World War Research Articles

Testing the informativeness of Y-STR and mitochondrial DNA control region markers in an attempt to predict ancestry of World War II victims from Slovenian mass grave.

Identification of human remains is a challenge in forensic genetics without relatives or personal items available. In Slovenia, a Konfin II mass grave from the Second World War (WWII) was found, containing skeletal remains of 65 victims. The archival documents detailing victims' information describe 45 persons of which 33 could be considered Germanic and 12 Slavic. This study aims to check for concordance between the victim list and actual victims found by using uniparental markers to differentiate between Slavic and non-Slavic origin by attempting to infer ancestry by analyzing the control region (CR) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosomal STRs. Diaphyses of femurs were used as a DNA source. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology was used for mtDNA- namely HID Ion Chef™ Instrument, Precision ID mtDNA Control Region Panel, and Ion GeneStudio™ S5 System. For the Y-chromosome, PowerPlex® Y23 System (Promega) kit and SeqStudio™ for human identification (HID) were used. European DNA Profiling mtDNA Population Database (EMPOP) and Y-Chromosome STR Haplotype Reference Database (YHRD) were searched for haplotype matches. Closest haplogroups were predicted using EMPOP, Y-DNA Haplogroup Predictor- NevGen, and Whit Athey's Haplogroup Predictor. Despite mitotypes being more diverse than Y-haplotypes, the Y-haplotypes had more database matches and more unequivocal differentiation between populations. 16 victims could be considered Slavic, 15 non-Slavic, and the remaining 34 had a rather scarce informativeness- either unclear or not providing any match. To address ancestry inference more comprehensively, analysis of autosomal ancestry informative markers as well as expansion on haploid markers will be conducted in future research.

The rise of populist radical right parties in Europe

After World War II, radical right parties in Europe experienced a decline, but over the last three decades, they have regained strength, becoming significant players in European politics. Since the early twenty-first century, they have secured representation at various levels, from local governments to national parliaments and the European Parliament. Nowadays, populist radical right parties rank among the top three most powerful political forces in one-third of European countries. In Austria, the FPÖ ( Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs) emerged as the leading party in the 2024 elections, winning 28.9% of the vote. In Italy, the Fratelli d’Italia coalition came to power with 25.99% of the vote in 2022. In Hungary, Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party won its fourth consecutive election. In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN – Rassemblement National) achieved major victories in both the European Parliament and national elections, becoming the country’s largest party. Though initially considered marginal, populist radical right parties have become a lasting and serious force in European politics. This special issue features six carefully selected articles, each offering empirical and theoretical insights into different aspects of the rise of radical right and right-wing populist parties in Europe, contributing to a broader understanding of this phenomenon.

Pokłosie powstania 1863–1864 r.: nieortodoksyjna refleksja

Today, in Lithuanian, Polish, Belarusian and even Ukrainian society, the January Uprising has become a symbol of the ‚ fight for freedom’. This article attempts to answer the question: did/do Polish, Lithuanian, Belarusian and Jewish societies really have anything to glorify? In other words, from the perspective of nineteenth and early twentieth century nationalisms (and therefore not from an academic perspective), was the uprising in any way useful to them? Or to put it another way, did it do more good or harm? For all non-dominant ethnic groups, the uprising brought new repression and discrimination (although sometimes discrimination against one group objectively benefited another group), and with the exception of the Poles, it is difficult to see the impact of this historical event as a positive image in the process of nationalising the masses until World War One. The fact that such an image was created later is simply an‚ invented tradition’. The fact that a positive image of the uprising was ‚invented’ later in Lithuanian or Belarusian societies does not mean that it did not (or does not now) influence the mobilisation of the masses, but it is not a direct consequence of the uprising, but a narrative constructed by later generations.

