Historisierende Verlagerung gegenwärtiger Debatten in Andreas Eschbachs metafiktionaler Alternate History NSA – Nationales Sicherheits-Amt

Abstract

Andreas Eschbach's NSA – Nationales Sicherheits-Amt is an alternate history that envisions a scenario of a technologically advanced Third Reich, which gains complete control over all citizens through data surveillance and artificial intelligence. Current debates and concerns about data protection and data collection, extending to artificial intelligence, are played out here and viewed from a distanced perspective by shifting them into a past era. The relocation to the Third Reich creates an additional dimension of distancing, as the prevailing societal consensus largely consciously separates itself from this period of German history. On the other hand, the emotional charge associated with the connection to the Third Reich leads to current debates being predominantly reduced to negative aspects and presented as part of a dystopian narrative. The emerging opportunities and limitations of alternate history, which aims to reduce the complexity of current debates by shifting them into historical contexts, should be examined based on Eschbach's novel.