Ethics after the Holocaust

Moral Argumentation in Debates about the History of National Socialism

(Stand Mai 2004)

Das Projekt fragt nach den Legitimationsgrundlagen des Nationalsozialismus in kollektiv geteilten Moralvorstellungen und untersucht das Fortwirken und die Veränderung dieser Moralvorstellungen nach der Zerschlagung des NS. Zwei Bereiche werden miteinander verbunden: Zum einen werden historische Entstehung, Wirkungsweise und Fortwirken der NS-Moral beschrieben. Zum anderen werden vergangenheitspolitische Kontroversen, die in Deutschland bereits vor der Entstehung der Bundesrepublik und der DDR geführt wurden und werden, auf ihre expliziten und impliziten moralischen Stellungnahmen hin betrachtet. Beide Perspektiven werden durch eine dritte, philosophische Perspektive vermittelt, in der die ethischen Fragen, die in den vergangenheitspolitischen Debatten eine Rolle spielen, aus der Perspektive der ersten Person analysiert werden.

Ausgangspunkt der Untersuchung der vergangenheitspolitischen Kontroversen sind die Diskussionen der aktuellen Gegenwart, die sich dadurch auszeichnen, daß die Vergangenheitspolitik als solche inzwischen theoretisch reflektiert wird, so daß für die Erörterung der moralischen Stellungnahmen eine Analyse der methodischen, d.h. kulturwissenschaftlichen, politikwissenschaftlichen und psychologischen Topoi, die in diesen Debatten gebräuchlich sind, unausweichlich wird. Die Ergebnisse werden in einer eigenen, kleineren Monographie veröffentlicht.

Aus der Auswertung der Gegenwartsdiskussionen ergeben sich die Leitmotive (Kollektivschuld, verschiedene Formen der Rechtfertigung, Forderungen der Historisierung, Vorwurf der Ritualisierung des Gedenkens, Schuld und Nationalismus) für die Darstellung und philosophische Analyse der Debatten in der weiter zurückliegenden Geschichte der Bundesrepublik. Hier wird der Focus auf die Umbruchsphase in der Zeit der Nürnberger Prozesse eingeengt.

Die kritische Reflexion der gegenwärtigen Diskussionen wird im Projekt durch Analysen von Ethik und Moral im NS konterkariert. Mit dem Stichwort "Moral im NS" ist eine Frage aufgeworfen, auf die letztlich nur umfangreichere historische Untersuchungen ein Antwort gegen können. Diese bringen aber immer auch die Frage nach den Grundzügen nationalsozialistischer ethischer Vorstellungen mit sich. Hierzu wurden Texte Hitlers und Himmlers, aber auch Schulungshefte für die Hitler-Jugend und andere Texte zur Ethik, die in Deutschland in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus verfaßt worden sind, herangezogen.

Fünf verschiedene Aspekte sind dabei zu erkennen: erstens die wiederkehrende Nennung eines Kataloges, der mit geringfügigen Änderungen immer dieselben Tugenden enthält: Ehre, Treue, Gehorsam, Kameradschaft usw.; zweitens die Bedeutung der Opferrhetorik, die sowohl in vielen Schriften der NS-Ideologie als auch in öffentlichen Ritualen deutlich heraustritt – sie wird weniger als Wiederkehr archaischer Rituale, sondern vielmehr als eine bestimmte Form der Erzeugung von Gefühlen moralischer Verpflichtung verstanden werden, drittens die Rolle, die die Herausbildung einer Wertethik gespielt hat und die Bedeutung der "Rassisierung" der Werte, und viertens die Funktion, die der Antisemitismus bei der moralischen Wertbildung einnahm.

Die philosophische Analyse – sowohl der NS-Texte als auch der Nachkriegstexte – ist auf die Fundierung durch Überlegungen philosophischer Ethik angewiesen.

