Nazi Germany Research Articles

Was Nazi Germany an “Accommodating Dictatorship”? A Comparative Perspective on Taxation of the Rich in World War II

AbstractGötz Aly's bookHitler's Beneficiariesconsiders the Nazi regime an “accommodating dictatorship.” According to Aly, the majority of the population benefited from the Nazis’ war. He sums up Nazi tax policy under the headings “Tax Breaks for the Masses” and “Tax Rigor for the Bourgeoisie.” This perspective represented progress in that, until then, tax policy had not featured in any of the major historical overviews of National Socialism. For a more in-depth assessment of Nazi tax policy, however, it must be compared against the tax policies of Germany's wartime enemies. I compare tax policies in Germany, Britain, and the United States and show that Aly's theories do not hold. They are neither consistent with the declared intentions of those who imposed these policies nor with the results as reflected in the relevant statistics.

Financial exploitation and mental health among Holocaust survivors: the moderating role of posttraumatic symptoms.

We examined whether anxiety and depressive symptoms associated with self-reported history of financial exploitation (FE) are more pronounced among Holocaust survivors (HS), especially those with high-level posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Self-report questionnaires completed online via Qualtrics. An online-based survey conducted in Israel. A community-based cohort of 137 Israeli older adults born prior to 1945 were included in the study sample. HS (n = 61) were participants who reported living in a European country occupied or dominated by Nazi or pro-Nazi regimes between 1939 and 1945. Groups were further subdivided into survivors with low or high levels of PTSD symptoms (≥31 on the PTSD Checklist; PCL-5). Questionnaires assessed FE history, posttraumatic symptoms (PCL-5), depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), and anxiety (GAD-7). Age, education, self-rated health, and non-Holocaust lifetime adversity were also measured and included as covariates. Hierarchical linear regression models revealed that relationships between FE and depressive and anxiety symptoms were significant only among survivors (p = 0.005 and p = 0.008, respectively). The interaction between PTSD symptom level group and FE was also significant for both depressive (p = 0.007) and anxiety (p = 0.012) symptoms, such that survivors with PTSD who reported FE had significantly greater symptoms of depression and anxiety compared to all other groups. Findings suggest that the experience of FE may be particularly impactful among survivors who continue to struggle with posttraumatic symptoms related to the Holocaust. Future studies may consider examining whether findings are relevant to other groups with PTSD.

Gestalt theory in 20th-century history.

During the century from the 1890 publication of Ehrenfels's proposition on Gestaltqualitäten to the 1989 dissolution of the European states governed by Marxist orthodoxy, Gestalt theory was drawn into the political fray in several ways. It was grotesquely misappropriated during the Nazi regime in support of race, territorial expansion, and war aims. On the other side, because it was seen as having a subjectivist taint, the Gestalt approach was anathema where dialectical materialist dogma reigned. In contrast, close reading of the seminal 1912 Wertheimer paper and the 1920 Köhler book reveals that the Gestalt founders' views accord well with current Gestalt research.

Spatial Economics and Totalitarian Temptations

Among the German spatial economists August Lösch is arguably the one who has had the biggest lasting influence on international academic literature. After his death in May 1945, a legend was created according to which he was a fierce opponent to national socialism. This was part of the attempts of his former colleagues and of the German economics community at large to disguise the extent of their own involvement and their agency in advising economic and social policies of the Nazi regime. The political context of spatial planning during the Second World War was particularly damning as it in many cases presupposed genocides on nations such as Poles and Russians and on religious groups such as Jews. It was precisely with regards to Eastern Europe that Lösch’s theoretical contributions were deemed to be particularly valuable. However, the legend of his supposed opposition contained a grain of truth as he was indeed appalled by central aspects of Nazi ideology. Yet, the ability of a totalitarian regime such as the “Third Reich” to integrate the contributions of a brilliant mind and somebody who saw himself as an independent and unpolitical scholar into its decentralized and collaborative spatial research apparatus is what makes Lösch’s biography particularly interesting and relevant today.

