Die deutschen Katholiken und der Gedanke der europäischen Einigung 1945-1949. Wende oder Kontinuität?
Résumé
Der Beitrag basiert auf einem für den Druck erweiterten Vortrag über „German Catholics' attitude towards Europe, 1945 - 1949. Change or continuity?“ im Rahmen des „Fourth International Colloquium on German History“ über „German Catholic attitudes on Europe, 1945 - 1949“, einem von Prof. John Conway von der University of British Columbia in Vancouver im Juni 1999 organisierten Tagung. Dieser im Jahrbuch für Europäische Geschichte erschienene Artikel beschäftigt sich mit der Bedeutung der großdeutschen Ideen aus dem Umfeld von Otto von Habsburg bei den deutschen katholischen Eliten zwischen 1945 und 1949, d. h. vor dem Beginn der Europapolitik Konrad Adenauers. Verglichen werden einerseits Neues Abendland und Rheinischer Merkur, zwei föderalistische Zeitschriften, die ein „Donau-Europa“ unterstützten, und andererseits die Frankfurter Hefte, die einen dritten Weg zwischen Ost und West für Europa befürworteten. Dieser Beitrag zeigt, dass die eigentliche Zäsur in der politischen Kultur der Deutschen nicht 1945 sondern 1949 erfolgte.
/// This article is issued from a paper presented at the Fourth International Colloquium on German History organised by John Conway at the University of British Columbia in June 1999. This article, published in 2002, considers the two main conceptions of European unity which challenged Adenauer's own visions from 1945 to 1949. First, the idea of a ‘Danubian' Europe was advocated by Otto von Habsburg and promoted in the Neues Abendland and Rheinischer Merkur. Second, the idea of a ‘third way' for Europe was laid out in the Frankfurter Hefte by Eugen Kogon and Walter Dirks.
Otto von Habsburg promoted his idea of a Danubian Europe in the belief that Germany had a specific part to play in uniting Europe because of its own mediating function between Western liberalism and Eastern socialism. In fact, Habsburg's conception was profoundly rooted in the past insofar as it promoted a return to the Christian Middle-Age organisation of Europe. It promoted the return to a period before the Reformation, when unity was based on a common faith.
In contrast, the Frankfurter Hefte promoted the idea of Europe as a third way between Liberalism and Communism in the belief that the "Stunde Null" of 1945 was an opportunity to build Europe anew. The Frankfurter Hefte acknowledged the secularisation of Europe which had taken place since the Reformation and accepted pluralism as a common basis of European societies. Unity then, was to be found at the political level rather than at the spiritual level. In other words, Christian faith alone was not considered powerful enough to be able to bring unity as had been the case during the Middle-Ages. The Frankfurter Hefte viewed the two World Wars as an omen that this new Europe should not be based on capitalism. Rather, the new European society was to be structured around a supranational political organisation rooted in Socialism.///
Il s'agit du texte retravaillé d'une intervention sur « German Catholics' attitude towards Europe, 1945-1949. Change or continuity? » dans le cadre du « Fourth International Colloquium on German History » sur « German Catholic attitudes on Europe, 1945-1949 », un colloque organisé par le professeur John Conway à l'University of British Columbia à Vancouver en juin 1999. Publié dans le Jahrbuch für Europäische Geschichte, cet article se penche sur l'importance des idées « grandes-allemandes » autour d'Otto von Habsbourg chez les élites catholiques allemandes entre 1945 et 1949 c'est-à-dire avant les débuts de la politique européenne de Konrad Adenauer. Il compare d'un côté le Neues Abendland et le Rheinischer Merkur, deux revues fédéralistes partisanes d'une « Europe danubienne », et de l'autre les Frankfurter Hefte qui prônaient une « troisième voie » pour l'Europe, entre l'est et l'ouest. Il démontre que la véritable césure n'eut pas lieu en 1945 mais en 1949.
Otto von Habsburg promoted his idea of a Danubian Europe in the belief that Germany had a specific part to play in uniting Europe because of its own mediating function between Western liberalism and Eastern socialism. In fact, Habsburg's conception was profoundly rooted in the past insofar as it promoted a return to the Christian Middle-Age organisation of Europe. It promoted the return to a period before the Reformation, when unity was based on a common faith.
In contrast, the Frankfurter Hefte promoted the idea of Europe as a third way between Liberalism and Communism in the belief that the "Stunde Null" of 1945 was an opportunity to build Europe anew. The Frankfurter Hefte acknowledged the secularisation of Europe which had taken place since the Reformation and accepted pluralism as a common basis of European societies. Unity then, was to be found at the political level rather than at the spiritual level. In other words, Christian faith alone was not considered powerful enough to be able to bring unity as had been the case during the Middle-Ages. The Frankfurter Hefte viewed the two World Wars as an omen that this new Europe should not be based on capitalism. Rather, the new European society was to be structured around a supranational political organisation rooted in Socialism.///
Il s'agit du texte retravaillé d'une intervention sur « German Catholics' attitude towards Europe, 1945-1949. Change or continuity? » dans le cadre du « Fourth International Colloquium on German History » sur « German Catholic attitudes on Europe, 1945-1949 », un colloque organisé par le professeur John Conway à l'University of British Columbia à Vancouver en juin 1999. Publié dans le Jahrbuch für Europäische Geschichte, cet article se penche sur l'importance des idées « grandes-allemandes » autour d'Otto von Habsbourg chez les élites catholiques allemandes entre 1945 et 1949 c'est-à-dire avant les débuts de la politique européenne de Konrad Adenauer. Il compare d'un côté le Neues Abendland et le Rheinischer Merkur, deux revues fédéralistes partisanes d'une « Europe danubienne », et de l'autre les Frankfurter Hefte qui prônaient une « troisième voie » pour l'Europe, entre l'est et l'ouest. Il démontre que la véritable césure n'eut pas lieu en 1945 mais en 1949.
Mots clés
Deutsche Katholiken
Kulturgeschichte der europäischen Einigung
1945-1949
Zweiter Weltkrieg
Nationalsozialismus
Drittes Reich
Nazismus
Heiliger Stuhl
CDU
Christlich Demokratische Union
katholische Presse
Federalismus
Pazifismus
Nationalismus
Patriotismus
Politischer Katholizismus
Otto von Habsburg
Eugen Kogon
Walter Dirks
Neues Abendland
Rheinischer Merkur
Frankfurter Hefte
Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi
Konrad Adenauer
Heinrich Brüning
Max Scheler
Karl Muth
Ignaz Seipel
Hermann Platz
Benedikt Schmittmann
Gonzague de Reynold
Jacques Maritain
Robert Schuman
Adam Stegerwald
Othmar Spann
Michael von Faulhaber
Suhard
Van Roey
Innitzer
Griffin
German Catholics
Cultural history of European unification
Catholic press
political Catholicism
Federalism
pacifism
nationalism
patriotism
Holy See
World War II
National Socialism
Third Reich
Nazism
Christian Democratic Union
catholiques allemands
histoire culturelle de la construction européenne
presse catholique
fédéralisme
Deuxième Guerre mondiale
Seconde Guerre mondiale
Union chrétienne-démocrate
Saint Siège
catholicisme politique
nazisme
national-socialisme
Troisième Reich
pacifisme
patriotisme
nationalisme