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The Singularity Thesis and German National Identity


Lecture
Saturday, Jun 11, 2022, 10:00 AM

Omri Boehm

The Singularity Thesis and German National Identity

To understand the current controversies about the Holocaust’s singularity, it is necessary to understand the original debate from the 1980ies. Contrary to common opinion, the Historikerstreit did not revolve on the question of the Holocaust’s singularity; it revolved on the question of German national identity. Understanding Auschwitz as a singular crime was deemed necessary by Habermas et al. to oppose the rehabilitation of German national consciousness as the origin of political norms – and replace it by constitutional patriotism. Considering the Bundestag’s BDS Beschluss, the government’s relation to the International Criminal Court and the response to Amnesty International in the aftermath of the apartheid report, Boehm argues that the singularity thesis has been hijacked to defend what originally it was supposed to oppose: it rehabilitates German National consciousness at the expense of constitutional patriotism.

Omri Boehm is associate professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research. His essays have appeared in Die Zeit, The New York Times, Washington Post and Haaretz among others. His publications include Kant’s Critique of Spinoza (2014) and Haifa Republic: A Democratic Future for Israel (2021).

The event will be held in English