January 20, 2021
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Simon Specht, « Die ‚Volksgemeinschaft‘ nach dem Nationalsozialismus », Revue d’Allemagne et des pays de langue allemande, ID : 10.4000/allemagne.2467
The fact that the National Socialist concept of ‘Volksgemeinschaft’ was still in use after 1945 has been ignored by most existing research. Utilizing Reinhart Koselleck’s conceptual history approach and Michael Freeden’s understanding of ideologies, this contribution investigates the question by whom, how and to what ends ‘Volksgemeinschaft’ and the associated concepts ‘Volksgenosse/n’ and ‘Volkskörper’ were used in the stenographic transcripts of the plenary debates of the first Bundestag (1949-53). The findings indicate a widespread use by all parliamentary groups, for the most part without accompanying comments or criticism, which partly drew on the National Socialist understanding of the term and partly on alternative conceptions. The results are related to the prior research on the ‘Volksgemeinschaft’ and possible narratives of the history of the Federal Republic of Germany.