Weil es sich bei den ethischen Vorstellungen, die in den NS-Texten explizit oder implizit zum Ausdruck kommen, nicht um eine geschlossene und systematische Ethik handelt, reicht es nicht aus, sie von einem geschlossenen ethischen System aus zu analysieren. Vielmehr müssen die Instrumente der Debatte jeweils themenspezifisch entwickelt werden. Dabei erweist es sich als ein Vorteil, daß durch die gegenwärtige Entwicklung der philosophischen Ethik viele Aspekte thematisiert werden, die auch in den NS-Ethiken eine Rolle spielten – so ermöglicht etwa die Renaissance von Tugend- und Wertethiken im Kontext neuerer liberalistischer Konzepte (beispielsweise bei Joseph Raz) eine differenziertere Auseinandersetzung, als sie von Pflichtethiken her möglich wäre. Das ermöglicht eine Diskussion nicht nur über die Gesamtanlage der ethischen Vorstellungen im NS – die Betonung der tugendethischen Orientierung und die geringe Rolle des Pflichtbegriffs, der Ausgang von einer Konzeption des Guten statt des Rechten, die aggressive Betonung des Partikularen gegenüber dem Universellen – sondern eine Analyse der Besonderheit der besonderen Auswahl und Konzipierung derjenigen Tugenden, die für die NS-Ideologie bedeutsam waren.

(Last modified May 2004)

This project explores the collective moral ideas upon which the legitimization of the National Socialist regime was based and investigates the continued effects and transformation of these moral ideas after the end of the Nazi regime.

The study begins with two segments. In one, the historical development, inner workings, and continued influence of Nazi morals are described. In the other, debates in Germany about the country’s past–which began before the establishment of the West German Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic in the East–will be examined to determine the implicit and explicit moral positions adopted in these controversies. A further step will involve consideration of these two elements from a philosophical perspective, with the aim of analyzing the ethical issues that play a role in political debates about the past.

Current controversies in Germany form the point of departure for the analysis of debates about the past conducted in the study. In these controversies, what is often termed Vergangenheitspolitik or the point of the past has itself become an object of theoretical reflection. Therefore, any consideration of the moral positions in these debates must first begin with an analysis of the methodological topoi–that is, the topoi of cultural studies, political science, and psychology–employed in these debates. The results of this segment of the project will be published in a separate short monograph.

Evaluation of the current debate will reveal leitmotifs (collective guilt; various forms of justification; the call for historization; the charge of ritualization of remembrance; guilt and nationalism) that will then be applied to the task of retracing and analyzing, from the perspective of philosophy, earlier debates on these issues in West Germany. The transitional phase of the Nuremberg Trials will be the main focus in this segment of research.

Moreover, critical reflection on current discussions will be juxtaposed with analyses of ethics and morals under National Socialism. Ultimately, the issues raised within the context of an investigation of moral systems in National Socialism will only be resolved by comprehensive historical studies. However, historical research must also consider the basic elements of National Socialist ethical concepts. To this end, texts written by Hitler and Himmler, educational material from the Hitler Youth, and other texts on ethics written in Germany during the Nazi period have been studied.

Evaluation reveals five elements that typically characterize these documents: first, the recurring reference to a catalogue of the same or similar virtues, including honor, loyalty, obedience, comradeship; second, the significance of a rhetoric of victimhood as a conspicuous feature of numerous texts outlining Nazi ideology and of public rituals (in the latter case, the victim rhetoric represents not so much a rebirth of archaic rituals as a specific mode of producing feelings of moral obligation); third, the role of an ethics of values and of the "racialization" of values; and fourth, the function of anti-Semitism in shaping moral values.

The philosophical analysis of both Nazi texts and post-war sources must be grounded in philosophical ethics.

Since the ethical ideas expressed–implicitly or explicitly–in the Nazi texts do not represent a closed system of ethics, an analysis of these ideas from the standpoint of a closed system of ethics would be inadequate. Instead, for each of the relevant topics considered, appropriate analytical instruments must be developed. The fact that philosophical ethics has recently focused on a number of topics that also played a role in Nazi ethics is beneficial for this undertaking. Thus, the renaissance of virtue ethics within the context of recent liberalistic concepts (in the work of Joseph Raz, for example) has brought with it the potential for a more differentiated consideration of such ethical notions than an analysis from the standpoint of duty-based ethics.

