Either-Or: The Narrative of “Crisis” in Weimar Germany and in Historiography

摘要

THE notion of “crisis” plays an important role in both the history of thenWeimar Republic and the historiography on this period of Germannhistory. Modifying Max Horkheimer’s famous dictum on the intrinsicnconnection between capitalism and fascism, one might even say that anyonenwho does not want to talk about “crisis” should remain silent about WeimarnGermany. In the brief period between 1918 and 1933 Germany not only hadnto cope with the consequences of World War I and the Versailles Treaty, butnalso it was struck by two severe economic crises. Moreover, strong politicalnforces relentlessly tried to overcome the unpopular democratic political system.nAfter the National Socialists finally succeeded in overthrowing the republic,nWeimar came to be conceptualized as the ill-born precursor of NationalnSocialism, as the critical stage of German history before the establishment of anrule of terror that intentionally led into the most devastating war in humannhistory. This perspective on the failure of Germany’s first democracy stemsnlargely from the dominance of National Socialism as a negative point of referencenin historical as well as public debates in the Federal Republic.