«...The enemy who depersonalized us and enslaved us»: the concept of «Germanness» in llat imppeiaa ddeaats

This paper examines the history of the concept ''German'' in late imperial debates on Russia''s authenticity through the prism of the ''struggle for recognition'' analytical frame. It argues that the concept of ''German'' condensed traumatic experience of the lack of recognition from the meaningful ''Other'', and therefore triggered a series of intellectual re­considerations, which lie at the centre of pre-revolutionary intellectual history. These reconsiderations include the idea of ''Germans'' as ''false'' Europeans, ''pretenders'' and ''impostors'' which culminated in the war-time interpretation of ''Germans'' as ''barbarians''. Another reconceptualization of ''Germans'' implies that their sway over Russia perverted Russia''s authentic culture and turned it into a ''pseudomorph''. The image of a ''German'' as the ''father of lies'' reinvigo-rated the medieval concept of ''two Europes'' and ensured Russia''s status as ''true Europe'', thereby symbolically com­pensating for the lack of recognition.