Antifaschistische Kultur

Based on the biography of Nicolaas Rost, Markus Wegewitz writes an experiential history of anti-fascism in 20th century Europe.

How can anti-fascism be understood as a way of life and a political position in the history of the 20th century? Markus Wegewitz offers a movement-historical longitudinal section from the emergence of the first anti-fascist organisations after the end of the First World War to the 1960s. Using the biography of the Dutch journalist, translator and communist Nicolaas (Nico) Rost, the author takes an experiential approach to anti-fascist forms of organisation, worlds of ideas and political culture.
In their search for an instrument to mobilise against fascism and National Socialism, anti-fascists like Rost tried to interpret bourgeois cultural traditions in the sense of a socialist humanism. In addition to this politicisation of culture, the study also focuses on the shaping of anti-fascism by (trans)national communism and how the National Socialist crimes were dealt with. After 1945, anti-fascists developed standards of historical justice based on these experiences, which they attempted to implement against the resistance of post-war German societies in particular.