Der „Raum“ in der deutschen Geschichtswissenschaft

Abstract

“Space” in German historiography

Based on the current debate about the spatial turn, this article focuses on the importance of space concepts in the twentieth century’s German historiography. Due to the abuse of these concepts in the Nazi period, German post-war historiography had long excluded this basic condition of human life from historical research. Whereas the research of the Middle Ages and early modern history was generally more open to new concepts and perspectives, German research of modern history has been particularly resistant to postmodern approaches. However, this is not true for the entire community
of German historians.

Keywords: spatial turn, cultural turn, historiography, regional history, urban history, space, time, communication