This shift in philosophical focus creates opportunities for a more comprehensive consideration of the entire construction of Nazi ethical ideas, including the emphasis on virtue ethics and the minor role of the notion of duty; a conception of what is "good" rather than what is "just" as a starting point for ethical thought; the aggressive insistence on the particular rather than the universal. Moreover, this reorientation will facilitate an analysis of the specific nature of the virtues selected and conceptualized as key elements of Nazi ideology

(Last modified May 2004)

This project explores the collective moral ideas upon which the legitimization of the National Socialist regime was based and investigates the continued effects and transformation of these moral ideas after the end of the Nazi regime.

The study begins with two segments. In one, the historical development, inner workings, and continued influence of Nazi morals are described. In the other, debates in Germany about the country’s past–which began before the establishment of the West German Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic in the East–will be examined to determine the implicit and explicit moral positions adopted in these controversies. A further step will involve consideration of these two elements from a philosophical perspective, with the aim of analyzing the ethical issues that play a role in political debates about the past.

Current controversies in Germany form the point of departure for the analysis of debates about the past conducted in the study. In these controversies, what is often termed Vergangenheitspolitik or the point of the past has itself become an object of theoretical reflection. Therefore, any consideration of the moral positions in these debates must first begin with an analysis of the methodological topoi–that is, the topoi of cultural studies, political science, and psychology–employed in these debates. The results of this segment of the project will be published in a separate short monograph.

Evaluation of the current debate will reveal leitmotifs (collective guilt; various forms of justification; the call for historization; the charge of ritualization of remembrance; guilt and nationalism) that will then be applied to the task of retracing and analyzing, from the perspective of philosophy, earlier debates on these issues in West Germany. The transitional phase of the Nuremberg Trials will be the main focus in this segment of research.

Moreover, critical reflection on current discussions will be juxtaposed with analyses of ethics and morals under National Socialism. Ultimately, the issues raised within the context of an investigation of moral systems in National Socialism will only be resolved by comprehensive historical studies. However, historical research must also consider the basic elements of National Socialist ethical concepts. To this end, texts written by Hitler and Himmler, educational material from the Hitler Youth, and other texts on ethics written in Germany during the Nazi period have been studied.

Evaluation reveals five elements that typically characterize these documents: first, the recurring reference to a catalogue of the same or similar virtues, including honor, loyalty, obedience, comradeship; second, the significance of a rhetoric of victimhood as a conspicuous feature of numerous texts outlining Nazi ideology and of public rituals (in the latter case, the victim rhetoric represents not so much a rebirth of archaic rituals as a specific mode of producing feelings of moral obligation); third, the role of an ethics of values and of the "racialization" of values; and fourth, the function of anti-Semitism in shaping moral values.

The philosophical analysis of both Nazi texts and post-war sources must be grounded in philosophical ethics.

Since the ethical ideas expressed–implicitly or explicitly–in the Nazi texts do not represent a closed system of ethics, an analysis of these ideas from the standpoint of a closed system of ethics would be inadequate. Instead, for each of the relevant topics considered, appropriate analytical instruments must be developed. The fact that philosophical ethics has recently focused on a number of topics that also played a role in Nazi ethics is beneficial for this undertaking. Thus, the renaissance of virtue ethics within the context of recent liberalistic concepts (in the work of Joseph Raz, for example) has brought with it the potential for a more differentiated consideration of such ethical notions than an analysis from the standpoint of duty-based ethics.

This shift in philosophical focus creates opportunities for a more comprehensive consideration of the entire construction of Nazi ethical ideas, including the emphasis on virtue ethics and the minor role of the notion of duty; a conception of what is "good" rather than what is "just" as a starting point for ethical thought; the aggressive insistence on the particular rather than the universal. Moreover, this reorientation will facilitate an analysis of the specific nature of the virtues selected and conceptualized as key elements of Nazi ideology