What question did this study set out to answer?

To explore the debates surrounding Holocaust and colonial memory in Germany and evaluate the concept of negative exceptionalism.

February 28, 2026

The Perils of Negative Exceptionalism: German Memory Culture from Model to McCarthyism

Puntos clave

To explore the debates surrounding Holocaust and colonial memory in Germany and evaluate the concept of negative exceptionalism.
Analyzed debates and responses to the Holocaust and colonialism in Germany.
Reviewed the impact of the 2019 Bundestag resolution against BDS.
Discussed previous issues of New German Critique concerning Germans and Jews.
Identified significant blind spots in German memory culture regarding contemporary conflicts.
Critiqued the effectiveness of negative exceptionalism in addressing Nazi past.
Highlighted increases in repressions against voices like Achille Mbembe post-2019.

Resumen

This thematic introduction to the special issue “German Memory Politics at a Crossroads” provides an intellectual-historical backdrop by reconstructing debates surrounding memory of the Holocaust and colonialism in Germany that have come to be known as the “Historikerstreit 2.0” and “The Catechism Debate.” These followed the 2019 Bundestag resolution against BDS, which set off a wave of cancellations and repressions in the name of combating antisemitism—the first major target of which was Achille Mbembe—which have intensified greatly since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and Israel’s ensuing retaliation in Gaza. It also discusses past special issues of New German Critique on Germans and Jews organized by its longtime editor Anson Rabinbach. In light of blind spots in German responses to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the article casts doubt on the efficacy of German “negative exceptionalism” regarding memory of the Nazi past.

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