Can Holocaust Memory Constrain Populism?: Germany, Austria, Switzerland

• In Event: Historical Memory, Identity Construction, and Populism in Europe

Abstract

The Holocaust has left a different memory legacy in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and this has, in turn, had an impact on how right-wing populist movements have developed in each country. One can further differentiate between an East German and West German Holocaust legacy. As my on-going research into the right-wing populist parties in these three German language countries has demonstrated, one of the key public policy issues for the right-wing populists in each country is asylum policy, around which there are different constraints based upon the specific national memory of the Holocaust. The cosmopolitan memory of the Holocaust is being challenged by a new transnational discussion about the “abuse of the asylum system” through these right-wing populists. Can the legacy of Holocaust memory act as a constraint on the development of right-wing populism in these German language countries?
This paper will draw upon my expertise in social and collective memory, which I have developed through numerous publications, including my newest book, Antigone's Ghosts: The Long Legacy of War and Genocide in Five Countries (Bucknell University Press 2018). Antigone’s Ghosts provides a comparative framework for understanding why and how societies engage in a self-critical investigation into their difficult histories. I will also draw upon my in-depth, comparative knowledge of the Holocaust legacy in Germany, which I developed in my first book, “Getting History Right”: East and West Germany Collective Memories of the Holocaust and War (Bucknell University Press, 2011)
I will use the lessons from these two book projects to guide my new and continuing research into the right-wing populist parties and movements in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I was part of a workshop at the London School of Economics in November 2018, which dealt with the rise of right-wing populism across Europe. I will be building off this research for this paper.

Author

• Mark Allen Wolfgram, University of Ottawa