Kampen om Den Kolde Krig i dansk politik og forskning

Resumé

Struggle Over the Cold War in Danish Politics and ResearchThe Cold War has cast a long shadow in Danish politics and historical research. In a process dominated over the past decade by conservative parties the country’s Cold War politics have been drawn into a present-day, socially broader conflict of values through direct political support for a particular right-wing, revisionist history. The present article, firstly, discusses two aspects of this rightist revisionism: as an ideology, whose chief protagonist has been Anders Fogh Rasmussen, until recently the Prime Minister of Denmark; and as a research programme for a network centred around Bent Jensen, a prominent professor of history. This is followed by a historical analysis of the concrete political initiatives taken to promote research on and presentation of the history of the Cold War, culminating in the establishment of the pro tem Centre for Cold War Research. The article concludes with a discussion of the pros and cons of overly sensitive political interest in Cold War research and its results.Translated by Michael Wolfe