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History in the making/The making of history. The ‘German Wehrmacht’ in collective and individual memories in Austria.

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History in the making/The making of history. The ‘German Wehrmacht’ in collective and individual memories in Austria. / Wodak, Ruth.
In: Journal of Language and Politics, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2006, p. 125-154.

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@article{ccf2183214204b37a97de74adac4138d,
title = "History in the making/The making of history. The {\textquoteleft}German Wehrmacht{\textquoteright} in collective and individual memories in Austria.",
abstract = "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 = "context, discourse of justification, discourse strategy, discourse-historical approach, exhibition, German Wehrmacht, interview, legitimization strategies, Recontexualization, topoi, triangulation, victim-discourse, war-crime",
author = "Ruth Wodak",
year = "2006",
doi = "10.1075/jlp.5.1.08wod",
language = "English",
volume = "5",
pages = "125--154",
journal = "Journal of Language and Politics",
issn = "1569-9862",
publisher = "John Benjamins Publishing Company",
number = "1",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - History in the making/The making of history. The ‘German Wehrmacht’ in collective and individual memories in Austria.

AU - Wodak, Ruth

PY - 2006

Y1 - 2006

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - context

KW - discourse of justification

KW - discourse strategy

KW - discourse-historical approach

KW - exhibition

KW - German Wehrmacht

KW - interview

KW - legitimization strategies

KW - Recontexualization

KW - topoi

KW - triangulation

KW - victim-discourse

KW - war-crime

U2 - 10.1075/jlp.5.1.08wod

DO - 10.1075/jlp.5.1.08wod

M3 - Journal article

VL - 5

SP - 125

EP - 154

JO - Journal of Language and Politics

JF - Journal of Language and Politics

SN - 1569-9862

IS - 1

ER -