Nazi Aggression Research Articles

«Muza tozhe tam zhila…»: literatura i iskusstvo Sverdlovska v gody Velikoj Otechestvennoj vojny

This article gives a detailed description of the cultural processes that contributed to the mobilization of Soviet society to fight against Nazi aggression during the Great Patriotic War. The author notes that during this period, a successful ideological and educational center was formed in Sverdlovsk, one of the largest cities in the Urals, as a result of a combination of local spiritual potential and evacuated cultural values. The article concludes that creative work of literary and artistic figures in the defense-patriotic direction actively contributed to the unification of all forces of the country to defeat the enemy.

Stalin's “Soft Power”: Activities of the Commissioner for Foreign Military Formations in the USSR During the Great Patriotic War

Foreign military formations established on the Soviet territory, more than anything else, epitomised the coalition nature of the struggle against Nazi aggression. In the latter stages of the war, they became a powerful tool for promoting the geopolitical interests of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe, in connection with which the formation of alien troops received a new powerful impetus. The article draws on the documents of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, which are introduced into the academic circuit for the first time. The author analyses the activities of a special body of military administration directly subordinate to the highest leadership of the country, namely the Commissioner for Foreign Formations in the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. He coordinated and supervised the formation of Polish, Czechoslovak, and Yugoslav military units both within the Soviet military establishment and at the interdepartmental and international levels. In the research literature, this institution has been very poorly studied and current knowledge about it is fragmentary, which determines its academic relevance. It was a highly effective instrument of Soviet “soft power&8j1;, which facilitated the extension of the Stalinist leadership's military and political influence over the countries of Eastern Europe. During the war years, the institution of the Commissioner underwent a complex evolution, changing its functions and its name several times. The direct command vertical between Stalin and the Commissioner invariably remained unchanged, which provided the latter with extremely wide administrative and control possibilities, despite the fact that this institution was not even clearly defined.

Opowieść o toruńskich pomnikach patriotycznych z lat 1920–1939. Rok po roku

The period when the Polish lands (including Toruń) were under Prussian partition was not conducive to create the Polish patriotic monuments. The return of Toruń to the motherland in 1920 changed this situation and allowed for activities commemorating outstanding people or events. In addition to the initiatives to celebrate Polish heroes and historical events, the existing monuments inherited from the Prussians were verified. The Germans withdrawing from Toruń took some monuments with them. Of those left behind, the monuments representing German militarism were destroyed. The only exception was a monument for Bavarian soldiers who defended Toruń against the Russians. Monuments from the interwar period enjoyed a variety of forms, but not many of them were outstanding in artistic terms. It should be noted that in the interwar period, most patriotic monuments were dedicated to soldiers or military units. In second place in terms of the number are religious monuments with strong references to Polishness. Not many monuments and plaques promoting Polishness were created by civilians – exceptions are, among others, plaques of the mayor of Dr. Steinborn, voivode Łaszewski, astronomer Copernicus, or the monument to the composer Moniuszko. In total, about 30 monuments and commemorative plaques were created. Two objects were added to the objects discussed in this study, which were one of the symbols of the interwar Toruń - church dedicated to Christ the King, and a new road bridge across the Vistula. Unfortunately, most patriotic monuments were destroyed within a few days after Germans entered Toruń during Nazi aggression in 1939 in Poland In the period of the Polish People’s Republic, no pre-war „sanation” monuments were rebuilt. Only after 1990 it was possible to recreate some old monuments, such as the Mother of God Queen of the Polish Crown. In place of the monuments smashed by the Germans, they are now completely new in form, in new excellent locations. For example, it happened with the monuments of General Haller and Marshal Piłsudski. Unfortunately, until today, the monument of the 63rd Infantry Regiment „Children of Toruń” has been forgotten. One must be glad, that the remains of communist propaganda which specialized in placing their numerous monuments and plaques disappear from the city landscape. The theme of Torun patriotic monuments of the interwar period is still open and needs to be more detailed.

