,,Historical revisionism"

GEROLSTEIN/WARSAW In an internationally circulated appeal, Polish, Czech and German signatories oppose the establishment of a ,,Zentrum gegen Vertreibungen"(centre against expulsions) and warn of a ,,revision of history."Their appeal appeared in the Polish and Czech press but is only circulated in the internet in Germany.

Excerpts of the appeal:
 

For a critical and enlightened debate about the past



Hardly any other topic has been discussed and reflected upon in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany as thoroughly as the Flight and Expulsion of the Germans from Eastern Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War. (...)

Despite having been part of public and private discourse for decades, the topic of Flight and Expulsion has recently once again become a controversial issue on the political agenda. A ,,Centre against Expulsions"is now being planned, in which both Memory and Commemoration are to be represented.

(...) The present proposal aims at something different: a central memorial, which would be supported by public funds and sanctioned by the state: a Centre which would establish and popularize a one-sided image of the past.

The great danger posed by this proposal is the emergence of an officially sanctioned reinterpretation of the past - indeed a historical revisionism - which would endanger the social and political discussions which aim at a common European dialog.

(...)

Above all, we clearly see two dangers. First, in the historical dimension, there is the danger of de-contexualizing the past, thus breaking the causal relationship between the Nazi policies of radical nationalism and racial extermination on one hand and the flight and expulsion of ethnic Germans on the other hand. Secondly, in the political dimension, there lies the danger of an ethnification of social conflicts, that is, the habit of interpreting political and social controversies in ethnic terms - and by that, in cementing the specific German voelkisch ethno-nationalist tradition of viewing past, present and the future in ethnic terms.

(...)

Initiators: Hans Henning Hahn, Eva Hahn, Alexandra Kurth, Samuel Salzborn and Tobias Weger.

Initial signers of the appeal:
(...)
Bednár, Doc. PhDr. Miloslav CSc., Institut fuer Philosophie der Akademie der Wissenschaften der Tschechischen Republik, Prag/CZ
(...)
Brumlik, Prof. Dr. Micha, Institut für Allgemeine Erziehungswissenschaft, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitaet Frankfurt/Main, D
(...)
Edelman, Dr. med. Marek, letzter lebender Anfuehrer des Warschauer Ghetto-Aufstands 1943, Lódz/PL
Fahlbusch, Dr. Michael, Wissenschaftshistoriker, Mitherausgeber des Handbuchs zur voelkischen Wissenschaft in Deutschland 1920-1960, Basel/CH
(...)
Geremek, Prof. Dr. Bronislaw, Historiker, Warschau/PL
(...)
Haar, Dr. Ingo, Historiker, Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Mitherausgeber des Handbuchs zur voelkischen Wissenschaft in Deutschland 1920-1960/D
(...)
Holzer, Prof. Dr. Jerzy, Historiker, reditel dyrektor Instytutu Studiów Politycznych PAN, Warschau/PL
(...)
Jelínek, Tomás, Vorsitzender der Juedischen Gemeinde in Prag/CZ
(...)
Madajczyk, Prof. Dr. Piotr, Historiker, Institut fuer Politische Studien der Polnischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Warschau/PL
(...)
Michnik, Adam, Chefredakteur der Zeitung Gazeta Wyborcza, Warschau/PL
(...)
Stránský, Oldrich, Mitglied des Deutsch-Tschechischen Gespraechsforums und Vorsitzender der Vereinigung befreiter politischer Haeftlinge beim Bund der Freiheitskaempfer, Prag/CZ
(...)
 

Source:
For a critical and enlightened debate about the past; www.vertreibungszentrum.de


Login