Nazi Germany Research Articles

Distance Education During a Paper Shortage

This article examines letters and study guides sent by philosophical faculties of Nazi universities to soldiers enrolled in correspondence courses during World War II. These educational media were produced during a severe paper shortage brought about by autarky and the wartime Nazi economy. I consider the conditions surrounding paper production and soldiers’ learning materials to depict how the media circulating between universities and the front demonstrate evidence of material scarcity and economic exploitation. The brevity of the messages indicates that these media had been adapted to the material economy of the war and a scarcity of time. As I show, knowledge of the humanities was brought to the front via these media; at the same time, knowledge of an ideology was created that integrates the extraction of resources from a war of conquest into a version of German history—resources that were also required to maintain distance learning itself. The article contributes most directly to studies on the media and material practices of academic teaching and to the history of science and scholarship in the Nazi era. It also builds on recent studies on how the work of the sciences and humanities are reliant on supplies of natural resources.

Contested Memories in the Border Town of Trieste: A Comparative Analysis of the Risiera di San Sabba and The Foiba di Basovizza

Abstract This article analyses the Risiera di San Sabba, the museum of the only Nazi concentration camp in Italy with a crematorium, and the Foiba di Basovizza, the prominent memorial commemorating the mass killing of Italians carried out by Yugoslav Partisans, examining how they exhibit Italian complicity with Nazi Germany and shed light on the politics of memory in Italy’s post-war history. Through a theoretical framework grounded on theories of nationalism, the argument that will be put forward is that the mentioned museums represent fascism as an alien object and Italians as victims/freedom fighters, neglecting Italy’s direct involvement in the Holocaust. Concluding remarks will suggest that the historical lack of critical analysis enabled the juxtaposition of the memory of the Holocaust with the Foibe, paving the ground for the proliferation of post-fascist historical accounts and their institutionalisation as manifest in Italy’s current political landscape.

An archaeology of the Pomeranian Crime of 1939: collecting the material evidence

Abstract ‘An archaeology of the Pomeranian Crime of 1939’ is a multidisciplinary scientific project that focuses on collecting the material evidence of the Nazi German mass execution committed in the first months of the Second World War in the Gdańsk Pomerania region in Poland. Since 2023, it has excavated mass graves containing material evidence of crimes against humanity.

Memory activism in the Republic of Moldova: Last address and Stolpersteine projects

Drawing on the threefold categorisation of memory as antagonistic, cosmopolitan and agonistic, proposed by Anna Cento Bull and Hans Hansen, the article examines contemporary memory activism in the Republic of Moldova and how it contributes to creating historical narratives. Through an analysis of two memory initiatives, namely ‘The Last Address’ and ‘Stolpersteine’, designed to memorialise victims of Soviet repression and atrocities committed by the Romanian and Nazi German forces, respectively, the article uncovers the many challenges facing memory activists in Moldova where there is limited openness about these periods in recent history. Instead, different versions of the past and suppression of painful truths are subservient to contemporary political agendas.

A Dual State in Turkey?

AbstractIn research on authoritarianism in Turkey and beyond, there is a growing interest in Ernst Fraenkel’s concept of the dual state from the Nazi era. However, upon closer inspection, these articles lack a systematic application and implementation of Fraenkel’s concept. Mostly, there is no discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of such a ‘diachronic’ conceptual transfer. This case study therefore puts particular emphasis on the methodological issues and on the possibilities and limitations of an ‘updated’ application. As a result, it turns out that Fraenkel’s categories are useful tools to trace how the Turkish administration and judiciary are reorganized along a logic of prerogative power. Fraenkel’s state-centred approach can thus contribute to close a gap left by alternative approaches. However, among the weaknesses even of Dreier and Meierhenrich’s supplement is that the time dimension was, respectively is, not sufficiently taken into account. Dual state structures can be more sustainable than originally assumed by Fraenkel.

A Holocaust Survivor Who Became a Freedom School Teacher: Marione Ingram’s Journey from Hamburg to Mississippi

Marione Ingram was born in 1935 in Hamburg, Nazi Germany. In late July 1943, two days before the date of Ingram’s family’s deportation, the Hamburg air raid, one of the biggest air raids during World War II, began. Ingram and her mother narrowly survived it and spent the rest of the war in hiding. In 1952, Ingram immigrated to the United States to follow after her mother. Upon learning about the discrimination against African Americans, Ingram became involved in the civil rights movement to protest racial bigotry and prejudice. She worked for the March on Washington in 1963 and as a Freedom School teacher in Mississippi in 1964. Through her involvement in the civil rights movement, Ingram transformed herself from a “victim” of the Holocaust into a “combatant in a campaign against racial injustice.” This study aims to demonstrate an example of how a Holocaust experience could turn into power to bring peace and equality to the world through the analysis of Ingram’s autobiographies, The Hands of War (2013) and The Hands of Peace (2015), which Miyuki Kita translated to Japanese.