Beyond the Ideological Framework: Historiographical Approaches to Examining Agency Within Austrian World War Two Involvement

The Anschluss of Austria in 1938 was a major moment for Nazi expansion in Europe. This German annexation has often been framed to portray Austria as the “first victim” in Nazi aggression, placing blame for crimes agaisnt humanity on the Nazi ideology, rather than Austrian individuals or groups complicit with colaboration. This paper seeks to deconstruct this historiographical understanding based on ideology and analyze the impact of agency in examining Austria’s history with Nazism, the Holocaust, and coming to terms with problematic history.

Freud's Moses, Schoenberg's Moses, and the Tragic Quest for Purity

In this essay, I review some general known parallels between Freud and Schoenberg, and what threads of influence can be discovered. I will briefly describe each of the two Moses works, followed by a summary of previous scholarly comparisons. I conclude with some new speculations about their different portrayals of this ancient biblical figure– and the ways in which their separate accounts reflect the larger preoccupations of each of them in the face of the trauma of Nazi aggression.

Great Britain and the Third Reich: From Pacification to Confrontation

The article presents the dynamics of Anglo-German relations in the 1930s, the distinguishing feature of which was the encouragement of the daring and aggressive initiatives of the Third Reich by Great Britain. Examining the political and diplomatic position of Great Britain, the author comes to the conclusion that it was dictated by the fact that through concessions and appeasement of Nazi political and diplomatic ambitions Hitler's foreign policy interests had to be redirected exclusively to the East, thereby securing the West from Nazi aggression. The British, based on anti-Soviet views, were guided solely by the categories of blind national egoism and opportunism; with the help of Nazi Germany, they sought to build a new world order without the USSR. In this political and diplomatic game that unfolded in the pre-war period Hitler outplayed the British. The article focuses on the transformation of the position of Nazi Germany towards Great Britain from anglophile to confrontational views, which was dictated by the understanding of the Nazi political elite that generous British concessions helped Hitler achieve tremendous diplomatic success, and therefore he no longer needed the "services" of the British. British political and diplomatic strategies of the 1930s were doomed to failure, and the result of this short-sighted policy was another world catastrophe, which could have been avoided by creating a collective security system initiated by the Soviet Union. The article analyzes the nature of political and diplomatic initiatives and maneuvers used by the British and Germans to achieve their foreign policy goals.

Budapest’s Living Memorial and the Reperformance of Countermemory

Condemned as a “forgery of history,” Budapest’s “Memorial to the Victims of the German Invasion of 1944” depicts Hungary as a victim of Nazi aggression, ignoring the state’s active participation in the deportation and murder of Hungarian Jews, Roma, homosexuals, and others. Since 2014, activists have maintained the nearby living memorial, inviting visitors to leave mementoes and converse about Hungary’s past, current events, and the national future. Reperforming the official monument, the living memorial disrupts the government’s problematic revisionism. We theorize reperformance as a tool for engaging the politics of contested memory and modeling democratic culture.

Großraum: teoretyczne uzasadnienie hitlerowskich podbojów czy nowy porządek prawnomiędzynarodowy?

The doctrine of “Great Space” is one of the basic conceptual categories in Carl Schmitt’s extensive and often inconsistent political and legal thought. Studying the extensive research on the life and work of this lawyer, carried out by representatives of various sciences and political orientations, we can get the impression that in comparison with decisionism, the characteristics of a receivership and sovereign dictatorship, looking for analogies between religious and political and systemic concepts referred to as political theology, the figures of the enemy and friend accompanying the Concept of the Political, Großraum remains the least thoroughly investigated. There are at least a few reasons for this, but the most important seems to be the reluctance that is constantly present in many circles, resulting from the strong relationship of this concept with the period of accession to the NSDAP and the conviction that its purpose is only to justify Nazi aggression during the Second World War. Meanwhile, the research problem is much more complex, and the Nazi episode alone in Carl Schmitt’s over 97-year-long life does not provide unambiguous conclusions among the authors who deal with his thought in their scientific works.
 The main purpose of this article is to determine whether the Großraum in fact justifies the Nazi conquests, or whether it may also be legitimate to claim that it is a vision of a new international legal order drawn up by a lawyer closely scrutinizing the surrounding political reality. An attempt to answer this question should be preceded by thorough considerations quoting the jurist’s attitude to the development and the hitherto nature of public international law. In this respect, it is crucial to analyze the breakdown of the ius publicum Europaeum, refer to the essence and purpose of the American Monroe doctrine, as well as thoroughly examine the concept of Großraum, which presents the researcher with a difficult task requiring its verification both politically and legally. The presented analysis will therefore take into account the historical, political, and legal levels and will implement the belief in the comprehensive nature of the issue under study. The final part of the article will include an analysis of the consequences of Großraum doctrine that led to the internment of Schmitt and the trial where the most important is his interrogation by Robert M.W. Kempner. All these issues will bring us closer to establishing the true meaning of the “Great Space” theory and shed new light on research devoted to Schmitt, dubiously described as the “crown jurist of the Third Reich”.

