Umweltbewegung zwischen dem Ende der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft und der "ökologischen Wende": ein Literaturbericht

Abstract

This review essay discusses publications on the history of the German environmental movement between the end of the Second World War and the rise of political ecology. It shows that this field has heretofore played a surprisingly marginal role, with a popular assumption being that the 1950s and 1960s saw environmental ideas at an historic low – an environmentally fateful period which ended only due to the rise of the present environmental movement. The essay shows that doubts about this interpretation have been around for some time, with publications increasing in recent years: more and more, it has become clear that there was an impressive amount of criticism of the ecological consequences of industrial progress during this time period. At the same time, it shows that these doubts have not yet lead to a new synthesis. The essay concludes with a proposal of what a new interpretation of the environmental movement in the 1950s and 1960s might look like.