General Franco and the ‘Jewish Question’

ABSTRACT General Franco's dictatorship maintained a relationship with the genocidal process promoted by Nazi Germany during the Second World War (1939-1945) that has been the object of political and historiographical discussion. While Franco's detractors denounced his open complicity with the Holocaust pursuant his anti-Semitic impulses, his supporters praised the assistance he provided on humanitarian grounds to the Jewish population persecuted during the Holocaust. Accurate and diachronic analysis of Franco's own ideas and of his regime's conduct during the six-year conflict presents a more complex image that precludes unequivocal subscription to one or other of these positions.

Calculating war, calculating peace: the Rockefeller Foundation and science research in Britain

ABSTRACT The history of reconstruction and philanthropic aid efforts in Western Europe after the Second World War ended cannot be fully understood without examining the wartime networks, scientific projects and miscalculations of Allied planners. This case study of a Rockefeller Foundation project in Second World War Britain shows that the war gave scientists studying human nutrition an opportunity to conduct research on an unprecedented scale, with an unprecedented level of government support. The war thus paradoxically extended the vitality of certain international health projects at a time when support for many public health institutions and personnel was suspended. Nutrition research projects in Britain made considerable gains in refining the measurement and definition of malnutrition during the war, yet had little access to information about the fallout from food shortages operating across the Channel in occupied territory. Planning a rational, efficient system for dealing with hunger in liberated post-war territories proved to be an elusive goal. Only with the end of war in Europe could Allied scientists begin to witness the full force and extent of starvation policies imposed on civilians and prisoners by the Nazi regime and its allies. After assessing full-fledged starvation cases in the spring of 1945, a number of researchers who had worked in wartime Britain turned to assessing nutritional deficiencies in wider populations in Western Europe. The reconstruction period in Allied-occupied Germany provided a new set of opportunities for testing the effects of civilian rationing policies.

Against anticipation, or, camp reading as reparative to the trans feminine past: A microhistory in Nazi‐Era Vienna

AbstractWhether trans people – especially trans women – were persecuted by the Nazi regime remains a contested yet under‐researched topic. But the wider political backdrop (including the culture wars and Holocaust memorialisation practices) steers this historical question with a monolithic value: victimisation. This hyper‐focus on victimisation is underpinned by a ‘paranoia’ that pre‐empts tragic historical narratives. Trans histories that do not neatly map onto tragic narration are therefore deemed unthinkable and remain absent from the nascent literature. In a move against paranoid anticipation, this article puts forward an argument for a ‘Camp reading’ practice that embraces ‘insincere’ and ironic material to recalibrate which trans stories are deigned to be given a history. The microhistory of Bella P. in Nazi‐era Vienna acts as a case study in divesting from the politics of victimhood, that challenges the historian's anticipatory impulses, offering the trans feminine past under National Socialism a ‘reparative’ entry into the historical canon on its own terms.

MICROHISTORIES OF HEIMAT IN THE THIRD REICH

ABSTRACTIn the Third Reich, ideas about Heimat became entwined with racial fantasies about blood and soil. This article investigates the dynamics and consequences of this development based on a study of the kinship network of Annemarie and Heinrich Brenzinger from Freiburg (Breisgau). The Brenzingers subscribed to a ‘völkisch’ worldview which conceptualised Heimat as a refuge for kinship groups connected to their locality through lineage. While völkisch groups assisted the Nazi regime in amplifying a fascistic discourse which predated the dictatorship, they also influenced the culture of the Third Reich according to their own ideas. The Nazi regime accepted their activities as part of a transformation of society which required civil engagement. A contrasting reading of Heimat is found in the letters of the Jewish members of this kinship network who were forced from their homeland. It is further elucidated by émigré writers who carefully avoided the völkisch aspects of the Heimat narrative and employed alternative definitions of belonging. By historicising the concepts of Heimat contained in the family collection of the Brenzingers, this article sheds light on the narrowing of the Heimat discourse in Nazi Germany and recovers some of the marginalised voices that resisted it.

