Holub at the University of California, Berkeley (Summer 1993). Finally, 1 would like to thank my mother, Manique Déraps, without whose support-through thick and thin-1 would have hardly been able to get this whole project off the ground. Abstract On November 10, 1988, Philipp Jenninger, President of the German Bundestag (FRG), held a speech in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of Reichsknstallnacht, or 'night of broken glass', a pogrom which was orchestrated by the National Socialist govemment against Germany's Jewish citizens. The speech proved to be extremely controversial and provoked heated reactions in Germany and around the world. The following is an analysis of the discourse generated by the speech in Gemany. The goal of my project is to elucidate the discursive structures that subtended the state of the Gerrnan discours social in order to show the way in which the 'text' of Der FdlJenninger was formed and informed by it. The first part of the thesis shall serve as an introduction to the incident of Der FallJenninger. Part two will outline the precepts upon which 1 will be basing rny analysis. Part three will consist of my analysis of Der Falljenninger. Résumé Le 10 novembre. 1988, Phüipp Jennuiger, Président du Bundestag Allemand (RFA), a tenu un discours lors d'une commémoration du cinquantième anniversaire du Reichskristahzacbt, 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'etat du discours socinb allemand de pouvoir indiquer la façon dont le 'texte' de Der Fa21 jenninger a été formé et informé par celui-ci. La première section de cet ouvrage servira d'introduction au cas Der Full Jenninger. La section suivante résumera le cadre théorique de mon analyse. L'analyse de Der FallJenninger sera entreprise dans la troisième section. Table of Contents Thanks Abstract Résumé Table of Contents Chapter One: An introduction to Der Fall Jenninger Der Fa11 Jenninger. The bent Why study Der FalI Jenninger! Object and Method of study Chapter Two: Basic Concepts of the Discours Social On the Origins of Meaning The Discours Social Hegernony and the Discours Social Chapter Three: A Discours Social Perspective of Der Falljenninger Historia Magistra Vitæ and die Vergangenheit The Historikerstreit and die Vergangenheit Der Fal l Jenninger and die Vergangen heit History in the Making: The Story of Der Fa11 Jenninger A Chronology of Der FaIl Jenninger Der Fa11 Jenninger: The Media Event Stories about Der Fa// lenninger Jenninger: The Failure jenninger: The Hero jenninger: A Victim of the Media Chapter Four: Closing Remarks Appendix A The jenninger Speech Works Consulted Theoretical Considerations German Historical Discourse Sources Specific to Der Fa11 jenninger Karl Marx, The Eighceenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparce Chapter One: An introduction to Der Fa// Jenninger "New fider." proceeded Atztonim, "nthc~tcfasx of orofor, arzd /IO w greot a master of lmguage iis qziaiified, i/t jour- opinion. tu uvfre history?" "lf he iis to write as the Greeks have wnnttetzr." omrÿered Cafuitrs, "a man of stiprenze abifity is reqzrired :$the statrhrd is ro be da? of our o wtr fefio w -CO rrn~tnen,rzo orator at afi is rreederi; ri is enozcgh that the man xhouid flot h a fiar. " Cicero, De Oratore LVoootl rnmt nicht sprecherr Raîrn, dani'ber mtg mmxchweigen. tvit~gemtein,Tractacus Logico-P hilosop hicus CHAPTER ONE: AN INTRODUC~ONTO DER FALLJENNINCER 2 Der FaIl 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 tirne it was al1 over some 8 000 shops, 29 warehouses and 271 homes had been destroyed; 191 synagogues razed by fire and another 76 demolished; 14 Jewish cornmunity centers, cemetery chapeis 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 fînally escape their torment through the flues of Auschwitz. Around 230 people were killed and another 600 pemanently maimed-l As astounding as these numbers are they hardly begin to describe the human suffering and humiliation to which German Jews were subjected on that fateful night in German history. One half century after this gruesome show of man's inhurnanity to man, a series of special events were slated in the Federal Republic of Germany to 'cornmernorate' the Fiftieth anniversary of what has been euphemistically labelled as Reicbskristailnacht, or Wight of Broken Giass'. One of these events was a speech held by Philipp Jenninger, Speaker of the German parliament, which took place in the Bundestag on November 10, 1988.2 The ill-fated speech was making waves even before it properly got off the ground, and the controversy which resulted from it was so great that Jenninger could see no altemative but to CHriPTER ONE: AN INTRODUCT'IONTO DER EUJfiVNINGER 3 submit-under immense pressure from ail parties including his own-his 'voluntary' resignation the very next day.3 Rumours that a Neo-Nazi had held an anti-Semitic speech in German parliament proved to be difficult to contain and the event made headlines in Gemany and around the world: "Jenninger Defends Hitler-Eran(Maariv, I~rael).~ "Hitler Gave Us a Fantastic Time: Antisemitism Explodes Again in German Parliament" (Cowiere della Sera, Italy)5 "Trampling Through History with Army Boots Onn (Spiegel, Gemian~)~ "Speaker praises Hitler en" (Times,London)' Critics of the speech abounded-not the least among those who had apparently neither heard nor read itg-and the incident soon took on such exaggerated proportions, that one is tempted to label the whole affair a farce. "When the wrong man in the wronç place holds the wrong speech at the wrong time," wntes Ulrich Greiner, "it is normally an occasion for uproarious laughter? For most Germans, as Greiner subsequently points out, it was fa.from being a laughing matter. It would be wise, however, to take Greiner's anaphoric emphasis on the wrongness of the event with a grain of salt: Why was Jenninger the wrong man? Why was this particular speech the wrong one? And why was this the wrong place and time? Who gets to decide? CHhPTER ONE: AN INTRODUCT'TON TO DER FAUJENNIAGER 4 The initial reaction was unanimous in its condemnation of Jenninger's speech.