Holocaust Singularity and German National Identity

Saturday, June 11 2022 at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin With Omri Boehm To understand the current controversies about the Holocaust’s singularity, it is necessary to understand the original debate from the 1980ies. Contrary to common opinion, the Historikerstreit did not revolve on the question of the Holocaust’s singularity; it revolved on the question of German national identity. Understanding Auschwitz as a singular crime was deemed necessary by Habermas et al. to oppose the rehabilitation of German national consciousness as the origin of political norms – and replace it by constitutional patriotism. Considering the Bundestag’s BDS Beschluss, the government’s relation to the International Criminal Court and the response to Amnesty International in the aftermath of the apartheid report, Boehm argues that the singularity thesis has been hijacked to defend what originally it was supposed to oppose: it rehabilitates German National consciousness at the expense of constitutional patriotism.