THE SELECTIVE MEMORY ОF US-SOVIET COOPERATION DURING WORLD WAR II

By the time the US formally recognized the Soviet Union in 1933, the American economy was in desperate circumstances. President Roosevelt hoped that the new relationship would generate a prosperous trade between the two countries. When Germany, Italy, and Japan threatened world peace, a vigor- ous “America First” movement developed to keep the US out of the international conflicts. By the time the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939, this be- came increasingly difficult. The US, instead, became “the arsenal of democracy” and supported the efforts of the British and, by 1941, the Russians to defeat Nazi aggression, particularly through the Lend-Lease program. Although after the war, the Soviets tended to minimize American, the residual good will from that effort prevailed despite serious conflicts. The Cold War did not become hot, and even produced scientific and cultural cooperation on occasion.

Jews, Nazis, and the Cinema of Hungary: The Tragedy of Success, 1929–44

Jews, Nazis, and the Cinema of Hungary: The Tragedy of Success, 1929–44

Dedicated to the librarians of the war period

The structure and contents of the textbook published by Orel State Institute of Culture in the year of the 75-th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War is reviewed. The learning aid is intended for education bachelors in the discipline 071900 «Library and information activities». The reviewer emphasizes the relevancy of the publication within the context of the attempts being made to revise the results and causes of the World War II. The textbook comprises vast factual material on robbing and annihilation of cultural values by the Third Reich; on saving the Soviet library book collections during the Nazi aggression; on the heroic deeds of librarians who were saving the collections. The book provides insight into the country’s book losses during the Great Patriotic War (WWII) and the restitution issues. The reviewer identifies several limitations of the book: no discussion of front line support by the libraries, of establishing library branches at hospitals and mobile libraries in bomb shelters and Moscow metro. The reviewer also emphasizes the need for publishing an expanded and updated edition of the textbook at large publishers’.

WAR-INFLUENCED BIOGRAPHY OF TYUMEN MEN OF LETTERS, THE ALUMNI AND FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TYUMEN

In the face of increasing falsification of the Great Patriotic War facts, the evidence of contemporary witnesses and the objective coverage of those events are becoming increasingly important. In this regard, the creative writing by Russian writers and poets is especially significant, especially first and foremost by those who personally took part in combat during the military operations against the Nazi aggression or worked on the home front. The following article is devoted to writers and poets of Tyumen, namely to the alumni and faculty from the University of Tyumen, on whose fate and creative writing the Great Patriotic War left its deep trails, becoming the major topic of their writing. Their names and biographies were revealed in the course of research in 2015-2020. The authors have collected the students’ and academic staff’s stories about their parts in the war and their meditations, which has substantially supplemented the data about the University’s history during the war and its contribution to the Victory. Using the historical biographical and comparative approaches, the authors have studied war-time biographies of the Tyumen authors, presented little known facts of their frontline and working life, as well as analyzed their reflections in the following literary creative work of the Tyumenians, of which memoirs and non-fiction prose have become the most prolific genres. This article comprises biographical data on eleven war veterans, home front workers, and children of war — writers and poets, closely related to one of the leading university of Tyumen and the Tyumen Region.

