Imagining Security: A Conceptual History of “Sicherheit” in West and East Germany
Over the course of the twentieth century, “security” became one of the central organizing ideas of modern societies. Increasingly, political institutions, social policies, and cultural narratives revolved around the promise of security. But how did this concept acquire such a central role? This lecture argues that the postwar period marks a decisive transformation in the meaning of “Sicherheit”: from a classical function of the state to a broader social and cultural horizon shaping how societies imagine their past, present and future.
Drawing on literary texts, political discourse, and intellectual debates in both East and West Germany, the talk approaches the two societies as entangled rather than separate trajectories. It traces how security emerged as a key socio-cultural orientation in the Weimar Republic and how, toward the end of the twentieth century, the concept increasingly shifted from a positively valued ideal to a problem-laden term open to critique.
Julia Mierbach is a scholar of German literature and culture based at the University of Bonn. She is currently a Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow at the Remarque Institute at New York University. Her research brings together literary studies, intellectual history, and cultural theory. Her first book explores the aesthetic epistemologies of seriality (Reihenbildung), and her current project investigates the conceptual history of “security” (Sicherheit) in 20th century.
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