Cannibalizing Bach: Villa-Lobos in Europe, 1936

Abstract During the 1930s, Heitor Villa-Lobos concentrated his efforts on coordinating Brazilian musical education. As such, he changed his compositional style and did not travel to Europe again until 1936. This article examines Villa-Lobos's trip to Europe in 1936, drawing on Florencia Garramuño's call to ‘incorporate avant-garde voyages as founding moments’ for an autochthonous national character in music. During his journey, Villa-Lobos represented Brazil in different settings: as a deputy at the International Congress of Music Education in Prague and as a composer in under-the-radar political negotiations with Nazi Germany in Berlin. Considering the authoritarian Vargas Regime, Brazilian modernism, and the dialectical relation between nationalism and internationalism, I argue that this trip served as a catalyst for a new creative phase, culminating in the series of Bachianas brasileiras, a resignification of J. S. Bach's music and legacy in the context of his interpretation of Brazilian Antropofagia (cultural cannibalism).

Austrian memory to be discarded, deformed and deposited: An analysis of Eva Menasse's Dunkelblum

AbstractFrom the perspective of memory studies, this paper analyzes the unique Austrian mechanisms and mentalities regarding its Nazi memory across generations, as reflected in Eva Menasse's Dunkelblum (2021). This novel is another of Menasse's critical observations of Austria's collective silence and distinctive processes of discarding, deforming, and depositing its Nazi history and memory. Exceeding the scope of family history and memory, Dunkelblum portrays how a fictive Austrian city on the country's border with Hungary functions as a witness and participant of the Nazi Holocaust and a potential recorder of the memory. The novel also discloses and analyzes Austria's complex and controversial phases of denial, evasion, and subsequent acknowledgment of its deeds in the Nazi Holocaust. Different from the war generation, a new generation retrieves, preserves, and transmits the local memory through diverse mnemonic techniques and thus explores the collaboration, silence, and agony of its hometown and its nation during the Nazi regime.

Polacy o rzekomym narodowym socjalizmie Stefana Georgego

The controversy surrounding Stefan George as an alleged precursor of National Socialism is discernible in his Polish reception. The question of George’s links with National Socialism, or the possible lack thereof, is taken up in works by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Paweł Hertz, Wilhelm Szewczyk, Krystyna Kamińska, Aleksander Rogalski and Andrzej Lam, among others. This article presents their content in a cross-cutting manner. The attitudes of Polish audiences towardsthe problem of the ‘George – nationalist’ are very diverse. They include a strong condemnation of George as a co-creator of Nazi ideology, a distrust of George who unwittingly contributed to the later exploitation of his work and an apologia for George as a victim of the Nazi regime. The most recent reception of George is dominated by the narrative of a ‘George the humanist’, an opponent of nationalist and racist ideas whose name must be cleansed.

Manoeuvring Across Academia in National Socialist Germany: The Life and Work of Devendra Nath Bannerjea

The article investigates the possibilities and limits for the academic Devendra Nath Bannerjea to find employment in National Socialist Germany by producing—what he imagined to be—useful knowledge for the state. Bannerjea, who came from the Punjab in northwestern India via London, Geneva and Rome to Berlin, defies neat categorization. He was neither a National Socialist scholar, nor can he be solely understood as an Indian anticolonial nationalist. In the more than four decades he spent in Europe, Bannerjea appeared in many different roles—as an anticolonial rebel, false diplomat, researcher, and endeavouring professor. Despite his employment in different educational institutions, his publications, and his political and academic networks, he remained a second row intellectual and political activist. His activities led to repeated conflicts, first with British and later Nazi authorities, because of his radical ideas and claims to intellectual egalitarianism on the one hand, and, even more often, because of his ‘creative’ efforts to improve his precarious living conditions on the other.The article explores the relationship between knowledge production and National Socialist state politics through the lens of Bannerjea’s life, focussing on the exchange of resources between Bannerjea and the National Socialist apparatus. Against the backdrop of the social circumstances of his livelihood, it investigates the knowledge produced by Bannerjea and the rewards he received from the National Socialist regime in return.

