Das Trauma von “1968”: Liberale Hochschullehrer in Westdeutschland und Frankreich

This contribution sheds light on the reaction of liberal university teachers to the students’ revolt of “1968”. For university professors such as Ernst Fraenkel and Richard Löwenthal “1968” was a traumatic experience : an experience of extreme emotional intensity which overtaxed their possibilities to cope with it and lastingly shook the way in which they understood themselves. By “1968” they saw their mission of a consensus - liberal democratization of West Germany seriously endangered. Again, the “shadows of Weimar” seemed to threaten the Federal Republic. For them, “1968” was the most recent chapter of the apparent medical history of an anti - Western German special path. Beyond the Rhine, where in 1968 the fights on the barricades were raging, Raymond Aron tried to cope with the shocking “events” by interpreting them as a theatrical re - staging of the February Revolution of 1848. However, also this way of national - historic narrativization was hardly able to alleviate the traumatic effect of “1968”.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Deutscher Staat und westliche Demokratie : Karl Dietrich Bracher und Erwin K. Scheuch zur Zeit der Studentenrevolte von 1967/68

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Intellectual History (english version)

There is no single answer to the question: What is intellectual history? Commenting in the mid-1980s on two recent volumes dedicated to the sub-discipline's methods and perspectives, John Pocock wryly remarked: "I recommend reading them, but after doing so myself, I am persuaded that whatever 'intellectual history' is, and whatever 'the history of ideas' may be, I am not engaged in doing either of them." In the United States, in many respects the heartland of intellectual history, the scholarly community has grappled with the ambiguous relationship of "intellectual history" to "the history of ideas" for almost a century

Cold War liberalism in West Germany : Richard Löwenthal and ‘Western civilization’

Richard Löwenthal’s response to the challenges of ‘1968’ was more complex than that of most of his liberal colleagues. He did not simply remain beholden to the interpretative patterns of a German ‘special path’ (Sonderweg). He also, and increasingly so, drew on the conceptual framework of ‘Western civilization’ to make sense of and cope with the socio-cultural transformations of his times. What many like-minded intellectuals perceived solely as a ‘deviation from the West’, he also viewed as a ‘crisis of the West’. This article argues that this transnationally ‘Western’ stance was part and parcel of Löwenthal’s intellectual profile as ‘cold war liberal’. This was a relatively rare species in Cold War Germany, and Löwenthal was rather exceptional in his sustained engagement with the topic of ‘Western civilization’. Compared with luminaries such as Carl Joachim Friedrich, Ernst Fraenkel or Karl Loewenstein, Richard Löwenthal may be lesser known in English-speaking scholarship, but he makes for a particularly instructive case when discussing ‘cold war liberalism’ in West Germany. With its focus on the spatialization of political thought, and ‘the West’ as a spatial imaginary, this article also seeks to contribute to the growing discussion of how to ‘spatialize’ intellectual history.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Das Trauma von '1968': liberale Hochschullehrer in Westdeutschland und Frankreich

Der Beitrag behandelt die Reaktion liberaler Hochschullehrer auf die Studentenrevolte von 1968. Für Hochschullehrer wie Ernst Fraenkel und Richard Löwenthal war 1968 eine traumatische Erfahrung von erheblicher emotionaler Intensität, die sie nicht bewältigen konnten und die ihr Selbstverständnis dauerhaft erschütterte. Sie sahen ihre Mission einer konsens-liberalen Demokratisierung Westdeutschlands ernsthaft gefährdet. Der 'Schatten von Weimar' zog über der Bundesrepublik auf. Für sie war '1968' das letzte Kapitel in der anti-westlichen deutschen Sonderentwicklung. Auf der anderen Seite des Rheins, wo 1968 die Barrikadenkämpfe tobten, versuchte Raymond Aron mit den schockierenden Ereignissen klar zu kommen, indem es sie als Re-Inszenierung der Februarrevolution von 1848 interpretierte. Auch diese nationalgeschichtliche Narrativierung konnte jedoch den traumatischen Effekt von '1968' kaum mildern. (ICEÜbers)'This contribution sheds light on the reaction of liberal university teachers to the students' revolt of '1968'. For university professors such as Ernst Fraenkel and Richard Löwenthal '1968' was a traumatic experience: an experience of extreme emotional intensity which overtaxed their possibilities to cope with it and lastingly shook the way in which they understood themselves. By '1968' they saw their mission of a consensus-liberal democratization of West Germany seriously endangered. Again, the 'shadows of Weimar' seemed to threaten the Federal Republic. For them, '1968' was the most recent chapter of the apparent medical history of an anti-Western German special path. Beyond the Rhine, where in 1968 the fights on the barricades were raging, Raymond Aron tried to cope with the shocking 'events' by interpreting them as a theatrical re-staging of the February Revolution of 1848. However, also this way of national-historic narrativization was hardly able to alleviate the traumatic effect of '1968'.' (author's abstract)

Life, history, and political modernism

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A guide to spatial history : areas, aspects, and avenues of research

This guide provides an overview of the thematic areas, analytical aspects, and avenues of research which, together, form a broader conversation around doing spatial history. Spatial history is not a field with clearly delineated boundaries. For the most part, it lacks a distinct, unambiguous scholarly identity. It can only be thought of in relation to other, typically more established fields. Indeed, one of the most valuable utilities of spatial history is its capacity to facilitate conversations across those fields. Consequently, it must be discussed in relation to a variety of historiographical contexts. Each of these have their own intellectual genealogies, institutional settings, and conceptual path dependencies. With this in mind, this guide surveys the following areas: territoriality, infrastructure, and borders; nature, environment, and landscape; city and home; social space and political protest; spaces of knowledge; spatial imaginaries; cartographic representations; and historical GIS research.Publisher PD