Gaza, Ukraine, and the Lessons of the Nazi Past
Abstract
This essay discusses Germany’s changing sense of the lessons of the Nazi past and its implications for foreign policy. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Germany suddenly abandoned the commitment to the idea of peace, which, during the previous twenty years, had become increasingly central to its national identity. After October 2023 Germany also doubled down on its unconditional support for Israel, which has become the main expression in German foreign policy of the idea of Nie wieder Auschwitz, or “Never again Auschwitz.” Together these developments complicate our understanding of the outcome of the Historikerstreit in the mid-1980s. In relation to Israel, the idea of singularity is enforced aggressively. But in relation to Russia, the exonerating relativization of Nazism has become quite normal again.
Fields of Study & Subjects
German legal
social
and political studies
Religion
Theology
History
Judaism
Christianity
German History and Society
Publication details
- Journal / source
- New German Critique
- Publisher
- Duke University Press
- Volume
- 53
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 75–91
- Publication date
- 1 February 2026
- Language
- EN