Cover not available
Article published In:
Critical Linguistic Perspectives on Coping with Traumatic Pasts: Case studies
Edited by Christine Anthonissen and Jan Blommaert †
[Journal of Language and Politics 5:1] 2006
► pp. 125–154

History in the making/The making of history

The ‘German Wehrmacht’ in collective and individual memories in Austria

| University of Lancaster

This paper considers narratives about traumatic pasts, using interviews with visitors of the two exhibitions about the war crimes of the German Wehrmacht, shown in Germany and Austria 1995 and 2002, as examples. Numerous justification and legitimization strategies are involved in public and private discourses. The study claims that official genres, such as school books or TV documentaries, still launch narratives which exculpate the German Wehrmacht as institution, although the evidence provided by historians and the exhibitions is overwhelming. The topoi used (such as ‘doing one’s duty’; ‘all wars are the same’; and so forth) are to be found in similar debates in other countries as well. Hence, this case study illustrates patterns of argumentation which occur much more generally than only in the specific national contexts studied in detail here.

Keywords: Recontexualization, discourse strategy, legitimization strategies, discourse of justification, discourse-historical approach, triangulation, topoi, context, German Wehrmacht , victim-discourse, war-crime, exhibition, interview
Published online: 14 April 2006
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.5.1.08wod
References
Beckerman, R
1998 Jenseits des Krieges: ehemalige Wehrmachtssoldaten erinnern sich. Vienna: Löcker.Google Scholar
Benke, G. and Wodak, R
2001 Fulfilling one's duty? Memorizing what has not been. In: E. Lappin and B. B (eds). Die Lebendigkeit der Geschichte. (Dis-)Kontinuitäten in Diskursen über den Nationalsozialismus. St. Ingbert: Röhrig Universitätsverlag, 257—295.Google Scholar
2003a The discursive construction of individual memories: how Austrian 'German Wehrmacht' soldiers remember WW II. In: R. Wodak and J. R. Martin (eds). Re-reading the Past. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 115—138.Google Scholar
2003b Remembering and forgetting: The discursive construction of generational memories. In: M. Dedaic and D. N. Nelson (eds). At War with Words. Berlin-New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 215—243. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Billig, M., Condor, S., Edwards, D., Gane, M., Middleton, D., and Radley, A
1988 Ideological Dilemmas. A Social Psychology of Everyday Thinking. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Binder, G
1966 Epoche der Entscheidungen. Deutsche Geschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts mit Dokumenten in Text und Bild. Stuttgart: Seewald.Google Scholar
Botz, G. and Sprengnagel, G
(eds) 1994 Kontroversen um Österreichs Zeitgeschichte. Verdrängte Vergangenheit, Österreich-Identität, Waldheim und die Historiker. Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P
1987 Sozialer Sinn. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Brainin, E., Ligeti, V., and Teicher, S
1993 Vom Gedanken zur Tat. Zur Psychoanalyse des Antisemitismus. Frankfurt am Main: Brandes und Apsel.Google Scholar
Cicourel, A
1992 The Interpretation of communicative contexts: examples from medical encounters. In: A. Duranti and C. C (eds). Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 291—310.Google Scholar
Ensink,T. and Sauer, Ch
(eds) 2003 The Art of Commemoration. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Erdheim, M
1992 Die gesellschaftliche Produktion von Unbewußtheit : eine Einführung in den ethnopsychoanalytischen Prozeß. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Fairclough, N
1995 Critical Discourse Analysis: the Critical Study of Language. London, New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Geertz, C
1987 Dichte Beschreibung. Beiträge zum Verstehen kultureller Systeme. Frankfurt am Main.: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Gruber, H
1991 Antisemitismus im Mediendiskurs. Die Affäre 'Waldheim' in der Tagespresse. Wiesbaden: DUV. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Halbwachs, M
1967 Das kollektive Gedächtnis. Stuttgart: Enke.Google Scholar
Heer, H
1999 Tote Zonen. Die deutsche Wehrmacht an der Ostfront. Hamburg: Hamburger Edition HIS.Google Scholar
2003 Das Haupt der Medusa. In: H. Heer, W. Manoschek, A. Pollak and R. R (eds). Wie Geschichte gemacht wird. Zur Konstruktion von Erinnerungen an Wehrmacht und Zweiten Weltkrieg. Vienna: Czernin Verlag, 245—268.Google Scholar
Heer, H, Manoschek, W., Pollak, A. and Wodak, R
(eds) 2003 Wie Geschichte gemacht wird. Zur Konstruktion von Erinnerungen an Wehrmacht und Zweiten Weltkrieg. Vienna: Czernin Verlag.Google Scholar
Iedema, R
1997 Interactional Dynamics and Social Change: Planning as Morphogenesis. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Sydney, Australia.
Jaspers, K
1946/1979 Die Schuldfrage. Für Völkermord gibt es keine Verjährung. München: Piper.Google Scholar
Keppler, A
1994 Tischgespräche. Über Formen kommunikativer Vergemeinschaftung am Beispiel der Konversation in Familien. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
2001 Soziale Formen individuellen Erinnerns. Die kommunikative Tradierung von Familien-Geschichte. In: H. Welzer (ed.). Das soziale Gedächtnis. Geschichte, Erinnerung, Tradierung. Hamburg: Hamburger Edition HIS, 138—159.Google Scholar
Kienpointer, M
