SUMMARY:

The interpretative figure of the German Sonderweg has had a varied history. In the nineteenth century, those who spoke of a separate German path to modernity evaluated it as a positive divergence from the “western path”, citing the strong bureaucratic state, reforms initiated from above, the Prussian service ethos, “German culture” and the early development of a social welfare state. However, representatives of the first generation of post-war West German historians recast this reading in a negative frame. They viewed the particularities of German history, its structures and experiences, as preconditions that, while not leading directly to National Socialism, did in the long term hamper the development of a liberal democracy in Germany and facilitate the rise of fascism. In this version, the interpretative figure of the German Sonderweg called for a critical stance, but also for a critical review of its associated hypotheses. The Sonderweg paradigm has provided the impetus for at least three strands of research in German historiography: the “long nineteenth century”, the history of the bourgeoisie, and comparisons with the West. Yet these have also pointed up the limits of the paradigm’s usefulness. Increased attention to cultural dimensions and to comparative and relational history is currently raising different questions – questions concerned less with “separate” paths than with shared and intertwining ones. The growing temporal distance from National Socialism, together with awareness of a multiply interconnected, cross-European history, has diluted the persuasive force of the Sonderweg thesis and, above all, its orientation on the West. This is not to say, however, that its core concern – the causes of National Socialism – has receded into the background.