Die zwei Gesichter der Zerstörung

Für den Vater der UN-Völkermordkonvention von 1948, Raphael Lemkin, ist auch die Vertreibung der Deutschen eine genozidale »Zerstörung nationaler Gruppen als solcher«. Bei dem Beitritt zur UN-Konvention 1954 schließt sich der Deutsche Bundestag Lemkins Sicht an. Mit wachsender erinnerungskultureller Bedeutung des Holocausts wird Völkermord zeitweilig mit »Ausrottung« und Judenvernichtung gleichgesetzt. Doch wie die Studie ebenfalls zeigt, hat der Begriff sich im Zuge der boomenden Kolonialismus-Bewältigung nun erneut geweitet.

»The Two Faces of Destruction. Rafael Lemkins UN-Genocide-Convention and the Expulsion of the Germans«: For the father of the UN Genocide Convention of 1948, Raphael Lemkin, the expulsion of Germans from parts of Eastern Europe could also be considered a genocidal »destruction of national groups as such«. When the German Bundestag joined the UN Convention in 1954, it adopted Lemkin's perspective. With the growing importance of the Holocaust in the culture of remembrance, genocide was temporarily equated with »extermination« and the annihilation of Jews. However, the term has now expanded again in the context of addressing the issue of colonialism.

Manfred Kittel worked at the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich after his studies. In 2009, he became the founding director of the Federal Foundation »Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation« in Berlin. Since 2015, he has been conducting research on contemporary historical topics, initially at the German Historical Museum and later at the Federal Archives. He teaches Modern History in Regensburg. Among his most important publications are studies on the history of democracy in Germany and France before 1933/36, on »coming to terms with the past« in Japan and the Federal Republic of Germany after 1945, and especially on the history and culture of memory related to flight and expulsion. His most recent work focuses on the politics of »compensation« starting from 1952.