German History Research Articles

THE FORMATION AND ACTIVITY OF THE RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF THE MAGDEBURG LAW (1940–1945)

In the article the preconditions for the establishment of the Research Institute of Magdeburg Law (1940–1945) are highlighted. The city of Magdeburg shows the activities of the famous German scientist, Fritz Markman, who initiated the formation of the Institute and fulfilled duties as the mayor of Magdeburg, that made it possible to use the premises of the city archive and funds from the city budget for the needs of the Institute. Another famous German historian, Theodore Horitz, was appointed Director of the Magdeburg Law Research Institute. The purpose of the establishment of the Magdeburg Law Institute was a search in archives and libraries of Central and Eastern Europe countries for legal clarifications (notices) of volcanoes, ortils and other sources of Magdeburg law that were lost in Magdeburg in 1631 during the city fire. The Scientific Council of the Institute was formed, that included the most famous German historians of law, who investigated Magdeburg law. Scientific staff was engaged in the search for sources of Magdeburg Law, as well as Polish, Czech, Slovakian and Ukrainian researchers were involved on a paid basis. Among them are: I. Polonska-Vasylenko, P. Dombkovskiy, K. Okynshevych, O. Ogloblyn, A. Yakovliv and others. As a result of the activities of the members of the Scientific Council of the Institute photocopying of sources of Magdeburg Law was carried out and the work on their publishing has been carrying out. The works published in the framework of the scientific work of the Research Institute of Magdeburg Law are analyzed. This work was not completed because during the air attack of the Allied Air Force in January 1945 the premises of the Institute containing the archive with the collected papers were ruined, and the collected materials were destroyed. Only those materials that were in other places were preserved. German researchers, who took part in the projects of the Research Institute of Magdeburg Law after the end of the Second World War continued to work in the scientific institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany, German Democratic Republic and Austria. At present, a number of researchers in Central and Eastern Europe (reserchers of Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Lithuania, Belarus, and others) are working on the problems of Magdeburg Law and the Saxon Zerzal. Since 2004, the project «Saxon-Magdeburg Law as a Cultural Element of the Relationships of the Legal Regimes of Central and Eastern Europe Countries» has been operating in the structure of the Saxon Academy of Sciences and involves law historians, philologists, historians, cultural experts from different European countries.

Definitions and Discussions: Comparative Literature in the Interwar Lithuania

After Lithuania won its independence, the geopolitical situation of the Lithuanian culture, which the philosopher Stasys Šalkauskis conceptualized as the synthesis of the Western and Eastern worlds, encouraged the openness of the national literature and its comparative research, which involved the most famous writers of that time. The academic publications by Kaunas University provided the first definitions of comparative literature and began to carry out comparative literary studies, most of which were influenced by historiographical works of Hippolyte Taine, Ch. A. Sainte-Beuve, George Brandes, Wilhelm Scherer, Wilhelm Dilthey, Oscar Walzel, Heinrich Wölfflin, and Fritz Strich.Writer Balys Sruoga, who taught Russian literature at the University and, in his articles, referred to German historians and the most recent works by Russian comparativists Viktor Zhirmunsky and Alexander Veselovsky, employed the comparative-historical method. Ignas Skrupskelis, who presented his dissertation Lithuanians in the German Literature of the 18th century (Lietuviai XVIII amžiaus vokiečių literatūroje) at the University of Vienna in 1932, conceptualized comparative literature as a separate field of research. The authors of the Universal Literary History (Visuotinė literatūros istorija, in 2 parts, published in 1931 and 1932 respectively) emphasized the significance of typological research on literary genres and styles. Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas and Julijonas Lindė-Dobilas were also concerned about organizing Lithuanian literature into „schemes of development of common European art“. Writer and critic Antanas Vaičiulaitis, who based on the latest research by French authors and presented in Lithuanian press La littérature comparée (1931), the most recent book by the then famous comparatist Paul van Tieghm, also published the first book on comparative literature, Naturalism and Lithuanian Literature (Natūralizmas ir lietuvių literatūra) in 1936.In the interwar period in Lithuania, comparative literature was forming with the emphasis on the notion of artistic disinterest, which the scholars related mainly to genetic research and influences. They were interested in what motives or stylistic trends unite different writers and their works, because in that period, it was believed that literature could best help to know and describe the human nature and to consider the most important issues of national identity, as well as those common to all mankind. The comparative studies of Lithuanian literature that began in the interwar period looked up rapidly to European examples, but the Second World War, the Soviet occupation of the country and the mass emigration of its intelligentsia to the West led to their stagnation.

