Introduction to special issue

Abstract

German political geography has been reviving for about five years. New insights and impulses for further research have been produced by the transfer of Anglo-American approaches and orientations on conflict research. The integration of political geography and the history of geographical thought, based on the specific German experience, is of equal importance. Combining historical, critical and contextual approaches, a group of young geographers is contributing differentiated insights into the Nazi period and its roots, far back into the 19th century. The special issue is a collection of papers linked by the common concerns of continuity, functionality and relevance of geography in the political context. The topics included—Mitteleuropa and nationalism, racism, social and territorial contradictions in the performance of the nation-state—are present in West Germany in current ongoing political discussions. The motivation to elaborate ‘a history that won't go away’ comes from the present time and its projection into the future.