Sonderweg (German:[ˈzɔndɐˌveːk], "special path") refers to the theory in German historiography that considers the German-speaking lands or the country of Germany itself to have followed a course from aristocracy to democracy unlike any other in Europe.[1]
The modern school of thought by that name arose early during World War II as a consequence of the rise of Nazi Germany. In consequence of the scale of the devastation wrought on Europe by Nazi Germany, the Sonderweg theory of German history has progressively gained a following inside and outside Germany, especially since the late 1960s.[2] In particular, its proponents argue that the way Germany developed over the centuries virtually ensured the evolution of a social and political order along the lines of Nazi Germany. In their view, German mentalities, the structure of society, and institutional developments followed a different course in comparison with the other nations of the West.[3] The German historian Heinrich August Winkler wrote about the question of there being a Sonderweg:
For a long time, educated Germans answered it in the positive, initially by laying claim to a special German mission, then, after the collapse of 1945, by criticizing Germany's deviation from the West. Today, the negative view is predominant. Germany did not, according to the now prevailing opinion, differ from the great European nations to an extent that would justify speaking of a 'unique German path'. And, in any case, no country on earth ever took what can be described as the 'normal path'.[4]
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^Heinrich August Winkler, Germany: The Long Road West (2006), vol 1 p 1
Sonderweg (German: [ˈzɔndɐˌveːk], "special path") refers to the theory in German historiography that considers the German-speaking lands or the country...
came from those who disagreed with the Sonderweg or "Luther to Hitler" thesis. In West Germany, the Sonderweg interpretation was almost universally rejected...
topics, with much less attention paid to the Sonderweg. While some historians have abandoned the Sonderweg thesis, they have not provided a generally accepted...
supporters of the Sonderweg concept as for the reasons for the Sonderweg, and whether or not the Sonderweg ended in 1945. Was there a Sonderweg? Winkler says:...
officials Nazi songs Orders, decorations, and medals of Nazi Germany Sonderweg Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany On 12 July 1933, Reichsinnenminister...
(1988) and Sheri Berman emphasised the central importance of a German Sonderweg ("special path") or "exceptionalism" as the root of Nazism and the German...
conservative Junker landholders), which subsequently led to the so-called Sonderweg (distinctive path) of 20th-century German history. Failure to achieve...
recent history, much discussion has focused on the key theory of a German Sonderweg (special way): the proposition that Germany had followed a path to modernity...
that Nazism was the product of a German deviation from the West (the Sonderweg thesis) and sought to correct this deviation with a trial that would serve...
reactionary modernism was closely linked to the original, positive view of the Sonderweg, which saw Germany as the great Central European power, neither of the...
Prussian virtues Sittlichkeit Social hierarchy Social market economy Sonderweg Subsidiarity Volksgeist History 20 July plot Anti-Socialist Laws Erklärung...
Prussian virtues Sittlichkeit Social hierarchy Social market economy Sonderweg Subsidiarity Volksgeist History 20 July plot Anti-Socialist Laws Erklärung...
Prussian virtues Sittlichkeit Social hierarchy Social market economy Sonderweg Subsidiarity Volksgeist History 20 July plot Anti-Socialist Laws Erklärung...
kitsch is most often left uncapitalized and without italics (cf. Gestalt, Sonderweg). Pronunciation may also be colloquially realized as /kɪʃ/ KISH. Citations...
of the Early Modern period, and contributed to the development of the Sonderweg theory of the German past. A revisionist view popular in Germany but increasingly...
Prussian virtues Sittlichkeit Social hierarchy Social market economy Sonderweg Subsidiarity Volksgeist History 20 July plot Anti-Socialist Laws Erklärung...
Christianity". Encyclopædia Britannica. Charles W. Ingrao, "A Pre-Revolutionary Sonderweg." German History 20#3 (2002), pp. 279–286. Katrin Keller, "Saxony: Rétablissement...
those who argue for a Sonderweg (distinct path of German post-medieval development), and those who argue against the Sonderweg concept those who see Nazism...
Weiler (2003). "Chapter 2, Federalism without Constitutionalism: Europe's Sonderweg". The federal vision: legitimacy and levels of governance in the United...
Cambridge University Press, 1999. Timothy Reuter. "The Medieval German Sonderweg? The Empire and its Rulers in the Highe Middle Ages". In Kings nd Kingship...
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