테오도어 쉬이더를 통해서 본 독일 역사학의 과거사 극복

초록

The paper deals with coming to terms with the Nazi past in the communityof German historians after the defeat of the Second World War. Thestudy focuses on Theodor Schieder (1908–1984), one of the most influentialGerman historians of the 20th century. The fact was revealed (duringthe annual congress of German historians) that Schieder pursuedVolksgeschichte and collaborated with the regime during the Nazi era. There is a controversy between the two fractions: one side poignantlycriticizes him from a moral point of view; the other side defends himbased on his achievements after 1945. The author agrees with the main argument that Schieder was the authorof the “Memorandum of 7 October 1939”. He devoted himself to makingsuggestions for the expulsion of millions of Jews, Poles, Russians andother nationalities from Eastern Europe in order to create room for Germansettlers. For the author, however, moral judgment alone is insufficientto come to terms with the burdensome past. In order to deal with thelife of a historian, we should place his works and deeds in the historicalcontext in which he lived. He evidently failed to confess to the public his collaboration with theNazi regime. Nevertheless, it should be appreciated that he tried to reflecton his own burdensome past throughout his life and to critically interpretGerman history.

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