COMBATANT IMMUNITY AND THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR: REOPENING THE DEBATE ON A LONGSTANDING DOCTRINE

Background: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War, with estimates suggesting that hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers are implementing the will of the aggressor state. It has long been believed that combatants are immune from criminal prosecution for their actions during hostilities, including the killing of military personnel defending the victim state unless they violate the laws of war. However, this immunity has naturally generated criticism in the Ukrainian legal community. In this article, the authors analyse the critical arguments made by opponents of combatant immunity and seek to clarify the legal and ethical grounds of the controversial doctrine. Furthermore, the well-known debate on the significance of citizenship (nationality) for recognising combatant or prisoner of war status and the liability of defectors is revisited from a new perspective. Methods: The article is based on an analysis of IHL sources, commentaries, state practices, precedents and scientific views on combatant immunity. Additionally, the article examines the practices of law enforcement agencies in Ukraine and the perspectives of Ukrainian criminal law scholars. General scientific methods of cognition (induction, deduction, analysis, synthesis), as well as historical, empirical and systemic-structural methods, are used. The article is structured into three parts. The initial section provides a comprehensive overview of the status of a combatant and their associated privileges within the context of international humanitarian law (IHL), with a particular focus on the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The second section delves into the debate surrounding Ukraine's obligation to respect the immunity of the combatant of the aggressor state and offers the authors' conclusions on this matter. The third section addresses the liability of defectors, focusing on the implications of citizenship (nationality) for combatants and prisoners of war (POW). Results and conclusions: Several Ukrainian scholars have expressed their unreserved disagreement with Ukraine's application of the doctrine of combatant immunity to Russian soldiers. In the absence of a direct reference to this exceptional privilege in international treaties to which Ukraine is a party and in light of the a priori unlawfulness of aggression, the critical arguments are not without merit. Nevertheless, we conclude that respect for the immunity of a combatant representing the aggressor state is part of Ukraine's international obligations and has a certain justification. Concurrently, the article acknowledges that the legal and ethical grounds for this are not entirely clear. The question of whether defectors should be recognised as combatants and/or prisoners of war is similarly unclear. Nevertheless, we are convinced that regardless of the answer to this question, the criminal prosecution of defectors for high treason cannot be considered a violation of the immunity of a combatant.

The Fate of Employees of the Lithuanian Forest Industry 1939–1953

The article explores the fate of employees of the Lithuanian State Forest Industry, a separate branch of the economy, between 1939 and 1953, the staffing policy in this industry and specific features and results of its implementation. The forest was the location closely associated with the post-war resistance struggle, because a large number of partisan headquarters and hideouts were located in the forests. As a result, the work of forestry professionals and foresters and their attitude to events of that time were very important both to resistance fighters and the occupational government structures. The majority of them were under pressure to ‘double deal’, with the result that many left their jobs voluntarily as such conditions were not acceptable to them. The article explores all the events related to the turnover and fate of staff in chronological order: their deaths due to all possible reasons, including at the hands of their own partisans or the collaboration of foresters with the Nazis and the Soviet forces; various reprisals – from deportations and labour camps to violence; emigration to the west and the east due to political reasons; repatriation; peculiarities of employment of people who returned after deportation and imprisonment; the extent of employment of staff of Russian and other nationalities in the post-war years in the Lithuanian forestry system, etc. If the number of full time employees of the industry at the beginning of the Second World War (3,900 people) is held as a point of reference, major losses of the industry can also be expressed in the following figures: one in every eleven employees of this industry was killed; one in four employees suffered reprisals and were sentenced for various periods of time; and one in three suffered physical or moral violence. In the post-war years, only 75 Russian-speaking employees were recruited to the Lithuanian State Forest Industry and after Stalin’s death, over 1,000 of people who returned after deportation and imprisonment were employed.

The ever ongoing cosmetic quest to change eye colour.

To provide a historical overview of the various efforts to change eye colour for purely cosmetic reasons, along with the associated potential risks and harms. Literature and online search. Eye drops containing adrenaline were used during World War II on involuntary inmates of concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. Prostaglandin drops, used in glaucoma therapy since 1996, can increase iris pigmentation as an undesired side effect. Commercial drops, available since 2011, are not effective and potentially dangerous. Iris implants, commercially available since 2011, led to serious complications like corneal decompensation, uveitis and glaucoma, and for this reason, implants had to be removed, leaving some patients almost blind. Also commercially in use since 2011 are laser treatments to make brown eyes blue. Among the possible complications are anterior uveitis and (pigmentary) glaucoma. Corneal tattooing has existed for almost 2000 years. Complications of modern, intrastromal keratopigmentation include corneal perforation, bacterial infection, allergic or toxic reaction to pigment, migration of pigment, and functional complications like visual field limitation and light sensitivity. Personal identity and self-esteem are likely contributing factors to undergo this potentially harmful cosmetic eye surgery. In addition to the earlier discussed complications, the artificial layer of colour can obscure ocular pathology of the cornea or iris. As the majority of individuals undergoing these procedures are relatively young, problems may arise in the future when they will need cataract or other eye surgeries. Permanently changing eye colour in healthy eyes for purely cosmetic reasons is a risky procedure.