Knowledge of India as an Instrument of Nazi Politics: Ludwig Alsdorf, German Indology and Indian Anti-Colonialism

Ludwig Alsdorf (1904–1978) is primarily remembered as a scholar of ancient and medieval India. This paper examines a little known aspect of Alsdorf’s career: his role as an expert of modern India in Nazi Germany. Alsdorf, who was in India from 1930 to 1932, joined the NSDAP and a few of its subsidiaries after 1933. Political contacts as well as his claims of having “first-hand experience” of India secured Alsdorf writing assignments that aimed to fulfil the regime’s political objectives. In return, he gained professional advancement and the reputation of being an authority on modern India. This paper reviews Alsdorf’s trajectory within the NS state by focussing on the following aspects: the ways in which Alsdorf offered his knowledge of India to the Nazi regime; the material and symbolic resources that he received in return; the relative importance of political affiliations, professional networks and academic accomplishments for Alsdorf’s career; the “politics of the past” practised by Alsdorf and some of peers after 1945; and the (re)presentation of the “uses” of Indology in the “Third Reich” and in the Federal Republic of Germany by Alsdorf and his colleagues.

National or Multicultural? A Common Narrative about History in the Baltic States after 1991

In this article, I describe common narratives of history in postcommunist Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia and explore the intersection between multiculturalism and memory politics. I argue that dealing with history is a challenge in these countries and can be seen as part of a broader issue of memory politics in societies that have experienced trauma during the Nazi and Soviet eras. The hypothesis that I developed, based on my empirical analysis, is that it makes visible how a difficult process of negotiating competing memories can, under certain circumstances, lead to dialogical remembrance. The article also pays attention to unexpected events, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which gives a new dynamic to this process. The original contribution of this article is an analysis of historical narratives in three national museums, with a special focus on how these museums deal with the injustices and traumas experienced by different ethnic groups in the Baltic states. The final section of the article is devoted to the reaction of people in these countries to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, and how this relates to the politics of history created in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia after 1991.

Enoch Powell’s The History of Herodotus and Three Letters from Felix Jacoby: A Rude Preface, Nazi Germany, and Antisemitism

Enoch Powell’s The History of Herodotus and Three Letters from Felix Jacoby: A Rude Preface, Nazi Germany, and Antisemitism

Low-Temperature Superplasticity of the 1565ch Al–Mg Alloy in Ultrafine-Grained and Nanostructured States

—Homogeneous nanostructured and ultrafine grained (NS, UFG) states with mean grain sizes of 95 and 200 nm, respectively, have been formed in a 1565ch Al–Mg alloy (Al–5.66Mg–0.81Mn–0.67Zn–0.09Zr–0.07Cr–0.04Ti–0.001Be–0.3(Fe + Si) wt %). Microstructure of both states is represented by grain boundaries with predominantly high-angle misorientations. The alloy, produced both by high pressure torsion at room temperature and equal channel angular pressing at 200°C using the Conform approach, exhibits superplasticity at low temperatures in the range 250–300°C and strain rates in the range of 5 × 10–4–10–2 s–1. Elongation values range 170–560%, while the rate sensitivity coefficient (m) varies from 0.3 to 0.73 at low flow stress for both NS and UFG structures. The temperature range for the stability of strength properties of the 1565ch alloy in NS and UFG states after thermal and thermal mechanical treatments has been determined. The material in both structural states maintains a high level of strength after undergoing deformation under SP conditions. The deformation relief formed on the gage surface of the NS and UFG specimens of the 1565ch alloy during the established SP yield stage has been analyzed.

