Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 09:42:15 EST From: "H-German Ed. Norm Goda" Reply to: H-NET List on German History To: Multiple recipients of list H-GERMAN Subject: postmodernism Submitted by: Renate Bridenthal Some thoughts on the postmodern debate, inspired by Michael Geyer's contribution: It is ironic that historians of Germany are now trying to reappropriate national cultural capital, just when German real capital is fleeing and/or threatening to flee the country, evincing no national loyalty. The search for a usable past for the newly re-united and potentially powerful German nation-state should recognize not only a more positive tradition that had unfortunate breaches, but also Germany's position in transnational dynamics that have a long history of their own, as recent discussions on H-WORLD attest. Beyond questions of guilt or blame, it is human agency that creates a Zeitgeist, in which intellectuals, including historians, play a part, in the present as well as in the past. To say that a certain paradigm has served a purpose in the past and that it is no longer relevant today, is to admit our own purposefulness in the present, which implies a frank acknowledgement of political goals. As far back as the 1960s, I was taught in a Columbia University historio- graphy class that a responsible historian is self-aware and up front in print about his or her own "positionality." -Renate Bridenthal Brooklyn College, CUNY RNBBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU .