Hans-Helmuth Knütter (born May 9, 1934) is a German

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and politician ( CDU). He habilitated with the work “Die Juden und die deutsche Linke in der Weimarer Republik 1918-1933”. Knütter was one of the many doctoral students of

Karl Dietrich Bracher Karl Dietrich Bracher (13 March 1922 – 19 September 2016) was a German political scientist and historian of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany, born in Stuttgart. During World War II, he served in the Wehrmacht and was captured by the Americ ...

. From 1972 on, Knütter worked as professor at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

und until 1996 managed the Seminar of Political Science there. Knütter was given the

emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

status in 1997. From 1985 to 1989, Knütter was a member of the Advisory Council of the

Federal Agency for Civic Education The Federal Agency for Civic Education (FACE, (''bpb'')) is a German federal government agency responsible for promoting civic education. It is subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Thomas Krüger has served as president of t ...

(Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, (BpB)). From 1989 to 1994, he acted as a rapporteur for the

Interior Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

and of the BpB. In the 1970s Knütter's works covered the complex interrelationship of Jewry and left-wing politics; studying

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...

, he noted the anti-liberal and anti-pluralistic traits of far-right thinking (Reichling, 1993). Critics have stated that from the early 1990s on, Knütter reflects right-wing conservative views; he has also been publishing in newspapers like ''

Junge Freiheit The ''Junge Freiheit'' (JF, "Young Freedom") is a German weekly newspaper on politics and culture that was established in 1986. Junge Freiheit is politically conservative, right-wing, and nationalistic; it is further described as the "ideologic ...

''. Knütter's work focuses on

political extremism Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shar ...

, and his recent publications mostly criticize

left-wing extremism Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...

. In co-authorship with

Stefan Winckler Stefan may refer to: * Stefan (given name) * Stefan (surname) * Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname * Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname * Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...

, he has published the work ''A Handbook of Left-Wing Extremism - an Underestimated Danger'' (“Handbuch des Linksextremismus - Die unterschätzte Gefahr”), in which the authors claim that the activities of the potentially violent leftist militants - unlike those of the right-wing and far-right spectrum - are not paid due attention by the public. Knütter's own positions, on the other hand, have also been questioned, and his right-wing connections mentioned in the yearly reports of the Office for the Protection of Constitution of

North Rhine Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

.Verfassungsschutzbericht des Landes Nordrhein-Westfale
2001

2002
Knütter's most recent publication is “Antifascism: the Mental Civil War” (“Antifaschismus : der geistige Bürgerkrieg”), published by the German right-wing association

Die Deutschen Konservativen Die Deutschen Konservativen (''The German Conservatives'') is a German conservative anti-communist organisation, which developed out of a conservative campaign to support Franz Josef Strauß in the 1980 federal election. Formally established circa ...

Literature

Uwe Backes Uwe Backes (born 2 February 1960 in Greimerath) is a German political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and ...

Eckhard Jesse Eckhard Jesse (born 16 July 1948) is a German political scientist. Born in Wurzen, Saxony, he held the chair for "political systems and political institutions" at the Technical University of Chemnitz from 1993 to 2014. Jesse is one of the best ...

(Hrsg.): ''Jahrbuch Extremismus & Demokratie (E & D)'' Nomos Verlag, 2003. * Norbert Reichling: ''Der Antifaschismus als Grundtorheit unserer Epoche? Zu Risiken und Nebenwirkungen der „wehrhaften Demokratie“'', in: ''Vorgänge. Zeitschrift für Bürgerrechte und Gesellschaftspolitik'', Heft 124 (Dezember 1993), S. 38-53 - online unter http://www.humanistische-union.de/publikationen/vorgaenge/online_artikel/online_artikel_detail/browse/16/back/nach-autoren/article/antifaschismus-als-grundtorheit-unserer-eoche/

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knutter, Hans-Helmuth German political scientists 1934 births Living people People from Stralsund