Contact

Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Fakultät für Geschichtswissenschaft
Historisches Institut
Professur Geschichte Nordamerikas
Universitätsstraße 150
44780 Bochum
Room: GA 5/60
Tel. +49-234-32-24667
Fax. +49-234-32-14083
gna[at]rub.de

Secretariat
Victoria Junkernheinrich
Room: GA 4/157
Tel. +49-234-32-28635
Fax. +49-234-32-14083
bereichssekretariat5[at]rub.de
Information on opening hours

Dr. Darius Harwardt

Curriculum Vitae

  • Since May 2019: Occupied at Referat Forschungsförderung in der För­der­be­ra­tung und dem EU-Projektmanagement der TU Dortmund.
  • Since 2015: Research Associate at the University of Essen to research the history of cooperation between sports science, labor science and corporations in the Weimar Republic.
  • Since 2014: Research assistant at the Ruhr-University Bochum as well as part of the organizing committee of the Historisches Doktorandenkollegg Ruhr of the Ruhr-University Bochum and the University of Essen.
  • 2012-2013: Research assistant at the Institute of Documentation and Research of the Social Insurance in Bochum (sv:dok), involved in the research of the provisions of war victims in Germany and the history of social insurance and law in Germany.
  • 2012: Research assistant at the Department for History of the Ruhr-University Bochum within a research project to investigate the Nazi past of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz).
  • Since 2011: PhD Candidate at the Department for History/North American History at the Ruhr-University Bochum.
  • 2004-2011: Studies of history, biology and geography at the Ruhr-University Bochum, degree: Master of Education.

Research Interests

  • Images of the United States in Germany
  • History of  right-wing extremism and nationalism in Germany
  • History of ideology, political ideas and media in Europe and the United States after 1945
  • Social history of Germany

PhD Project

Imaginations of America Within Networks of Right-Wing Intellectuals

After the Second World War, not only the Nazi regime was defeated, but also its ideology was discredited – in collaboration with anti-liberal conservatism that was considered  a possible forerunner of National Socialism. By exercising a Re-Education policy, the USA tried to implement values like democracy, liberalism and capitalism within German society. Meanwhile the political Right in Germany tried to reorganize itself and to modernize its ideology within small circles and networks of intellectuals. In the context of these attempts, right-wing intellectuals also utilized specific images of America to construct their own political identity and to establish an ideological border to the USA. They used old images of America which were already popular before and during the Weimar Republic: America was described as bare of culture, superficial, materialistic and morally degenerated. The Germans – they stated – should not ground their national identity on the values of their occupying force but find its own way again. These enemy images however competed with the fear of Communism and Soviet influence. Many right-wing intellectuals therefore had to construct their political ideology within an area of conflict of two competing power blocs. This often led to controversies.

In the context of the public dispute about the NATO Double-Track Decision and the peace movement in Germany, these questions grew more acute: The concept of a “Third Way”, a neutral and reunified Germany, seemed to be more popular at this time than ever before and images of America were dominating the public discourse. Right-wing intellectual networks tried to utilize this dispute but were even more divided because of different enemy images. They therefore either tried to develop a political position somewhere between the USA and Soviet Union – or had to choose the “lesser evil”.  After the end of the Cold War, a growing anti-Americanism seemed to cover some fissures within different right-wing intellectual networks. But after 9/11 at the latest, they had to position themselves again between the West and the Islamic World and were therefore searching for a third position.

The research project explores the imaginations of the United States of America within right-wing intellectual networks, their change within history and the competition with other enemy images. It focuses on debates around certain conflicts, such as the NATO Double-Track Decision, the Gulf War or 9/11, but also follows the significance of images of America for the German Vergangenheitsbewältigung and the construction of a national identity. In all these debates and already in the early years of the Federal Republic the United States provided a continuous arsenal of socially constructed and culturally conveyed images and concepts, addressing subliminal resentments and thus having a potentially far-reaching effect. Different images of America thus also function as a probe, to analyse central elements of the ideology and political culture of different right-wing intellectual networks in the Federal Republic of Germany. This perspective is complemented by a structural analysis of these networks, circles and the leading protagonist, which are all together often summarized under the controversial terminus of a “New Right”. An intellectual history tries to distinguish this definition. The considerably different use of positive or negative images of America sheds light on differences, historical developments and possible connections to public discourses.

Publications

  • "Die Gegenwehr muss organisiert werden - und zwar vor allem auch geistig". Armin Mohler und Caspar von Schrenck-Notzing als Rechstintellektuelle in der frühen Bundesrepublik, in: Goering, Timothy D. [Hg.]: Ideengeschichte heute. Traditionen und Perspektiven, Bielefeld 2017, p. 119-147.
  • Sozialrecht und NS-Vergangenheit: Zentrale Rechtsgebiete, in: Justizministerium des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen: Sozialgerichtsbarkeit und NS-Vergangenheit, Geldern 2016, p. 107-210.
  • Tagungsbericht (with Kathrin Muschalik and Stephanie Nowitzki): Military, Security, and Use of Force in U.S. History. Annual Conference of the Historians in the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien (DGFA)/German Association for American Studies, 21.02.2014-23.02.2014 Tutzing, in: H-Soz-Kult, 19.07.2015, http://www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/tagungsberichte-5464.