Totalitarianism, Genocide and Historiography

A central theme in Anson Rabinbach`s works is the connection between the history of terminology and historical interpretation in the 20th century. As a highly specialised expert in European political cultural and intellectual history, he uncovers the historical phenomena and intellectual thinking patterns that often lie behind terms such as totalitarianism, genocide and antifascism. At the same time, he points out their ambivalent function, which still retains its effect today - as the vocabulary of political battle, the terms conceptualise not only central historical events, but also shape the historical interpretation of the past century in the present. One of Rabin`s theories states that, prior to the millennium, it was not possible to set the ambivalent history of these terms - and the century itself - into its historical context in a satisfactory way.

In a detailed discussion, the American historian assesses the importance attached to the history of ideas on both sides of the Atlantic. With the help of his own academic biography, he depicts the development of intellectual history in the United States, which is diverse and often conflict-ridden, always influencing more than the academic world alone. He goes on to discuss the reasons for the completely different course taken by the development of German intellectual historiography since 1945.