Introduction: Gestalt Therapy and “New Phenomenology”

Introduction: Gestalt Therapy and “New Phenomenology”

A typological shift in the phonological history of German from the perspective of licensing scales

The paper argues that the typological shift of German from a syllable language to a word language (Szczepaniak 2007) can be accounted for through reference to a change at the level of the nuclei and their licensing abilities (Cyran 2003, 2010). Old High German used full nuclei in all positions of the word. In the late Old High German period, unstressed vowel reduction took place and entailed a domino effect of further changes. Reduced vowels were granted more licensing potential, and empty nuclei were strengthened too. This parametric shift is assumed to lie at the heart of the whole typological shift. There is no need to state that Old High German “profiled” the syllable, while Modern High German “profiles” the word, since most of the associated phenomena can be explained with more basic mechanisms.

Style Debates in Early 20th-Century German Architectural Discourse

In spite of the negative connotations ‘style’ has in contemporary architectural discourse, in early 20th-century Germany there was no consensus on the meaning or value of the concept amongst architects and critics. Although style was a dirty word for some like Hermann Muthesius, it represented the pinnacle of achievement for others like Walter Curt Behrendt. Against the backdrop of Behrendt’s famous Victory of the New Building Style, of 1927, were very diverse understandings of the term. This plurality was partly due to conceptual confusion between ‘the styles’ and ‘style’, but it was also a legacy of Gottfried Semper’s and Alois Riegl’s respective efforts to resituate style as a practical and historiographical tool. Although style was endlessly debated between 1910 and 1930 by German architects, critics, and intellectuals of all stripes, later scholars have either largely overlooked its significance or used the term as a way of describing a particular group of works with a narrow set of formal tropes. The debates, the conceptual confusion, and the incredible variety of opinion over style in early 20th-century discourse have not been addressed, especially in relation to practicing architects. This essay examines some of the intersecting positions of several important German practitioners to show how the notion of style served as a conceptual framework for divergent modern practices.

German Political History Through the Prism of Hamletianism (On the Novel by A. Doeblin Hamlet)

German Political History Through the Prism of Hamletianism (On the Novel by A. Doeblin Hamlet)

The European Central Bank, Italy and the Next Eurozone Crisis

Abstract The European Central Bank (ECB) is the least accountable central bank among advanced nations. Its degree of independence has only one precedence: the German Reichsbank, a central bank with one of history’s most disastrous records. The lessons of German history do not seem to be interpreted correctly by the ECB.

Department of World History of Oles Honchar Dnipro National University: past and present

This article reveals problems of development of the department of the world history of the Oles Honchar Dnipro National University during last 100 years. The department began to form in 1918 when Katerinoslav university was opened. The world history researchers V. Evstafiev and M. Brechkevich became it’s first university lecturers, they formed potential basics of the research directions. During the fight with reactionary representatives in science and high school they were criticized and fired. The new generation of the department’s lecturers mostly consisted of youth, who had got education during revolutionary and after-revolutionary times. Teaching work became their main assignment, they were active participants in the struggle against “sabotage” on the historical front, reviewed the world history textbooks. Also they were monitoring implementation of the marxism methodology in the world history teaching. During the repressions which started in 1930th some of lecturers were fired and the departments’s head was arrested and then shot away. The historical department was liquidated in the second part of 1930th. At the ending of 1930th historical education at the university was resumed, respectively the department began it’s work again. The young lecturers, post-graduate students from Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv were hired. During nazi occupation the work was interrupted. The work resumption was in 1944, the department was headed by N. Ladizjenska who occupied this position before the occupation. Post-war years of the department’s work are characterized as high level of scientific activity, defense of masters’ thesis by the young lecturers, writing a number of scientific articles dealing the world history issues, which have never been published and now are kept in manuscripts. There was a World History museum at the department in 1940−1950th, founded by the head J. Rubin. At the beginning of 1950th the historical department was closed. The new stage of it’s work was related to 1967 when the department and the historical faculty was resumed. In 1970−1980th under the direction of department head the main scientific direction historical germanistics was based. Due to it’s work the department begun to publish the yearly scientific magazine «The German history issues». The department’s lecturers also worked through the problems of late Roman, American, English history. In 1990−2000th due to prof. S. Plohiy and S. Bobyleva the department became an acknowledged research center of the German diasporas in the Russian empire and Ukraine. The institute of Ukrainian-German historical relations was found at the department. The high scientific potential of the department’s lecturers was repeatedly confirmed by presentations on the conferences, published articles and monographs. Nowadays the department members are working through a number of important issues from German diasporas history, Bulgarian, Russian studies.

