Nazi Germany Research Articles

The Weimar/Russia Comparison Revisited

Abstract Just over a quarter-century ago, the authors published a widely read essay comparing Weimar Germany and Post-Soviet Russia in historical perspective. After Russia’s unprovoked assault on Ukraine, comparisons of Vladimir Putin’s regime with Nazi Germany are once again tragically relevant. Reexamining our arguments from 1997 shows the continuing relevance of the variables we emphasized in that essay: the burdensome legacies of the past imperial regime, intense international pressure to marketize post-Soviet Russia’s statist economy, and Russia’s weak party system. Three main issues in our earlier article, in retrospect, required greater development: pinpointing the time span needed to assess regime change, distinguishing mobilizational and patrimonial forms of ‘anti-liberal statism,’ and exploring more fully the foreign policy options for would-be defenders of the liberal global order facing powerful revanchist challenges. We conclude that this sort of ‘replication’ of earlier research should be encouraged more often among political scientists adopting the comparative-historical approach.

Content analysis of official Roman catholic church criticism towards Italian Fascism and German National Socialism in Pius XI’s encyclics

The present article analyses Pope Pius XI’s encyclics against Italian Fascism and German National Socialism, as well as encyclics on social issues in general that touch upon the said ideologies. Among them are, respectively, Non abbiamo bisogno and Mit brennender Sorge, and Quadragesimo anno and Divini illius Magistri. Analysing their contents reveals two major avenues of criticism levelled against Italian Fascism: one, that a state cannot supersede the family in matters of the raising of children and position itself as the source of morals and an object of unconditional obedience; and two, that a state constantly projecting its authority into the private life of an individual runs contrary to freedom of association and freedom of contract inherent to it. With regards to German National Socialism, this is complemented by a third avenue expounding on the unacceptability of racism.

Three Settings for German-Nordic Cultural Diplomacy: Nordic Writers, the Deutsch-Nordische Schriftstellerhaus, and National Socialist Internationalism

Abstract This article adds to the growing research literature on Fascist trans- and internationalism, not least in regard to the relationships between foreign intellectuals and National Socialist cultural policy. It revolves around three interlinked German cultural relations institutions featuring significant involvement from Nordic writers: the Nordic Society, the German-Nordic Writers’ House, and the European Writers’ Union. Covering a period from 1931 to 1942, the article explores institutional links between these institutions and the versions of Nordic-German cultural diplomacy practiced and developed within their auspices. It argues that National Socialist Germany’s northbound cultural diplomatic efforts contained continuities with pre-1933 practices and conceptions, yet also came with significant inner tensions that ultimately impeded them. Navigating institutional, state, and diplomatic interest, as well as differing visions for cultural relations and cultural internationalist legitimacy abroad proved a difficult balancing act for the German cultural diplomatic actors involved.

A Dance with Death: The Imperial War Graves Commission and Nazi Germany

Abstract In the mid-1930s, Fabian Ware and the other leading members of Britain’s Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) sought to strengthen relations with Nazi Germany. Their efforts are generally seen as another example of appeasement, misjudging Hitler in a search for international peace. This article, in contrast, places this relationship into a much longer history of wartime death and post-war remembrance. As was the case elsewhere, the IWGC, to the anger of some relatives of the deceased, chose not to repatriate the war dead buried in Germany, and instead concentrated them into four new British war cemeteries. This decision created a clear division between the treatment of the dead of the victors and those of the defeated. While the British and Empire dead in Germany were made more visible, Germany’s war dead buried in Britain remained in their original wartime graves and faded slowly from sight. When Hitler rose to power, the IWGC was suddenly forced to confront these disparities, particularly as Nazis in both Britain and Germany used the war graves to rally support. This article argues that the IWGC started to negotiate with the Nazi regime not to broker peace but purely to defend the cemeteries that it had placed on German soil. However, with Britain and Germany having competing narratives of war and defeat, these discussions were always doomed to fail.

