No man's land of violence

Neun Beiträge zur Rolle der Gewalt in Politik und Gesellschaft des 20. Jahrhunderts. Die Autorinnen und Autoren analysieren die Gewaltpraxis in den Kriegen des »kurzen« 20. Jahrhunderts (Eric Hobsbawm). Kriegsgewalt erweist sich in vergleichender Sicht nicht mehr nur als Mittel oder Ziel von Politik, sondern als deren Ende. Das Niemandsland entgrenzter Gewalt entfaltete eine Anziehungskraft eigener Art: Die Angstlust und Erlösungssehnsucht der Kampfzone kehrte wieder in der Alltäglichkeit politischer Gewalt - die Arbeit des Tötens im Gründungsritual von Gewaltgemeinschaften. Inhalt: Alan Kramer: The War of Atrocities: Murderous Scares and Extreme Combat Michael Geyer: Endkampf 1918 and 1945: German Nationalism, Annihilation, and Self-Destruction Richard Bessel: The War to End All Wars: The Schock of Violence in 1945 and Its Aftermath in Germany Joanna Bourke: The Killing Frenzy: Wartime Narratives of Enemy Action Alf Lüdtke: War as Work: Aspects of Soldiering in Twentieth-Century Wars Gyanendra Pandey: Woman' s Place in the No Man' s Land of Violence: The Indian Subcontinent, 1947-48 Janet Cherry: Armed Struggle and Sectarian Violence: South Africa and Northern Ireland Compared. Wolfgang Höpken: Performing Violence: Soldiers, Paramilitaries and Civilians in the Twentieth-Century Balkan Wars Bernd Weisbrod: Religious Languages of Violence: Some Reflections on the Reading of Extremes For decades the history of the military and particularly of war revolved around strategies, operations, and tactics. Actors appeared only as heroes or enemies. In the last 30 years new perspectives have refigured the study of warfare and of the military and have focused our attention on the experience of an in war. How and to what extent did individuals manage to live with the fear of their own death and how did they relate these emotions to the appeal of killing »the enemy«? From this perspective the „no man’s land of violence» has emerged as a field of research in its own right. This collection of essays focuses on extreme forms of violence, whether they are situated in the context of „regular» war, „irregular» conflict, civil unrest or terrorism. A comparative approach shows how the „no man’s land» of unbounded violence unfolded an attraction of its own: the desire of fear and longing for release from the military zone became a part of everyday political power - the work of killing became an initiation rite of communities of violence.