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

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.