"In the study of German history, there is the notion of sonderweg, literally the “special path,” down which the German people are fated to wander. In different eras, and depending on who employed it, the term could imply different things. It began as a positive myth during the imperial period that some German scholars told themselves about their political system and culture. During and after World War II it turned distinctly negative, a way for outsiders to make sense of the singularity of Germany’s crimes. ... [W]hether viewed from within or without, left or right, the Germans could be seen through such a lens to possess some collective essence — a specialness — capable of explaining everything. In this way, one could speak of a trajectory “from Luther to Hitler” and interpret history not as some chaotic jumble but as a crisp, linear process."
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Original Language: English
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Sources
Thomas Chatterton Williams, "How Ta-Nehisi Coates Gives Whiteness Power" (6 October 2017), The New York Times, New York
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/History_of_Germany
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History of Germany
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