Doomed at Sea? Maritime Spaces and the Jewish Refugee Crisis in the 1930s

ABSTRACT This article provides new insights into the history of forced migration during the Nazi regime by investigating the maritime space of the ‘ship’ and its inscribed notions and perceptions in times of persecution and oppression. It highlights the various functions and transformations of the ‘ship’, but also analyses the conflicting social, political and economic interests of the different protagonists. Using the ships Königstein and Caribia as case studies, the paper opens up new perspectives on the processes of Jewish forced migration and illustrates the importance of maritime spaces for a better understanding of the Jewish refugee crisis in the 1930s.

German and Italian Fascisms: An Impediment to Theorizing Fascism?

Fascism as a concept enjoys a plethora of definitions, usages and variants which lead to the problems of social science to have a generic theory of fascism. This paper aims to explore the differences between the two fascist variants of the interwar period in Europe, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany to reflect on the question of whether exploration of these differences may contribute to social science’s quest to theorize fascism. Though the two fascist regimes differ widely in terms of totalitarianism, ideology, nation and race, state and party relationships, the extent of resistance and the existence of multiple power centers, and finally, the use of total terror; exploration of different fascisms, rather than negating the possibility of having a generic definition of fascism, allows us to explore some of the central characteristics of fascism: its flexibility and resilience.

Die Robert‐Rössle‐Straße in Berlin‐Pankow. Zum Streit um die ehrende Erinnerung an einen „relativ belasteten“ Pathologen in der NS‐Zeit

AbstractFor some years now, there has been a dispute in Berlin Pankow about renaming the “Robert‐Rössle‐Straße.” The pathologist is accused of an opportunistic attitude regarding his behaviour and his scientific work under National Socialism. In his research, especially that on a “pathology of the family,” Robert Rössle is said to have followed the racial‐hygienic paradigm of the Nazi era. He is to have used questionable methods and is subject to the reproach of having profited from his adaptation to the system scientifically and as a private citizen. The dispute over the naming of the street can be described as “dissonant memory,” impeding a harmonious culture of remembrance. It is suggested that this dispute – regardless of whether the street is renamed or not – be used productively in the sense of a reflexive historical consciousness to get on Rössle's track and illuminate the factual and personal entanglements of his network from different perspectives.

Fossil Memory: Unaltered Narratives of Resistance and Deportation in the Oldest Italian Holocaust and Resistance Museums

Abstract In Italy, after the victory of Giorgia Meloni’s post-fascist party, “Fratelli d’Italia,” several studies began to discuss whether or not the country has come to terms with the memory of fascism, its role as an inspirer of Nazism, and the collaboration with Nazi Germany in the Holocaust. Especially the latter, scholarly literature pointed out, has failed to receive the attention it deserves. This article argues that this is particularly true with regard to public history, the way historical information and events are interpreted and presented to the general public, and focuses on public museums exhibiting the Holocaust and resistance. Evidence for this article comes from two in-depth case studies regarding the oldest yet unaltered Liberation Museum in Rome and the Museum-Monument to Racial and Political Deportees in the Nazi Lagers in Carpi. The article contends that within these museums, the narration of resistance prevails, whilst evidence of Italy’s past collaborationism remains hidden and unexhibited. In essence, these museums emphasise national heroism and sidestep Italian accountability in the Holocaust.