A Criminological Study of the Meseritz-Obrawalde Nurses During the Second Euthanasia Phase

The euthanasia programme was established by the Nazi government in 1939 and lasted until the end of the Second World War in 1945. The programme took form as either killing centres or psychiatric institutions, situated all over Nazi Germany and its occupied territories. Nurses played an important role in the euthanasia programme as they intentionally and systematically took part in killing between 200,000 and 250,000 physically and mentally handicapped patients (Jewishvirtuallibrary.org,1998). The killing of the so-called “unfit” was reasoned as scientifically based, partly explaining why some nurses rationalised their action as necessary and even morally good. In the aftermath of the war, only a few nurses were charged with crimes against humanity. The majority were free of charges and able to continue their careers as nurses. This article aims contribute to increased knowledge about a group of perpetrators in the Holocaust literature that is understudied in the Holocaust literature and ignored by criminological studies.

“I Share Admiration of My People for Glorious Feats of Soviet Armed Forces”: Newspaper ‘British Ally’ on Battle of Stalingrad

Revealing the specific portrayal of information about the Battle of Stalingrad in the English press during the Great Patriotic War, this article analyzes publications in the newspaper ‘British Ally,’ which was published in Great Britain in the Russian language for Russian readers. The question arises about the necessity of applying a new direction in global science — imagology — for such research. The novelty of this study lies in being the first to examine material from a publication that has not attracted much attention from Russian scholars from the perspective of this field. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to uncover a new perspective in studying the British press during wartime. The contexts of mentions about the Battle of Stalingrad in the weekly ‘British Ally’ are presented. It is proven that although an admiring attitude towards the Soviet victories at Stalingrad slips through in some articles, the publication does not give special attention to the Battle of Volga. It is shown that the newspaper emphasizes the idea of the selfless resistance of the British army against Nazi Germany in Africa and Sicily, as well as their desire to open a second front. The authors conclude that the newspaper presents these events and desires as equivalent to the struggle of the Soviet people, which does not find approval or desired response among the newspaper’s readers (the Russian people).

‘Banned wherever truth is banned’: allied airborne propaganda, cultural information warfare, and targeting Nazi Germany with ‘news’ from the sky (1944-1945)

This article explores notions of ‘truth’ and ‘factuality’ in war news, transnational aerial propaganda campaigns, and the persuasive techniques used by U.S. military propaganda troops during World War II. By drawing on underutilized archival materials, this study shows how Allied propagandists used airborne leaflet propaganda as tools of cultural information warfare after D-Day to reach, influence, and lower people’s morale on the German home front, and to demoralize combatant soldiers by pressuring them to surrender. Analysis of propaganda leaflets and newspapers reveals iconographic and ideological representation of Allied perceptions of ‘truth’, overt sexist portrayals of women as a propaganda weapon, and how these materials crossed national borders and bypassed physical censorship. The findings rest on a historical analysis of primary records, including more than one thousand propaganda leaflets, airborne newspapers, unpublished correspondence from military officials, U.S. public opinion questionaries, and other materials disseminated over wartime Germany.

