Categorical Mistakes: Antifascism in Public Discourse and Transnational Biography

Abstract

This essay examines some of the recent tendencies to delegitimize antifascism both as a political phenomenon and as a topic of historical research. In German academia and beyond, this “antiantifascist” current operates according to notions of communist contamination. To counter these narratives, I propose to look at the plurality of antifascism, its various continuities and the personal experiences of its historical agents. In particular, I make my case exploring the transnational biography of the Dutch journalist Nicolaas Rost.

Keywords

• antifascism
• biography
• communism
• historiography
• transnational history