War, Snipers, and Rage from <em>Enemy at the Gates</em> to <em>American Sniper</em>

Shooting people, murder and war are inherently violent activities to which the concept of rage might seem inextricably linked, but deeper examination reveals levels of complexity. Despite what we often perceive, soldiers are actually trained to operate in a calm and dispassionate manner. This is especially the case for military snipers, who perform the role of hiding in the battlefield, waiting for the chance to take single aimed shots to kill an unsuspecting enemy. My study examines the concept of rage and compares the level of rage in the film American Sniper (2014), set in the Iraq war with that of Enemy at the Gates (2001), set during the siege of Stalingrad in the Second World War. I argue that a form of controlled rage can be seen in the world of the sniper, and I set this against the acceptance of violence in an America where mass shootings appear to be an ever-growing expression of individual rage.

The United States and World Fascism: Teaching Human Rights through the Spanish Civil War

The United States and World Fascism: Teaching Human Rights through the Spanish Civil War Sebastiaan Faber They are, says Canute Frankson, “a small group of degenerates gone mad in their lust for power” (Nelson and Hendricks 33–35). According to Henry Wallace, they are “most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact”: “Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity.” What is more, they “use isolationism as a slogan to conceal their own selfish imperialism” and “claim to be super-patriots, but . . . would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution” (Wallace 7). They are “our problem,” Hy Katz adds. What they represent “may come to us as it came in other countries” (Nelson and Hendricks 31–33). Current as they may sound, these warnings are more than seventy years old. Canute Frankson was born in Jamaica in 1890; he had emigrated to the United States when he was 27 and worked as a mechanic in an automobile plant in Detroit, Michigan. Hy Katz, born in 1914, was the son of Polish immigrants in Brooklyn, New York. Henry Wallace, the oldest of the three, was born in 1888. He served as the thirty-third Vice President of the United States (1941–45) and as Secretary of Agriculture (1933–40) and Commerce (1945–46). The three hailed from different generations, ethnicities, classes, and cultures. What they had in common was their aversion of fascism—and their conviction that it had to be stopped. Frankson and Katz volunteered to fight fascism in the Spanish Civil War after the Second Republic was attacked by a Hitler- and Mussolini-backed military coup in 1936. The passages quoted above are from letters they wrote from Spain. Frankson’s letter, date-marked Albacete, July 6, 1937, is to a friend. Katz writes on November 25 of that same year, to his mother, who had only just found out what her son was doing in Europe. (“Claire writes me that you know I’m in Spain,” he tells her. “Of course, you know that the reason I didn’t tell you where I was is that I didn’t want to hurt you” [Nelson and Hendricks 31–33]) Wallace’s quotes are from a later and much more public text: a 1,800-word article published in the New York Times on April 9, 1944, in which the then-Vice President tried to define—and warn his readers against—what he called “American Fascism.” Why should we consider now, almost two decades into the twenty-first century, how these three men defined a political phenomenon they saw emerging around them in the 1930s and 40s? More to the point, why should middle- or high-school students care? Two years ago, on election night in November 2016, “fascism” was the most looked-up word on Merriam-Webster’s website. In that year’s overall ranking, it came in second. Since then, as we know, the concept has emerged with increasing urgency in public debate. In 2018, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright—who in 1938 was forced to leave her native Prague in the wake of Nazi aggression—published her book Fascism: A Warning. In early 2017, the historian Timothy Snyder published On Tyranny, which, like Albright’s book, returns to the worst moments of twentieth-century history in search of lessons for the present. So what is fascism? And is it really making a comeback? Those who turned to the dictionary on election night found the following description: “a political philosophy, movement, or regime [End Page 9] (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.” Definitions like these are useful, to be sure. Yet they are not necessarily productive from a pedagogical point of view. For young people today who want to learn about fascism, it’s one thing to read a dictionary or textbook definition—but it’s quite another to read first-hand how fascism was observed, experienced, and defined by people on the ground who translated their analysis of...