A Mozart Library in National Socialist Germany

Abstract: This article examines the development of the library of the International Mozarteum Foundation after Austria’s annexation by Nazi Germany, 1938 to 1945. Although the Mozarteum Foundation was under direct government control, it nominally remained a non-governmental institution even during the Nazi era. Therefore, although it was not directly involved in the National Socialist system of cultural property theft, it made intensive efforts to expand its holdings from collections expropriated by the National Socialists. The driving force behind this was the musicologist Erich Valentin, who was also responsible for the library; he worked closely with the Viennese professor of musicology, Erich Schenk. Various, entirely unsuccessful attempts to profit from the expropriation of Jewish collectors (like Stefan zweig) are described. In contrast, the intensive efforts of the Mozarteum Foundation to take over expropriated libraries of ecclesiastical institutions, such as St Peter’s Abbey in Salzburg with its valuable historical holdings, were successful. The article also deals with the restitutions after World War II, which only began a decade after the end of the war and were not carried out systematically. Therefore, looted property could still be identified in recent years, the restitution of which is also addressed. An important concern of the article is also to point out the importance of a thorough documentation of the results of provenance research (not only in regard to the Nazi period). All the information ascertained about the provenance of the individual sources should be permanently documented in the catalogues, if possible, in standardised form. Abstract: Cet article examine le développement de la bibliothèque de la Fondation internationale Mozarteum après l’annexion de l’Autriche par l’Allemagne nazie, de 1938 à 1945. La Fondation Mozarteum était certes sous le contrôle direct de l’État, mais elle restait nominalement une institution non gouvernementale même pendant la période nazie. Elle n’a donc pas été directement impliquée dans le processus national-socialiste de spoliations de biens culturels, mais elle a déployé des efforts considérables pour accroître ses fonds à partir de collections spoliées par les nationaux-socialistes. Le musicologue Erich Valentin, également responsable de la bibliothèque, en étroite collaboration avec le professeur de musicologie viennois Erich Schenk, a joué un rôle moteur dans cette entreprise. Diverses tentatives, totalement infructueuses, de profiter de l’expropriation de collectionneurs juifs (tels que Stefan zweig) sont décrites. En revanche, les efforts intensifs de la Fondation Mozarteum pour récupérer les bibliothèques confisquées d’institutions ecclésiastiques, telles que l’abbaye Saint-Pierre de Salzbourg et ses précieux fonds historiques, ont été couronnés de succès. L’article aborde également les restitutions effectuées après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, qui n’ont commencé qu’une décennie après la fin de la guerre et n’ont pas été menées de manière systématique. C’est pourquoi des biens spoliés ont encore pu être identifiés ces dernières années, et leur restitution est également évoquée. L’un des principaux objectifs de cet article est de souligner à quel point il est important de documenter minutieusement les résultats des recherches sur la provenance (pas seulement en ce qui concerne la période nazie). Toutes les informations relatives à la provenance devraient être documentées de manière permanente dans les catalogues, si possible sous une forme standardisée. Abstract: Der Beitrag untersucht die Entwicklung der Bibliothek der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum nach dem Anschluss Österreichs an Nazi-Deutschland in der zeit zwischen 1938 und 1945. Die Stiftung Mozarteum stand zwar unter direkter staatlicher Kontrolle, blieb aber nominell auch während der NS-zeit eine nichtstaatliche Einrichtung. Daher war sie zwar nicht unmittelbar in das nationalsozialistische System des Kulturgüterraubes eingebunden, bemühte sich aber intensiv darum, ihren Bestand aus von den Nationalsozialisten enteigneten Sammlungen zu erweitern. Treibende Kraft war dabei der Musikwissenschaftler Erich Valentin, der auch für die Bibliothek zuständig war; er arbeitete eng mit dem Wiener Professor für Musikwissenschaft Erich Schenk zusammen. Beschrieben werde verschiedene, durchweg erfolglosen Versuche, von der Enteignung jüdischer Sammler (hier insbesondere Stefan zweig) zu profitieren. Erfolgreich waren im Gegensatz dazu die intensiven Bemühungen der Stiftung Mozarteum um die Übernahme von enteigneten Bibliotheken kirchlicher Institutionen wie dem Stift St. Peter in Salzburg mit seinen wertvollen historischen Beständen. Der Beitrag geht auch auf die Restitutionen nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg ein, die erst ein Jahrzehnt nach dem Ende des Krieges begannen und nicht systematisch durchgeführt wurden. Daher konnte auch in den letzten Jahren noch Raubgut identifiziert werden, dessen Restitution ebenfalls thematisiert wird. Ein wichtiges Anliegen des Beitrages ist es auch, auf die Bedeutung einer sorgfältigen Dokumentation der Ergebnisse der Provenienzforschung (nicht nur im Blick auf die NS-zeit) hinzuweisen. Alle ermittelten Informationen zur Provenienz der einzelnen Quellen sollten in den Katalogen, möglichst in standardisierter Form, dauerhaft dokumentiert werden.

