Georg Lukacs: The German past and its overcoming (1966)
Preface to the West German edition of the second volume of "The Destruction of Reason", 1966 (Von Nietzsche zu Hitler, pp. 7-26). The German past and its overcoming This question is gradually but inevitably moving to the center of all important debates. Officially, in the broadest sense of the word, transcending the past (Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung), such a request is rejected, politely or rudely. When authors, for example, wish to go beyond a simple improvement in the manipulation of public opinion, they are dismissed as "old-fashioned", as amateur ignorant. But despite the fact that such protests are usually unable to present clear, well-thought-out excuses, this very movement seems to be developing with a certain irresistible force. Heinrich Boell's "Billiards at Nine and a Half" remained, in essence, an episode that was respectfully ignored. But Rolf Hochhuth's "Representative" had already vigorously broken the wall of silence surroun...