Wiedergutmachungsdrang

Wiedergutmachungsdrang derives from two German concepts: the Wiedergutmachungspolitik, the postwar policy through which the German government sought to repair the damage caused by the Third Reich; and Wiederholungszwang, the Freudian mechanism by which trauma patients tend to repeat certain acts and discourses in order to suppress painful memories. By conflating Wiedergutmachung with Wiederholungszwang, and by turning a “compulsion” (Zwang) into an “urge” (Drang), I refer to present-day tendencies to reconcile with the maladies of the past: post-colonialism, woke, revisionism. These attempts to settle accounts with history are, of course, doomed to fail—for the past knows no forgiveness; it is not even courteous enough to return our calls. By constantly striking the same aching nail, moreover, we may end up suppressing and silencing problems that could otherwise by resolved. Read more about this project: https://www.orpheusinstituut.be/en/pr...