Politics and the Environment in Twentieth-Century Germany

Abstract

Environmental history in Germany has undergone a renaissance. However, it has yet to become a generally accepted part of German political and social history. Nor has the 'environment' found its way into the principal history textbooks. There are several reasons for this oversight. Until recently, other questions - the National Socialist genocide, the experience of war, as well as the Cold War - have dominated the German historical agenda. Environmental history has also sat rather uncomfortably alongside the prevailing methodologies of German history. It could not be incorporated easily into political history, or into the type of social history made famous by the Bielefeld School. Moreover, the engagement of environmental history with tangible, real-world issues made it problematic for historians interested in language and culture.