MANIFESTATION OF SUPERPLASTICITY AT LOWER TEMPERATURES OF 1565CH ALLOY OF THE Al−Mg SYSTEM IN ULTRAFINE-GRAIN AND NANOSTRUCTURAL STATES

In this work, homogeneous nanostructured and ultrafine-grained (NS and UFG) states with an average grain size of 95 nm and 200 nm, respectively, are formed in the 1565ch alloy of the Al-Mg system. In both states, the microstructure is formed by a network of predominantly high-angle grain boundaries. It has been shown that an alloy with an NS and UFG structure formed at room temperature by high-pressure torsion (HPT) and at 200°C by equal-channel angular pressing according to the Conform scheme (ECAP-С) exhibits similar signs of superplastic (SP) behavior at low temperatures 250 …300 °С in the range of strain rates 5×10-4 s-1…10-2 s-1: elongation values were 170…560%, the rate sensitivity coefficient (m) was 0.3-0.73 at low flow stresses . The temperature range of stability of the strength characteristics of the 1565ch alloy in the NS and UFG states was established, both after thermal and deformation-thermal treatment. It is shown that the material in both studied structural states retains a high level of strength after deformation under SP conditions. The deformation relief formed on the working part of the NS and UFG samples of the 1565ch alloy at the stage of a steady-state SP flow is analyzed.

Pragmatic Opportunism: Ireland and the Czechoslovak Crisis 1938–39

Acquisition of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia was the next phase of Nazi Germany’s expansion in 1938. When it seemed likely that the region would indeed be incorporated into Germany’s borders, based on a mixed historic and ethno-cultural logic, nations across Europe with unresolved border questions of their own took notice—Ireland among them. This article will examine the extent to which a fervent desire to undo the country’s partition influenced Irish foreign policy at a time when international tensions over the Sudetenland were brewing into a potential European conflict. The contradictory nature of Irish foreign policy at the time will be illustrated, and Ireland’s navigation of one of interwar Europe’s most dynamic crises will in turn be re-assessed.

Image of Bishop Nicholai Velimirovich in the Works of Bishop Jovan Velimirović

The paper deals with the description of Bishop Nicholai in the works of Bishop Jovan Velimirović. As the nephew of Bishop Nicholai, and staying near him, Bishop Jovan had the opportunity to witness many events from his uncle’s life, as well as crucial events from the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church in that period. Bishop Jovan stayed near Bishop Nicholai from the second grade of high school and had the opportunity to witness many events in his uncle’s life. He parted ways with him only in 1944, when the Nazi Germans took Patriarch Gavrilo and Bishop Nicholai from the Vojlovica Monastery to the Dachau concentration camp. Bishop Jovan wrote three works about Bishop Nicholai: the memoir “Bishop Jovan’s Memories of Bishop Nicholai Velimirovich” and two shorter articles which appeared in the Glas Crkve [The Voice of the Church] journal. All three works were published after the death of Bishop Jovan. The works of Bishop Jovan will be placed in a broader historical context and will help in understanding key events from the life of Bishop Nicholai, as well as fateful events from the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church in that period. In his works, he was meticulous, without the intention of elevating the main figure of his “Memories” in relation to the other figures mentioned in his works, objectively and truthfully portraying both personalities and events. Also, his work provides new insight into the life and work of Bishop Nicholai, and — being analyzed in a wider historical context — it also provides new knowledge about the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church in that period.

Wytyczne dotyczące czynności służbowych dla funkcjonariuszy Gestapo pracujących w komendzie Sicherheitspolizei und SD w Radomiu z 1940 r.

The Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) – Secret State Police – is considered one of the most criminal formations of the Nazi German state. In the years 1939–1945, it formed a department at the Sicherheitspolizei und SD (Security Police and Security Service) headquarters in Radom, which was the capital of one of the districts of the General Government. Extremally brutal extermination activities carried out by Gestapo officers against the Polish and Jewish population were accompanied by duties related to office work. Completing the fi les as well as creating and systematically supplementing fi les of various types was supposed to ultimately lead to obtaining the complete knowledge of the structures of the Polish resistance movement, and then to its annihilation. The guidelines for offi cial activities issued in 1940 were to systematize the work of Gestapo offi cers, making it more eff ective. Said guidelines cover a range of policing issues, from clerical activities to dealing with agents.