070060 PS BA-Proseminar - Silence and Remembrance: The Heritage of National Socialism after 1945 (2023S)

The Second World War and National Socialism affected everyone, but the consequences were very different and largely depended on which group each individual belonged to. After 1945, perpetrators, victims and followers tried to redefine their position in society. The “victim thesis” related to individual social groups as well as the state of Austria was often claimed in a paradoxical way and sometimes played off against other groups. The SE examines the change in rival historical images and the associated memory-political and cultural practices in the post-war decades. It looks at individual events such as the “Borodajkewycz Affair”, the “Kreisky-Peter-Wiesenthal Affair” or the year of commemoration in 1988 and the “Waldheim case”. The aim is to ask what factors contributed to the fact that Austrian society was late in becoming involved in the Nazi reign of terror in comparison to the Federal Republic of Germany. Last but not least, the change in signs of remembrance culture (memorial plaques, academic honors, street names, etc.) will be analyzed and related to the PS topic.