Overview

This is a study of the growth of the right wing in a reunited Germany. Since the end of the Cold War, an explosion of xenophobia and attacks on foreigners - some of them asylum-seekers - has attracted world-wide media attention. Coming after the seemingly miraculous celebration of freedom accompanying the fall of the Berlin Wall and the country's reunification, these events have caused acute anxiety within Germany itself. These phenomena are not exclusive to Germany, but their undertones of Nazism have prompted the question: how could this happen in a country that had so firmly repudiated its past and rightly prided itself on its anti-fascism and liberal democracy? The author sets this development in its historical context, showing the long-established continuity of right-wing influence and power in German conservative politics, and he explores the effects of the end of the Cold War on German society and politics. He also examines the growth of xenophobia and right-wing attitudes in the former GDR since the implosion of Communism. Germany's current position as a regional super-power and its contribution to European economic progress, make this text a significant and topical contribution.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jan Herman Brinks ,  David Binder
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   I.B. Tauris
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.472kg
ISBN:  

9781860644580

ISBN 10:   1860644589
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   30 November 1999
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Part 1 Background: German partition - a failed judgement of Solomon and the myth of class; the two-tier society - a new partition; xenophobia and right-wing radical tendencies among young people in East Germany; national-revolutionary sentiments in the former GDR?. Part 2 History and political culture of the GDR - right-wing authoritarian views in a nutshell: imposition of party line and militarization of East Germany; the language of the Third Reich and anti-semitism in the GDR; Our Goethe, your Mengele , or legitimizing anti-fascism; the Ravensbruecker Ballade and antifascism ; the GDR and the legacy of German political Lutheranism; the GDR and the legacy of Prussian political ideals. Part 3 The right wing of the united Germany: an anti- anti-fascist iconoclastic fury?; the historikerstreit -a pre-figuration of the swing to the right; the new right; the republikaner; anti-semitism; the debate on asylum-seekers and the influence of the new right; Poland, the new right, German conservatives and ordinary Germans ; Weimar revisited?.

Reviews

&#8220;Brink's work is a pleasurable mosaic that features many faces of an essentially baffling phenomenon. It is written in a very entertaining style and its analysis contains key knowledge and insight.&#8221; &#8212; International Affairs <br>&#8220;...a nuanced understanding of the essential elements of right-wing politics in Germany after 1989. Brink's accessible style makes it especially useful for the classroom and for the general reader.&#8221; &#8212; German Politics and Society <br>

0;Brink's work is a pleasurable mosaic that features many faces of an essentially baffling phenomenon. It is written in a very entertaining style and its analysis contains key knowledge and insight.1; 2; International Affairs <br>0;...a nuanced understanding of the essential elements of right-wing politics in Germany after 1989. Brink's accessible style makes it especially useful for the classroom and for the general reader.1; 2; German Politics and Society <br>

Brink's work is a pleasurable mosaic that features many faces of an essentially baffling phenomenon. It is written in a very entertaining style and its analysis contains key knowledge and insight. -- International Affairs .. .a nuanced understanding of the essential elements of right-wing politics in Germany after 1989. Brink's accessible style makes it especially useful for the classroom and for the general reader. -- German Politics and Society

Author Information

Jan Brinks Herman is a freelance writer living in Germany.

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