Wiedergutmachung and its discontents

Abstract

This paper presents and analyses critiques of the post-war West German discourse of Wiedergutmachung from an intellectual history perspective. Focused closely on suggestive remarks of Theodor Adorno and Hannah Arendt, these critiques are mostly concerned with the insufficient care in intentionality, psychological inadequacies and improper self-serving or nature of the process as it emerged in Cold War West Germany. This essay then charts whether any elements of these critiques from the 1960s are echoed in the most recent wave of scholarly literature on reparations. Current critiques view Wiedergutmachung as a foundation for a "communicative history" that forges shared narratives between perpetrator and victim or as the starting point for a culture of victim competition. Contemporary discourse and historiography remain incomplete with the historical acknowledgment of these early intellectual critiques of the process of reparation. The primary elements taken from these earlier critiques include the importance of intentionality, intersubjective care and reconciliation through memory, especially in cultural discourses and institutions.

Ovaj rad je analiza kritike u Zapadnoj Nemačkoj diskursa "Wiedergutmachung" iz perspektive istorije ideja. Oslanjajući se na radove Teodora Adorna i Hane Arent, kritika u radu je upućena na nedovoljnu pažnju u intencionalnosti, psihološke neadekvatnosti i neprikladan egocentrični karakter ovog procesa u Hladnom ratu u Zapadnoj Nemačkoj. Kritike iz 60-ih godina prošlog veka su postale ponovo aktuelne u sadašnjem pogledu na kompenzaciju koja se bavi zajedničkim narativom žrtve i dželata. Savremena nauka i istorigrafija ostaje nepotpuna ako se uzmu u obzir ove rane kritike procesa kompenzacije. Najvažniji elementi kritike koji su iskorišćeni u ovom radu se odnose na važnost namernog, subjektivnog odnosa prema procesu pomirenja preko sećanja.