Espionage in British Fiction and Film since 1900: The Changing Enemy by Oliver S. Buckton, Espionage and Exile: Fascism and Anti-fascism in British Spy Fiction and Film by Phyllis Lassner

Espionage in British Fiction and Film since 1900: The Changing Enemy by Oliver S. Buckton, Espionage and Exile: Fascism and Anti-fascism in British Spy Fiction and Film by Phyllis Lassner

‘Raging Rumors’: American Diplomats’ Reportage from Latvia and Estonia, 1938–1940

ABSTRACT‘Raging Rumors’ examines how the Soviet invasion and annexation unfolded in Latvia and Estonia. The reportage of American diplomats documents Nazi and Soviet aggression and the loss of neutrality for Latvia and Estonia. American diplomats at post recorded what they witnessed, but also what they were told by their contacts, thus providing readers with Latvian and Estonian governmental perspectives and world views. As spectators with a front-row seat watching how the Second World War began, the American diplomats reported back to Washington. This article sheds light on what transpired in Latvia and Estonia, how Latvians and Estonians perceived of their situation, and how the US government engaged and failed to engage in the Baltic.

A comparison of civil religion and remembrance culture in Germany and Japan

AbstractJapan and Germany were allies during World War II, and both countries committed crimes. Even though the Nazi persecution of Jews in Germany was unprecedented in history, Japan has also been found guilty of serious misdemeanours. Today, Germany acknowledges the magnitude of its responsibility and strives to deal with this legacy. However, in Japan, we find no consensus on dealing with the matter. Nonetheless, it would be short-sighted to conclude that Germany did a better job than Japan from the outset. In analysing the different approaches to remembrance culture in the two countries, we use the theoretical framework ofcivil religionto assess the impacts of the respective civil religions on the culture of commemoration. We hereby analyzed the structural factors as well as the influence of individual political behaviour. Immediately after the war, neither Germany nor Japan were interested in coming to terms with their past. Both countries were subject to Western integration, and both countries experienced remarkable economic growth. One of the major differences between both countries concerns civil religion. While Germany no longer relied on strong nationalism-based politics and instead pursued European integration, in Japan. Shintôism has continued to influence feelings of national belonging, making it more difficult to establish a critical dialogue with the past. Further differences are apparent: the Western origin of Japan’s constitution, the conflicting international environment in Japan, the late regime change, differences in education and, most importantly, the impacts of generational change in Germany. The 1968 student generation strongly condemned Nazi aggression and demanded that the older generation face responsibility, which strongly contributed to a reappraisal of the past in the public sphere.

Forgotten People and Places: ‘Stalin’s Poles’ in Persia, India and Africa, 1942–50

Often overlooked in histories of displaced persons (DPs) who came to Australia after the Second World War are those who suffered Soviet rather than Nazi aggression, and who found salvation in DP camps outside of Europe. This article addresses this relative neglect by exploring the fate of Polish citizens who were deported to the Soviet Union during the war and spent up to eight years in DP camps in the Middle East, India and Africa before arriving in Australia. These camps provided a level of security and physical, psychological, and moral rehabilitation that historians argue was largely absent from the European DP camps after the war.This article has been peer reviewed.

Иранский фактор англо-советского сближения после нацистского нападения на Советский Союз (июнь–июль 1941 г.)

Иранский фактор англо-советского сближения после нацистского нападения на Советский Союз (июнь–июль 1941 г.)

“We are here to salute the Red Army”: Basil Dean and His Russian Adventures

In 1943, Britain had been at war with Nazi Germany for over three years. The USSR had become a rather unlikely British ally in 1941, and after two years of brutal conflict had begun to gain an advantage against German troops, who were demoralized by the fierce Russian winter and a lack of supplies. With this as a backdrop, on 21 February 1943, more than two thousand participants performed a large-scale pageant called Salute to the Red Army at the Royal Albert Hall in London to commemorate Red Army Day and celebrate the Soviet–British alliance against Nazi aggression. British cities such as Cardiff, Manchester, and Bristol also honored Britain's Russian allies with marches, rallies, and other celebrations. The pageant was London's contribution to these nationwide festivities. Although the audience at the Royal Albert Hall event comprised selected and invited guests, enormous crowds attended other regional events, as did prominent military dignitaries, members of local councils, local members of Parliament, and Russian military guests. This multicity event is one demonstration of how the extremes of war produce unlikely bedfellows.