Nationalism, Italy and the Exhibition of the Holocaust: Findings of a Study on the Recently built Museums of Campagna and San Donato

Abstract In recent years, Italy has seen a proliferation of Holocaust Museums and Memorials. This article focuses on two recent additions: the Museum of the Twentieth Century and the Shoah in San Donato Val di Comino (Frosinone), and the Memory and Peace Museum Giovanni Palatucci Study Center in Campagna (Salerno). It uses qualitative methods including in-depth interviews, direct observation, analysis of information panels, other audio and visual elements, and is guided by a theoretical framework rooted in theories of nationalism. The research findings show that these museums present an overly positive narrative of Italy’s role in the Holocaust lacking critical examination and perpetuating the myth of the “good Italian” already identified by other scholars. The museums emphasize favourable conditions for Jewish internees without considering factual evidence that could have provided a more balanced perspective. Additionally, they fail to acknowledge Italian collaboration with Nazi Germany, both, at the exhibition sites and elsewhere. Both museums highlight a Christian salvific narrative, stressing the role of Christian Italians saving Jews, and perpetuating stereotypes of Jews as passive victims. Additionally, Jews are excluded from the notion of “Italianness” and portrayed as “others.” Also, fascism is excluded, deemed incompatible with the idealized Italian Christian civilization proposed by the museums.

The Polish Criminal Police, the German Special Court in Lemberg, and the Prosecution of Poles for Giving Refuge to Jews, September 1943 to June 1944

Abstract This source publication contains three categories of documents related to the Nazi German occupation of Poland, specifically the city of Lwów (Lemberg) in District Galicia of the General Government, which have been translated from German to English. The documents were selected for their relevance to ongoing debates and research questions evoked by the “third phase” of the Holocaust characterized by both widespread police searches for Jews and help offered by non-Jews to the fugitives, here set in the multi-ethnic context of Eastern Galicia between September 1943 and June 1944. Documents 1 to 4 are the German laws that formed the legal basis of decrees limiting Jewish residence and sanctioning punishment for their violation. Documents 5 to 7 are verdicts handed down by the Special Court in Lemberg (Sondergericht im Lemberg) on the basis of these decrees, in which the judges imposed the death penalty on the accused for giving refuge to Jews. Documents 8 to 11 are final reports regarding the arrests of Poles and Ukrainians, and the Jews whom they were sheltering, written by members of the Third Commissariat of the Lemberg Polish Criminal Police (PPK), which were sent to their supervisors in the German Criminal Police (Kripo).

Introduction: The Cultural Axis Between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany

In setting the scene for the articles featured in the special issue, the Introduction provides a brief overview of the literature on the Axis between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany from its origins until the present day. While traditionally the historiography has overlooked culture as a point of contact between the two regimes, there is a small, but growing, body of recent research on the topic, which is often inspired by transnational, comparative, and global history. Thus, the introduction presents the cultural entanglements of Fascism and National Socialism as fertile ground for new research.

Acts of Self-Representation: Nazi-Fascist Wartime Cultural Diplomacy

This article probes culture as a site of both cooperation and rivalry by examining two exhibitions, of 1939 and 1942, which were jointly supported by Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy. These under-researched exhibitions reveal how the two regimes shared a common belief in culture as a tool of mobilization, but differed in their visions of race, culture, ideology and war.

Nazi Constitutional Designs: The State Secretaries’ Meetings and the Annexation of East Central Europe

This article examines the state secretaries’ meetings as an instrument of government in Nazi Germany. They are mostly known as the forum at which the infamous Wannsee Conference took place, but here the 20 January 1942 meeting will be situated in a context previously ignored by historians by showing that such gatherings were an increasingly regular occurrence during the ‘Third Reich’, and that a range of policy issues were discussed there – not just mass murder. As such, it will shed new light on how the ‘Hitler state’ functioned at this level by showing that Wannsee was not entirely extraordinary, the format having become established practice long before 1942. Similarly, the article will also show that the jurisdictional conflicts that played out at Wannsee were equally common, with participants generally jockeying for influence and advancing claims to departmental authority. Indeed, although they effectively replaced cabinet meetings, which were formally banned by Hitler in 1938, the state secretaries’ meetings did little to salvage collegial government. To illustrate this, a series of meetings called to coordinate the government's response to a particular issue will be examined – the annexation of ‘Greater German’ territories in Austria, the Sudetenland and Poland. As will be shown throughout, very little was achieved by way of coordination, with the state secretaries only advancing those constitutional designs that served their ministries’ claims to power.

Alma Rosé

Alma Rosé was the niece of Gustav Mahler and a violinist herself based in Austria. After fleeing from the rise of Nazi Germany, Alma eventually found herself captured and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau where she used her musical talents to lead the women's orchestra until her death in 1944. This StoryMap follows the life of Alma through her performances across Europe, her attempts to flee Nazi capture, and her time in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

"Resistance leads to self-destruction": how an (a)political strategy helped Karl von Frisch succeed during the Nazi era.

