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PARTISAN REVIEW
Holocaust, from the vantage-point of the historical actors of the time, if
those actors were German, or on the German side. This becomes clear
from the sideshow to the main event that turned on the essay by the
historian Andreas Hillgruber, a discussion of the final stages of the war in
the east. Hillgruber argues that the German soldiers on the Eastern Front
in 1944-45 were subjectively justified in their tenacious resistance because
they feared Soviet vengeance on German civilians and because, in the
end, they wanted to allow as many of these civilians as possible to escape
to the West. Thus, to apprehend what drove most of these German sol–
diers was denounced as an apologia for the regime that, thanks to their
efforts, lasted a few months longer than it otherwise would. Again, as in
Nolte's case, the critics refused, or were unable , to distinguish under–
standing from apology. In both Nolte's and Hillgruber's case, the result
of the
Historikerstreit
was to declare certain approaches to WorId War II
out of bounds. But if scholars are not supposed to understand what
made men act in the past, then the past events in question become, as I
have said, iconic representations, useful only as brickbats in the present.
That is certainly
Vergangenheitsbewaltigung
of a kind, but only if you take
an instrumental approach to the meaning of that phrase: not "'corning to
terms with" the past but "managing" the past in the interests of your
present-day political purposes.
My concluding question, then, is, whether the past, since unification
and since the
Historikerstreit,
has finally been overcome, dealt with, or
managed. As you will have gathered, I believe that the growth of
Ver–
gangenheitsbewaltigung
has been inversely proportional to historical under–
standing. The more the past is managed, the less it is understood and the
less it is come to terms with.
Igor Webb:
Thank you for a most thought-provoking presentation,
which I'm sure we all look forward to discussing. For now, however,
we'll go straight to Professor Koch's talk.
Burkhard
Koch: As an East German who has been reeducated in this
country I always feel very comfortable in America. It's like being back
home when I return to the States. And it is a nice coincidence to be
here with David, whose family hosted me during my very first days in this
country.
More than five years after East Germany's November revolution, it
has become fashionable for some to portray the former GDR as an im–
perfect but commendable experiment. On the other hand, countering
the currently trendy nostalgia which regrets the collapse of the GDR,