O państwie prawa: uwagi filozofa

The concept of the state of law is not only of historical importance, but it also plays a significant role in the contemporary political and legal though. In particular, it has become one of the elements of the legal order that prevail in the European Union member States. The concept of the state of law originated in the German legal doctrine in the first quarter of the 19th century. It drew from the Kant’s idea of a reason-guided society. The fullest definition of the idea of the state of law was probably explained by Robert von Mohl in his work “Encyclopaedia of Political Sciences” published in 1859. The ideas it contained, however, had been known already in the thirties of that century. According to Mohl, the state of law is not a form of state, but rather a certain order of rights and duties of the state towards its citizens as well as the citizens towards the state. Hence it does not matter whether a state is a monarchy or a republic. There are many controversies when it comes to the history of the state of law. Among the main ones is the question whether the criteria of the state of law are of a formal or substantial character. The formal conception of the state of law prevailed in the 19th century Germany and the Weimar Republic. Since the Second World War and the negative experience with a totalitarian state, both fascist and communist, it has been accepted that there is no state of law without a minimum, rather broader than narrower, of citizen’s rights and institutions that secure them. The paper presents the origin and development of the concept of a state of law and compares it with the concept of the rule of law.

Travesty Image of Germany in the Russian Literature of 1840s: I. P. Myatlev’s poem "Sensacii i zamechaniya gospozhi Kurdyukovoy za graniceyu, dans l’etranger

The paper deals with the image ofGermanyin I. P. Miatlev’s poem "Sensacii i zamechaniya gospozhi Kurdyukovoy za graniceyu, dans l’etranger" ("Madam Kurdukova’s Sensations and Remarks Abroad, dans l’etranger") that is an example of macaronic poetry. The poem marks an important milestone in the transformation of the image ofGermanyin the Russian literature of the 1840s; however, it has not received proper scientific attention. The current research examines the historic and the mundane aspects of the image in question. The historic aspect combines different loci connected with the German history of the Middle Ages and the Modern Times: urban images and urban unions, like theHanseatic League, or certain urban spaces, e. g. churches, etc. Such loci are often connected with historical characters like Charlemagne or Napoleon. The mundane aspect is represented with things, money and goods as a typical attribute of the German (Western) civilization, which leads to the metonymic unity of cities and goods produces there, the way it happens toHamburg. Besides, the mundane element is actualized via the philistine personages, which make the core of German characters in the poem.

Transcultural history education and competence: Emergence of a concept in German history education

In most Western countries, traditional history education has been challenged by criticism of the underlying national framework, and by processes of globalization and immigration. In Germany, as a consequence, concepts of intercultural relations, (the interpersonal dynamics between people from different cultures) have been explored since the 1990s. This article outlines the development of these concepts in relation to criticism of theories of culture, the challenges of coming to terms with the specific German past, and the recent stages in the conceptualization of intercultural historical competences. Against this backdrop, multicultural profiling, which describes the characteristics of different cultures, is applied to one of the central principles of German history education, multiperspectivity.

Policing the Stones: Music and Violence in Berlin. The Transnational Debates of the 1960s.

This article analyses the violence that broke out at a 1965 Rolling Stones concert in West Berlin. In a close reading of records from the Berlin Police archives, it understands the events at the concert as the combined result of a lack of experience with new cultural forms of expression, old-fashioned ideas of ‘order’ deeply rooted in German history, and logistical failures. Analysing the aftermath of the concert, the article demonstrates how not only the event itself, but also the effects of rock music in general and the state of post-war youth, were discussed extensively in the media and even in a political debate at the Berlin city parliament. As a result, police reforms and new safety standards for concert halls and arenas were developed and internationally debated. Therefore, the article suggests considering the mid-sixties as a watershed (‘Schwellenzeit’) in the process establishing a new rock and pop culture.

Deutsche Opfer Des Kalten Krieges Und Des DDR-Regimes Auf Dem Kleinen Bildschirm. Analyse Der Neusten Erzähltrends in Den Filmen Der UFA Fiction

The recent history boom in many societies is observed also among German film makers. UFA Fiction Film, established after the unification of several small companies, plays the key role concentrating on most recent German history, above all the Second World War and lives of ordinary people in the Third Reich. This contributes to the resurgence of victim narratives that have been reappearing at least since 1995. But UFA has also recently been offering films that depict Germans as Cold War victims, e.g. Die Frau vom Checkpoint Charlie, Deutschland 83 and Der gleiche Himmel.

‘VISTA MINHA PELE’ E ‘BRANCO SAI, PRETO FICA’: POSSIBILIDADES E DESAFIOS DA UTILIZAÇÃO DE CENAS FÍLMICAS NA APRENDIZAGEM HISTÓRICA

This paper aims at analysing the use of film scenes to teach the African-Brazilian and African History and Culture. In order to do so, it was anchored on the historical consciousness typology created by the German historian and philosopher Jörn Rüsen and on his concept of historical learning. The purpose is to elucidate if the use of films, as a contemporary cultural language of acknowledged pedagogical value, regarding the problematization of topics related to the teaching of African-Brazilian and African History and Culture could provoke changes in the historical consciousness of young students at high school and influence their historical learning process. Hence, from a participating research performed with two groups of students enrolled at high school integrated with a professionalising course, which were based upon qualitative techniques, such as participating observation, conflicts mediation, elaboration and consolidation of reflections through group debates and written narratives, semi-structured questionnaires and a qualitative analysis of the data, it was proposed to: a) proceed to the analysis of the narratives written by the researched subjects; b) investigate the level of competences of these students to attribute meanings and locate themselves intime. Amongst the reached results it could be pinpointed that the use of films scenes presents promising possibilities regarding making the historical thinking complex and consequently the development of the historical consciousness of these subjects.

Особенности национальной дороги, или что русскому здорово…

Владимир Валентинович Бабашкин – доктор исторических наук, доцент, Институт ЭМИТ РАНХиГС при Президенте РФ. Адрес: 119571, Москва, пр-т Вернадского, д. 82. E-mail: vbabashkin@ranepa.ru
 Цитирование: Бабашкин В.В. (2018) Особенности национальной дороги, или что русскому здорово… // Мир России. Т. 27. № 4. С. 163–175. DOI: 10.17323/1811-038X-2018-27-4-163-175
 Пословица «что русскому здорово, то немцу смерть», вероятно, возникла из множества житейских ситуаций, которые совершенно по-разному воспринимались в России местными жителями и заезжими европейцами (немцами), равно как и излишне европеизированными соотечественниками. Такие ситуации описаны в русской литературе, они, можно сказать, хрестоматийны. И нет ничего удивительного в том, что основная масса крестьянского населения страны (не все) ощущала непосредственно то, что значительная часть образованного сословия (славянофилы, народники) пыталась выразить рационально (философия) или метафизически (художественные образы) громадную значимость общины как для прошлого, так и для будущего России. Остается сожалеть, что в первую часть книги «“Особый путь”: от идеологии к методу», где разбирается российский контекст концепции «особый путь», не вошла работа, которая была бы специально посвящена таким темам, как общинный менталитет, и то, что некоторые социологи сегодня обозначают как «моральная экономика». Это могло бы сделать особый путь России менее эфемерным, чем это всегда представлялось прогрессистам западнического толка. Вторую часть книги составили тексты европейцев о Европе на тему “Sonderweg” о том, как немецким историкам представляется особая миссия Германии и насколько таковые их представления правомерны. Все эти сюжеты получают очень профессиональное обобщение в завершающей данный цикл статье В.С. Дубиной «Особый путь теории “Sonderweg” в интерпретации национальной истории». Она подчеркивает, что в современной немецкой историографии представления о “Sonderweg” истории Германии довольно разнообразны, и можно говорить даже о разнообразных “Sonderwege”. Любой из них неизбежно связан с идеей того, что следует считать нормой. И такая ситуация, казалось бы, несовместимая с научным характером историографии, парадоксальным образом спасает именно ее научность, с одной стороны, смягчая внешнее принуждение к покаянию, а с другой стороны, способствуя лучшему представлению о том, какого рода компаративистика должна лежать в основе методологии.

Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles

Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles

Chemistry and Industry: A Tale of Two Moving Targets

There are many histories of the chemical industry but very few systematic studies that portray the changing relations between chemistry and industry. This essay tackles the issue by looking to evolving practices and to changes in semantics in particular. On the practical level, both chemistry and industry changed greatly between about 1750 and 1950, which led to different types of interactions over the course of time. Special attention is paid to the emergence and subsequent history of the concept of the “Second Industrial Revolution” (ca. 1870–1900). It is argued—and illustrated by several examples—that historians using that concept have tended to underestimate the role of chemistry in industry before about 1870 and have overestimated its role after that date. The rhetorical repertoires of historical actors had great influence on the ways historians later perceived the period of the Second Industrial Revolution. Moreover, the meanings of the key words that we use to describe historical processes have changed considerably over time. The meanings of the terms “chemistry” and “industry” both changed, as did those of terms such as “technology,” “art,” “science,” “philosophy,” and “knowledge.” This happened most fundamentally between about 1750 and 1850, a period called a Sattelzeit (transition period) by the German historian Reinhart Koselleck for that very reason. Awareness of those semantic changes is crucial for a better understanding of the changing relationships between chemistry and industry, especially for the period before about 1850.

The Executioner’s Journal: Meister Frantz Schmidt of the Imperial City of Nuremberg. Translated by Joel F. Harrington. Studies in Early Modern German History. Edited by H. C. Erik Midelfort.Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2016. Pp. lxiv+172. $55.00 (cloth); $24.50 (paper and e-book).

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsThe Executioner’s Journal: Meister Frantz Schmidt of the Imperial City of Nuremberg. Translated by Joel F. Harrington. Studies in Early Modern German History. Edited by H. C. Erik Midelfort.Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2016. Pp. lxiv+172. $55.00 (cloth); $24.50 (paper and e-book).Laura StokesLaura StokesStanford University Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Modern History Volume 90, Number 3September 2018 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/698805 Views: 109Total views on this site For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

German Modernities from Wilhelm to Weimar: A Contest of Futures. Edited by Geoff Eley, Jennifer L. Jenkins, and Tracie Matysik.London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. Pp. xii+360. $122.00 (cloth); $39.95 (paper); $28.99 (PDF or EPUB e-book).Rewriting German History: New Perspectives on Modern Germany. Edited by Jan Rüger and Nikolaus Wachsmann.Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Pp. xxiv+336. $109.00 (cloth); $84.99 (PDF or EPUB e-book).Different

<i>German Modernities from Wilhelm to Weimar: A Contest of Futures</i>. Edited by Geoff Eley, Jennifer L. Jenkins, and Tracie Matysik.London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. Pp. xii+360. $122.00 (cloth); $39.95 (paper); $28.99 (PDF or EPUB e-book).<i>Rewriting German History: New Perspectives on Modern Germany</i>. Edited by Jan Rüger and Nikolaus Wachsmann.Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Pp. xxiv+336. $109.00 (cloth); $84.99 (PDF or EPUB e-book).<i>Different

Bronson Long, No Easy Occupation. French Control of the German Saar, 1944–1957. (German History in Context.) Rochester, NY 2015

Bronson Long, No Easy Occupation. French Control of the German Saar, 1944–1957. (German History in Context.) Rochester, NY 2015