Science and Survival: Exploring the Papers of Georg and Max Bredig

Abstract Following the death of his parents, George Bredig inherited a large steamer trunk inconspicuously tucked away in the basement of his boyhood home in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The trunk was old, and upon opening it, a strong musty smell emerged from within. As he reviewed the contents of the trunk, he discovered an assortment of unpublished letters, original photographs, rare pamphlets and small scientific artifacts. His father Max and grandfather Georg were both gifted physical chemists and it did not take long for George to realize that these papers documented their scientific careers in the years preceding their flight from Nazi Germany.

Science, Race, and Scientific Truth, Past and Present

This article examines the violation of longstanding scientific norms, in particular universalism, objectivity, and truth orientation by new identity policies such as the principle of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI). The imposition of this principle by public opinion, administration, and mass media, particularly in the United States but also in other countries, contradicts the principle of equal opportunity regardless of race, gender, nationality, and class, by putting the emphasis of assessment on group identities. The implementation of this principle has begun to damage careers, threaten scientists and lower standards in academia. In order to provide a historical perspective, I review how the violation of scientific norms has impacted scientific success in past authoritarian countries, in particular the USSR under Stalin, and Nazi Germany. The comparison with past authoritarian countries does not aim at equating situations from then and now, but can help understand social and political mechanisms of current events. It also highlights in a drastic way consequences that a violation of scientific norms may have for science today.

How Family History Helps Ukrainians Face the War

Ukrainians displaced by the current Russian invasion frequently turn to family memories of a previous war to understand and cope with their situation. In an oral history project, Ukrainian refugees often compared Russian actions to World War II–era war crimes perpetrated in Ukraine by Nazi Germany—and many assert that the Russians today are worse. These experiences have fueled an intense hatred of the Russians, even among Russian-speakers. For these Ukrainians, the idea of the Russkii mir, or “Russian world,” binding post-Soviet countries in a common civilization, has been discredited.

Swedish Diplomats and Holocaust Knowledge

Abstract How did Swedish diplomats report the persecution and killing of European Jewry by Nazi Germany in the 1930s and during the Second World War? What did the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs do with reports on the Holocaust during the war, and to what extent did such reports affect policy? This article shows that Swedish diplomats provided their superiors with reliable, if at times unverifiable, information about the different phases of the Holocaust from 1933 until the end of 1942, and argues that awareness of the transition from persecution to mass murder did not alter Swedish refugee policies. The author thus details the process whereby knowledge of the annihilation of the European Jews seeped out from eastern Europe by examining Swedish diplomatic reports on the Holocaust. Furthermore, he sheds new light on the history of Swedish refugee policies and Swedish German relations during the Nazi period.

Органы НКВД-НКГБ Кабардино-Балкарии в борьбе с диверсиями Германии (1942-1944 гг.)

The paper considers the most intense period of work of the People’s Commissariats of Internal Af-fairs and State Security (NKVD-NKGB) of Kabardino-Balkaria during the Great Patriotic War in their fight against Nazi German sabotage operations. It is shown that purposeful policy to destabi-lize the Soviet rear has overcome two stages. Security agencies had a hard time dealing with sabo-tage during the battle for the Caucasus between November 1943 and August 1944. Based on doc-umentary materials, the author reveals the course of work of the NKVD-NGKB bodies in the fight against enemy agents, contribution of individual employees and population to security, special oper-ations in the occupied area. The author concludes that, contrary to the statement of H. Himmler in 1944, sabotage in the Caucasus, including Kabardino-Balkaria, did not bring Berlin the expected results. The invisible front played an important role in maintaining stability of the Soviet rear and destroying Nazi Germany’s plans to create a “fifth column” in Kabardino-Balkaria.

