Zäsuren und (Dis-)Kontinuitäten in der österreichischen Identität. Die Auswirkungen der Waldheim-Affäre auf das kollektive Gedächtnis der Zweiten Republik

Abstract

What were the most exceptional developments in Austrian identity and how did the Waldheim-Affair in particular affect the shaping of collective memory in the Second Republic? The following bachelor thesis attempts to answer these questions, giving special focus on the events during and after the period in which Kurt Waldheim’s Nazi-record became known to the public. Furthermore it examines the general coherences between (print) media and the construction of collective memory by using examples of selected newspaper articles about the Waldheim-Affair to present a micro case study of the specific response profile the Austrian media applied in the light of these events.