Moments of totalitarianism (2006) 1

This essay takes the publication of the at-the-time newly edited and written volumes on the concept of totalitarianism by Tzvetan Todorov, Henry Rousso, Ian Kershaw, Slavoj Žižek, and Moise Lewin and Richard Overy as a point of departure for tracing the reception and use of “totalitarianism” throughout the twentieth century. Declaring the majority of the reviewed books solid works of scholarship, Rabinbach is, however, doubtful of their influence on the debate over totalitarianism due to the essential historicity of the term itself, the importance of “moments” of totalitarianism. Outlining these “moments” of totalitarianism in 1930s, 1950s, and 1970s Europe and the US, this chapter illustrates how the word continues to bridge changing political affiliations at crucial historical moments by suspending political ambiguities that might otherwise have inhibited new political constellations.