1992 Alltagslogik. Struktur und Funktion von Argumentationsmustern. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog.Google Scholar
Kienpointner, M
1996 Vernünftig argumentieren. Regeln und Techniken der Diskussion. Hamburg: Rowohlt.Google Scholar
Kintsch, W. and van Dijk, T. A
1983 Strategies of Discourse Comprehension. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Kosselleck, R
1997 Vergangene Zukunft. Zur Semantik geschichtlicher Zeiten. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Kovács, A. and Wodak, R
(eds) 2003 Nato, Neutrality and National Identity. Vienna: Böhlau.Google Scholar
Linde, C
1993 Life Stories. The Creation of Coherence. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Manoschek, W
1993 'Serbien ist judenfrei': militärische Besatzungspolitik und Judenvernichtung in Serbien 1941—42. München: Oldenbourg. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2003 Quantitative und qualitative Auswertung der Fragebogenuntersuchung 'Österreicher im zweiten Weltkrieg'. In: H. Heer et al.. (eds). Wie Geschichte gemacht wird. Zur Konstruktion von Erinnerungen an Wehrmacht und Zweiten Weltkrieg. Vienna: Czernin Verlag, 59—80.Google Scholar
Martin, J. R. and Wodak, R
(eds) 2003 Re-reading the Past. Critical and Functional Perspectives on Time and Value. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mitten, R. H
1992 The Politics of Antisemitic Prejudice. The Waldheim Phenomenon in Austria. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.Google Scholar
2000 Guilt and Responsibility in Germany and Austria. Paper presented at the 'Dilemmas of East Central Europe: Nationalism, Totalitarianism, and the Search for Identity.' A Symposium Honoring István Déak, Columbia University, March 24—25, 2000.
Naumann, K
1998 Der Krieg als Text. Das Jahr 1945 im kulturellen Gedächtnis der Presse. Hamburg: Hamburger Edition HIS.Google Scholar
Neidhardt, I. and Bischof, W.
(eds 2000 Wir sind die Guten. Antisemitismus in der radikalen Linken. Münster: Unrast.Google Scholar
Pollak, A
2002 Die Wehrmachtslegende in Österreich. Das Bild der Wehrmacht im Spiegel der österreichischen Presse nach 1945. Vienna: Böhlau.Google Scholar
Pollak, A. and Wodak, R
2003 Tatort 'Wehrmachtsausstellung'. In: H. Heer et al.. (eds), Wie Geschichte gemacht wird. Zur Konstruktion von erinnerungen an Wehrmacht und Zweiten Weltkrieg. Vienna: Czernin Verlag, 225—244.Google Scholar
Reisigl, M
2004 Wie Man eine Nation herbeiredet. Eine diskursanalytische Untersuchung zur sprachlichen Konstruktion der österreichischen Nation und österreichischen Identität in politischen Fest- und Gedenkreden. Unpublished Dissertation. University of Vienna.
Reisigl, M., and Wodak, R
2001 Discourse and Discrimination. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, G.
(ed 1997 Der Holocaust im Leben von drei Generationen. Familien von Überlebenden der Shoah und von Nazi-Tätern. Giessen: Psychosozial Verlag.Google Scholar
Schneider, C., Stillke, C., Leineweber, B
(eds) 1996 Das Erbe der Napola, Hamburg: Hamburger Edition HIS.Google Scholar
Siegler, H
1959 Österreichs Weg zur Souveränität, Neutralität, Prosperität.1945—1959. Bonn: Verlag für Zeitarchive.Google Scholar
Stern, F
1991 Im Anfang war Auschwitz. Antisemitismus und Philosemitismus im deutschen Nachkrieg. Gerlingen: Bleicher Verlag.Google Scholar
Thiesmeyer, L.
(ed 2004 Discourse and Silencing. Representation and the Language of Displacement. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Uhl, H
2003 Lesarten des 'Vernichtungskrieges'. In: H. Heer et al.. (eds). Wie Geschichte gemacht wird. Zur Konstruktion von erinnerungen an Wehrmacht und Zweiten Weltkrieg. Vienna: Czernin Verlag, 269—284.Google Scholar
Van Dijk, T. A
1984 Prejudice in Discourse. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Leeuwen, T
1995 Representing social action. Discourse & Society 6(1,) 81—106. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Leeuwen, T. and Wodak, R
1999 Legitimizing Immigration Control: A discourse-historical Analysis. Discourse Studies1(1).Google Scholar
Weiss, G. and Wodak, R
2003 Theory and Interdisciplinarity in Critical Discourse Analysis. An Introduction. In: G. Weiss and R. R (eds). Theory and Interdisciplinarity in Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Palgrave/MacMillan, 1—34.Google Scholar
Welzer, H
2001 Kumulative Heroisierung. Mittelweg 36(2,) 57—73.Google Scholar
Wodak, R
2000 Does Sociolinguistics need Social Theory? New Perspectives in Critical Discourse Analysis. Keynote Address. Paper presented at the Sociolinguistic Symposium 11, Bristol, 27—29. April 2000.Google Scholar
2004 Discourse of Silence: Anti-Semitic discourse in post-war Austria. In: L. Thiesmeyer (ed.). Discourse and Silencing. Representation and the Language of Displacement. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 179—210.Google Scholar
Wodak, R., Novak, P., Pelikan, J., Gruber, H., De Cillia, R., and Mitten, R
1990 "Wir sind alle unschuldige Täter". Diskurshistorische Studie zum Nachkriegsantisemitismus. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Wodak, R., Menz, F., Mitten, R., and Stern, F
1994 Die Sprachen der Vergangenheiten. Öffentliches Gedenken in österreichischen und deutschen Medien. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Wodak, R., and van Dijk, T. A
(eds) 2000 Racism at the Top. Parliamentary Discourses on Ethnic Issues in Six European States. Klagenfurt: Drava.Google Scholar
Wodak, R. and Meyer, M.
(eds 2001 Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 18 other publications

