Michael Antolović
Social History in the German Way – Hans-Ulrich Wehler and History as Social Science
Abstract: In this paper we analyze the oeuvre of Hans-Ulrich Wehler (1931–2014), one of the most influential German contemporary historians. Wehler’s work on establishing a new paradigm of history – history as social science – and the founding of the ‘Bielefeld School’ as a specific (West)German type of social history are presented in the context of the modernization of German historiography and the gradual prevalence of the traditional disciplinary matrix of historism. Besides Wehler’s theoretical and methodological conceptions, particular attention is paid to his voluminous synthesis Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte as well as the place of Wehler and ‘Bielefeld School’ in German historiography.
Key words: Hans-Ulrich Wehler, theory and methodology of historical studies, ‘history as social science’, ‘Bielefeld School’, historiography.
The (West)German historiography during the last third of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century was marked by the historiographical work of Hans-Ulrich Wehler (1931–2014). Refuting historism as an obsolete concept, Wehler established ‘history as a social science’ (Historische Sozialwissenschaft) on the theoretical and methodological grounds of social sciences. Wehler brought together associates at the University of Bielefeld, established the required historiographical infrastructure, and during the 1970s he constituted the new form of social history that labeled the ‘paradigm shift’ in West German historiography. After having established the ‘Bielefeld School’, Wehler devoted himself to his five-volume synthesis Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte (1987–2008). Proceeding from Max Weber’s theoretical assumptions, Wehler analyzed three centuries of modern German history (1700–1990) from the standpoint of economic development, social inequality, political authority, and culture. In addition to focusing on characteristic structures and processes, Wehler based his interpretation on the concept of the German Sonderweg – the absence of political revolution during the ‘long 19th century’ resulted in the fact that the modernization of German society was not accompanied by the liberalization of the political order. This fact, according to Wehler, was the main idiosyncrasy of modern German history. At the same time, as a public intellectual, Wehler took part in numerous disputes that, as in the case of Historikerstreit in the middle of the 1980s, touched on the issue of the identity of FR Germany as well as the issue of the responsibility for the Holocaust. Giving his support to liberal democracy, he opposed the efforts to minimize Nazi crimes. Finally, not only did Wehler fundamentally modernize German historiography with his oeuvre, but as an intellectual he also contributed heavily to the process of ‘normalizing’ German history and helped German society face its traumatic past.