Auf der Suche nach der verlorenen Nation

Geschichtsschreibung in Westdeutschland und Japan, 1945–1960

By (author) Sebastian Conrad

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Extent: 485 pages

Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht

Subjects: Twentieth- & Twenty-First- Century History

Series: Kritische Studien Zur Geschichtswissenschaft

Language: German

Paperback (Out of print)

(October 1999)

ISBN: 9783525357989

6.1 x 9.13 inches

Price: $14.00

On back order

How did West German and Japanese historians deal with the recent history of their respective countries after the war? The entire national history seemed in need of a complete reinterpretation. Sebastian Conrad compares the way the historical debates occurred in Germany and Japan after 1945 and divides his treatment into three main areas: the significant contribution historiography made to the (re)construction of a national identity in its interpretations of the country’s past; the major role it played in the respective process of coming to terms in the 1950s with past offences; and finally, the important role of history in historiography. This clears the path for a detailed look at the central role of the country in historiographical discourse. How can one now justify the unity of the nation and save the continuity of national history? How does one deal with a recent history whose criminal character threatens to question the nation’s entire past? The author shows both the many differences and the surprising similarities between the development of the science of history in Japan and Germany after World War II.

Sebastian Conrad ist Professor für Neuere Geschichte an der Freien Universität Berlin.

  • By (author) Sebastian Conrad