Achugar, Mariana
2007. Between remembering and forgetting: Uruguayan military discourse about human rights (1976—2004). Discourse & Society 18:5 ► pp. 521 ff. DOI logo
Achugar, Mariana, Amparo Fernández & Nicolás Morales
2013. Re/constructing the past: How young people remember the Uruguayan dictatorship. Discourse & Society 24:3 ► pp. 265 ff. DOI logo
Ahonen, Pasi
2009. ‘The World Has Changed’: Discursive Struggles over an Industrial Shutdown in the Media, a Case from the Finnish Pulp and Paper Industry. Competition & Change 13:3 ► pp. 289 ff. DOI logo
Anagnostopoulos, Dorothea, Sakeena Everett & Carleen Carey
2013. ‘Of course we’re supposed to move on, but then you still got people who are not over those historical wounds’: Cultural memory and US youth’s race talk. Discourse & Society 24:2 ► pp. 163 ff. DOI logo
Angouri, Jo & Ruth Wodak
2014. ‘They became big in the shadow of the crisis’. Discourse & Society 25:4 ► pp. 540 ff. DOI logo
Antulov, Sandra & Mislava Bertoša
2011. “Beyond Morality.” Discourse on Homosexuality in Croatian Newspapers from the Sociosemiotic Perspective: Comparison of Two Periods. [sic] - a journal of literature, culture and literary translation :2.1 DOI logo
Brokensha, Susan, Thinus Conradie & Willfred Greyling
2023. “I did not know that there were problems”: government officials’ blame avoidance strategies in the Life Esidimeni Arbitration Hearings. Text & Talk 43:3 ► pp. 291 ff. DOI logo
Cantrell, Akiyo M
2017. The management of survivors’ guilt through the construction of a favorable self in Hiroshima survivor narratives. Discourse Studies 19:4 ► pp. 377 ff. DOI logo
Engelbert, Jiska
2014. Rhetorical agency in ideological dispute. Journal of Language and Politics 13:3 ► pp. 434 ff. DOI logo
Fabiszak, Malgorzata
2016. Multimodal discourses of collective memory. In Exploring Discourse Strategies in Social and Cognitive Interaction [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 262], ► pp. 159 ff. DOI logo
Flowerdew, John
2017. Understanding the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement: A critical discourse historiographical approach. Discourse & Society 28:5 ► pp. 453 ff. DOI logo
Gavriely-Nuri, Dalia & Einat Lachover
2012. Reframing the Past as a Cosmopolitan Memory: Obituaries in the Israeli Daily Haaretz. Communication Theory 22:1 ► pp. 48 ff. DOI logo
Hansson, Sten
2015. Discursive strategies of blame avoidance in government: A framework for analysis. Discourse & Society 26:3 ► pp. 297 ff. DOI logo
Putra, Idhamsyah Eka, Hema Preya Selvanathan, Ali Mashuri & Cristina J. Montiel
2021. Aung San Suu Kyi’s defensive denial of the Rohingya massacre: A rhetorical analysis of denial and positive-image construction. Journal of Social and Political Psychology 9:2 ► pp. 353 ff. DOI logo
Sandby-Thomas, Peter
2014. Chapter 2. ‘Stability overwhelms everything’. In Discourse, Politics and Media in Contemporary China [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 54], ► pp. 47 ff. DOI logo
Wodak, Ruth & Rudolf de Cillia
2007. Commemorating the past: the discursive construction of official narratives about the `Rebirth of the Second Austrian Republic'. Discourse & Communication 1:3 ► pp. 337 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2015. Israeli Peace Discourse [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 59], DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2020. Speaking for the Nation [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 88], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 2 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.