The Role of Passion Combined with the Mission to Protect Humanity Reflected in the Memoirs of Ludwik Hirszfeld

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The aim of the analysis is to illustrate the importance of Ludwig Hirszfeld’s scientific and research passion combined with his mission to protect humanity. The topic is explored in a specific historical context, which has educational value.
 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The central problem of this study is the question of what is the significance of an individual who, despite the most difficult experiences, is able to overcome fear and act to protect the dignity of people subjected to dehumanization. The research methodology used was memory studies.
 THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The article discusses facts, mainly related to the time of World War II, including selected contexts from the biography of Ludwig Hirszfeld, who took on the mission of conquering hatred and contempt towards the victims of the German Nazis.
 RESEARCH RESULTS: History education, along with learning about the memories of Holocaust victims, helps younger generations understand the importance of the mission to protect those at risk of losing their human rights.
 CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Learning about those who opposed the German Nazis, and others who defended the dignity of every human being should be a subject of education for young people. This knowledge can make younger generations aware of the important role individuals can play in protecting life, which is the highest value.

Running in Place: “Czeching” out the W/E(a)stern Performative Presidential Geoprostitution

This article attempts to explain the Czech Republic’s geopolitical vacillation between the West and East over the past three and half decades. We tie this behavior, where one orientation never prevails permanently, to the continuity of political elites from the communist to the post-communist periods. In addition to general relevance, we discuss its implications for the country’s recent reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The focal points of this analysis are the geopolitical discourses and practices of three consecutive presidents: Václav Havel, Václav Klaus, and Miloš Zeman, each marking a decade in the Czech presidential office. We provide a historical-structural context to show that the Czech case has been an important example of a small state with its security continuously compromised by the hierarchical penetrations of great powers: Nazi Germany, the USSR/Russia, and most recently, China and the United States. Yet, as we demonstrate, the Czech Republic cannot be considered a stereotypical victim with mixed-sovereignty agreements being imposed on it. We present the three presidents in their active roles of geopolitical architects vis-à-vis the great powers as well as the Czech government. Heuristically, we conceptualize presidential foreign-and-security activities as performative geoprostitution. We show that for Havel, the primary act of geoprostitution was institutionalizing a civilizational client-patron relationship between a small state and a superpower (the United States). In contrast, not only was Klaus and Zeman’s performative geoprostitution different due to its Eastern orientation, but it was motivated by their self-importance and desire to carve out political legacies and greased by corrupted business interests.

The shadow side of occupational therapy: Necropower, state racism and colonialism

Background In the Global North, advances in occupational therapy benefitted unduly from the oppression, disablement and suffering of thousands of people in the South (and beyond). To prevent the recurrence of these injustices, history must be unveiled and occupational therapists urged to come to terms with their own involvement and responsibility. Objective and Method Utilising Achille Mbembe’s concept of necropolitics, this academic essay blends select historical and philosophical perspectives to explore occupational therapy’s concealed role in manifestations of institutionalised violence. Results By examining its roles in World War II and France’s colonisation of Algeria, we make visible the development of occupational therapy’s distinct ‘shadow side’. In Nazi Germany’s Euthanasia Programme, it became a tool for identifying which lives were deemed ‘worthy of living’ and which were not, which indirectly contributed to the killing of 200,000 disabled persons. Under France’s colonial medical system, occupational therapy imposed Western standards that alienated and completely depersonalised Algerian patients. Conclusion and Significance Entrenched in a (bio)economy that has endured beyond these events, occupational therapists must exercise vigilance, remaining mindful of the potential to unintentionally overlook individuals labelled as ‘unproductive’. This requires confronting the profession’s assumptions of inherent ‘goodness’ and acknowledging and addressing its shadow side.

