The title translates as: 'Conservation, Reshaping, Restoration? Space and Heimat in Conservative Thought in Germany 1900-1933.' Historians have traditionally seen a close relationship between a conservative (and allegedly antimodern) discourse on space and Heimat since the early 19th century and the rise of National Socialism. In contrast, this chapter discusses the wide variety of concepts and ideologies in regard to space in Germany ranging from geo-politics to geographical determinism in terms of shaping a 'national character', to agrarian romanticism, to early environmentalism and to landscaping. Such a variety shows (1) that it is inappropriate to speak about a single discourse on space and Heimat. (2) that by no means all of these discourses were antimodern and backward-oriented. (3) that all these discourses have different relationships to National Socialism.
The chapter was written following an invited participation in an international conference at the Humboldt-University Berlin on 'Orders in Crisis. The Political Culture in Germany 1900-1933'. It builds on the author's work on environmentalism, in particular in his book 'Eine andere Moderne? Zivilisationskritik, Natur und Technik in Deutschland, 1880-1933' (1999). RAE_import_type : Chapter in book RAE_uoa_type : History
