Rhetoric, history, and collective memory: Decoding the Goldhagen debates

This essay explores the intimate relationship that exists between rhetoric, history, and collective memory. Using the Goldhagen debate as a case study, the authors contend that both “histories” and “collective memories” are discursive constructs that should not be viewed as antithetical concepts; rather, they argue that each involves questions of identity, tradition, and forgetfulness. Furthermore, the authors argue that the polysemic nature of salient historical events brings with it competing nationalistic narratives. They conclude that the Goldhagen controversy created an international furor because the claim that “ordinary” Germans voluntarily perpetrated the Holocaust tapped into an assortment of collective memories.