Социально-экономические проблемы современной Великобритании и антироссийская политика её правительства

The article examines the socio-economic problems of contemporary Britain after leaving European Union, that had a negative impact on the British economy. Attempts to ensure economic growth and prosperity have not given results. The coronavirus pandemic and the present energy crisis have been superimposed on the economic downturn that has begun in the country. The Conservative government was not ready for this, and the socio-economic consequences of the recession hurt the well-being of ordinary Britons. The author draws attention to the rise of prices for energy, food, housing, utilities. The situation was aggravated by the UK's accession to anti-Russian sanctions after the start of the special military operation in Ukraine. The author comes to the conclusion that the anti-Russian orientation in the activities of the British government was not random, what is confirmed by official documents. It is shown that as the socio-economic problems deepened, citizens' dissatisfaction with the falling standard of living increased. However, the conservatives attributed their failures to the Russian factor and the need for large-scale assistance to the Nazi regime in Ukraine. The article examines various forms of social protest – from the creation of the Don't Pay UK movement to numerous strikes and demonstrations organized by British trade unions.

The history of louse-borne typhus and geomedizine

The experience of World War I made popular the concept of medical geography (geomedicine in English, geomedizine in German), which became part of Nazism's philosophy of national welfare, safety, and solidarity. The Nazis used it to create propaganda to show some groups as rats, vermin, and Untermenschen (subhumans). In this way, more than 10 million people were killed under the Nazi regime: 6 million Jews, plus more than 5 million Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other individuals who were not part of the German theory of “master race.” The Germans’ fear of typhus that spread in the Wehrmacht was so immense that during the occupation, Polish doctors used this phobia to organize a resistance movement. Contemporarily, the scope of geographic medicine encompasses the following research areas: spatial differentiation of disease incidents and the process of disease diffusion, geographic inequalities in the population's health level, and morbidity determinants among the inhabitants of developing countries. In the first half of the 19th century, it played an essential role in the activities aimed against epidemics of infectious diseases, including louse-borne typhus (epidemic typhus), cholera, and typhoid, linking these diseases to cultural determinants. Under the influence of this idea, the concept of doctor-hygienist emerged, and social medicine began to evolve.

The East-West Procedural Conflict over the 1946 Paris Peace Conference

The article presents the procedure for the conclusion of peace treaties with the five former satellites of Nazi Germany after the end of the Second World War. The paper uses the methodology of the historical and legal analysis. The focus is on the accessible State Department archives for the Potsdam Conference of the Big Three, the first session of the Council of Foreign Ministers in London, and the December 1945 conference of the Foreign Ministers of the USSR, the United States, and the United Kingdom in Moscow. The negotiations between the three Great Powers leading to the decision to hold the Paris Peace Conference in 1946 are examined. Conclusions are made about how the USA, the United Kingdom and the USSR did not spare efforts to maintain complete control over the process without allowing other powers to interfere.

Olympic flames, Olympic films: ancient Greece and international peace at London 1948

ABSTRACT This essay offers a comparative analysis of the reception of ancient Greece at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and the 1948 London Olympics. Focusing specifically on the respective Games’ torch relays and official films, it explores the ways that the contrasting messages of the 1936 and 1948 Games as a whole were advanced through symbolic engagement with Greek antiquity. In 1936, the torch relay and the subsequent film (Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia) invoked Greek antiquity in the service of zealous nationalism, positioning Nazi Germany as the living embodiment of the glorious legacy of ancient Greece. In 1948, on the other hand, the relay and film (Castleton Knight’s XIVth Olympiad: The Glory of Sport) portrayed ancient Greece as a benign example from the distant past toward which all modern-day nations could turn for inspiration in dealing with each other in peace. Ultimately, what makes this 1948 attempt to pacify Nazi Germany’s 1936 Olympic Hellenism even more interesting is that it was only partially successful: although London 1948 stripped away the spirit of Nazism from certain classicised elements of Berlin 1936, there also remained an unsettling coherence between the Olympic messaging of pre-war Germany and post-war Britain.