Der gemeinsame Tisch: Zu einer Allegorie der österreichischen Identität in den Anfängen der Zweiten Republik

The construction of official Austrian identity after 1945 rejected any notion of Austrian guilt regarding the war and the crimes of National Socialism. According to this view, the past should be largely forgotten and those who stood at opposing ends of the political spectrum—Christian Conservatives and Social Democrats, former members of the German Wehrmacht and those returning from exile—should reconcile their differences and work together toward a more promising future. Austrian literature of this time reflects this approach with the image of a common table at which differing viewpoints peacefully interact, depicting how the new circumstances of the Cold War created new coalitions and new enmities.