Karl von Frisch, one of the leading zoologists of the twentieth century and co-founder of the Journal of Comparative Physiology A, has been frequently portrayed as an opponent of the Nazi regime because he, as a 'quarter-Jew,' faced the threat of forced retirement from his position as a professor at the University of Munich during the Third Reich. However, doubts about an active opposition role have surfaced in recent years. A litmus test for assessing the validity of this notion is provided by our discovery that four of the six core members of the anti-Nazi resistance group 'White Rose'-Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, Christoph Probst, and Alexander Schmorell-were his students. When they were arrested, sentenced to death, and executed, he seemed to ignore this historic event, both during and after World War II-in line with his belief that resistance leads to self-destruction, and research can flourish only by ignoring what happens around oneself. On the other hand, this seemingly apolitical attitude did not prevent him from making use of politics when it served his interests. Such actions included his (pseudo-)scientific justification of forced sterilization of people suffering from hereditary disorders during the Third Reich and his praise of the Nazi government's efforts to "keep races pure." As unsettling as these and some other political views and actions of Karl von Frisch are, they enabled him to carry out several critical pieces of his research agenda during the Third Reich, which three decades later earned him a Nobel Prize.

YOUNG PEOPLE AND FASCISM PROPAGANDA IN IRAN: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ANTHEM ‘HAIL COMMANDER’

Since its inception in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) has enormously capitalized on exploiting youths, from the recruitment of child soldiers during the Iran-Iraq war to deployments of underage boys and girls for political socialization. Political socialization, in this sense, has involved reinforcing Shia/Revolutionary ideologies through mobilizing young people for various cultural activities and propaganda campaigns. As part of these efforts, and in line with IRI’s mounting domestic and international struggles, since March 2022, the government has heavily invested in propagating ‘Hail Commander’, an anthem produced and broadcast by the state-run media. Exclusively performed by 7-14 years old children in uniforms, the content of this anthem (lyrics and visual features) bears a close resemblance to the lyrics of Giovinezza (Juvenility) of fascist Italy (1924-1943) and the political ideals promoted by Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) in Nazi Germany (1926-1945). By drawing on theories of fascism, propaganda, and political socialization, and using comparative critical analysis, this study reveals the underlying propagandist messages in Hail Commander and its relations to the fascist/Nazi praxis and ideologies. It is further argued that the creation of Hail Commander should be seen as the revival of the child soldier phenomenon, albeit in the form of media representation.

Activating Displaced Radio Archives: The German ‘Loot Collection’ (Kořistní Fond) at Czech Radio

This paper examines the obstacles to studying and using displaced radio archives, taking as a case study a collection of historic recordings from Nazi Germany that is held at the Czech Radio archive in Prague. This so-called ‘Loot Collection’ (Kořistní fond) occupies an awkward position between established categories and is confronted simultaneously by the challenges common to historic sound archives, and those specific to collections which have been displaced from their point of origin. The paper shares some early analysis of the history and content of this collection, and argues for a transnational approach to ‘activate’ other overlooked archival collections whose history and relevance spreads across contemporary national borders.

Бои за Гизель и Майрамадаг в контексте разгрома немецких войск под Владикавказом

The article examines in detail the fighting near Vladikavkaz, and in particular the battles for Gizel and Mayramadag. The battles near Vladikavkaz contributed to the overall victory over the German army in the battle for the Caucasus. The study is devoted to the battles for access to Transcaucasia, the main attention is paid to the battles for specific settlements. The relevance of the topic is due to the need to understand the history of the Great Patriotic War in the regions. Scientific novelty lies in an integrated approach to the analysis of the events of that period. The methodological basis of the study was the memories of participants, collections of documents, archival documents, periodical materials, as well as retrospective and problem-chronological methods of scientific research. The results show that, despite a lot of work on this period, interest in the history of the Great Patriotic War among researchers does not fade, but rather intensifies. The study highlights the importance of war history at the regional level. It was revealed that the blow to the Nazi group of troops in the Vladikavkaz region was the beginning of the offensive of our troops in decisive areas of the fight against Nazi Germany. By the second half of the harsh year of 1942, it was a major defeat for the Nazi troops on the Soviet-German front. As a result, the Nazis had to finally abandon the offensive on Ordzhonikidze, Grozny and Baku and go on the defensive. Having liberated the territory of North Ossetia, our troops continued to develop their victorious offensive and on November 4, 1943 liberated the capital of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic – the city and the railway station.