Session Abstract

This panel will explore the intellectual transitions from Weimar Germany to the Cold War era, with emphasis on the influence of the “Weimar experience” on postwar paradigms. The presented papers will investigate the role of German intellectuals in the formation of postwar institutions and discourses on both sides of the so-called “iron curtain.” Our goal is to explore the multifaceted ways in which ideas and institutions developed in the Weimar period were not only transformed by, but also shaped the dynamics of the postwar period in Germany and beyond. Bringing together papers on political theorists, economists, sociologists, and other intellectuals, we intend to shed new light on the heterogeneous forces that dominated the postwar era and to reconceptualize the cultural and intellectual transfers of the mid-twentieth century.