Polish Teachers in Kutaisi

Many Poles worked in Kutaisi and actively participated in the social life of the city. It is worth noting that few people know that Władysław Raczkiewicz, a Polish politician, public and military figure, and President of the Republic of Poland during World War II, was born in Kutaisi.On October 12, 1879, Ivan Narbut from Poland began teaching French at the Classical Gymnasium for Boys in Kutaisi. Three years later, he was elected secretary of the pedagogical council of the lower secondary school. In the same year, for his excellent work, he was awarded 200 manats from the special fund of the lower secondary school. In 1883, he was awarded the Order of Saint Stanislaus, 3rd class. Over the years, he held various titles: in 1879, Collegiate Assessor; in 1885, Court Counselor; in 1888, Collegiate Counselor; and in 1891, State Counselor.At different times, he taught various classes. When the inspectors of secondary and higher schools were abroad, his duties were performed by Eugene Narbut as deputy. In 1891, he received the Order of Saint Anna. Ivan Narbut died in April 1894 in a shipwreck on the Black Sea.

The Influence of Facial Injury during the First World War on the Development of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in Britain and Germany.

In the First World War (WW1), different types of injuries became both political and economic factors for the main belligerent countries. This work illustrates the special role facial injuries played during and after the war and the profound impact they had on the field of Plastic Surgery in Britain and Germany.This is a historical work based on primary and secondary sources. English and German material was used to compile an overview of the development of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery as a specialty during WW1 and up to the Second World War (WW2).Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery had the task of reconstructing male beauty and personalities, restoring the most intense, disfigured reminders of a terrible war in homes and the public. Looking at the significant role the specialty played during the war, remarkably, most of the contributors struggled to find financial support to develop designated specialized departments in the inter-war period. The specialty's connection to the emotional subject of facial disfigurement did not work in its favor at a time when people wanted to forget the horrors of the war.The developments in Britain and Germany during the WW1 were less isolated than often described and the inter-war period saw much effort for international collaboration. The different developments of WW2 further illustrate how essential the efforts of a strong group of individuals and support from authorities were for the evolution of Plastic Surgery as a specialty.

Karl Ziegler - Early Career of a Scientist.

Karl Ziegler is considered one of the most outstanding chemists of the 20th century. In particular, his work on organometallic mixed catalysts, which allows the polymerization of ethylene at normal pressure, led to a revolution in plastics production and changed the everyday life of all mankind. In 1963, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work, together with Giulio Natta. This article focuses on Ziegler's early career, which has received little attention to date. It describes his youth and study years in Marburg, which partly coincide with the First World War. Subsequently, his postdoctoral period is examined, which led him via Marburg and Frankfurt to his first associate professorship in Heidelberg. Special attention is paid to his relationship to National Socialism, which he opposed. As a result, Ziegler experienced professional difficulties in the 1930s, such as repeated rejection when filling various professorships. His appointment as a full professor in Halle and his subsequent directorship at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung (Coal Research), where he finally achieved his greatest research achievement, are described in the following.

‘A trip organised for children is not a serious matter’? Summer treatment camps for the Belgian-German borderlands (1919-1939)

Although the children whose rural homelands transitioned from German to Belgian state sovereignty following the First World War were not the typical demographic targeted for preventive air treatments against tuberculosis, they were overrepresented in treatment camps in both Belgium and Germany. Nation-state representatives provided public and private (although partly state subsidized) treatment camps to restore the physical vitality, ethical integrity, and national allegiances of the minors. The parallel competitive offer took the form of a cross-border mixed economy of child welfare. Borderland residents either opportunistically supported the Belgian or German initiatives, or provided their own alternatives to protect their children from indoctrination.

A taxonomic notes on Mouriri (Olisbeoideae, Melastomataceae): Clarifying two little-known species from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, with three new synonyms

Based on new samples from the Atlantic Forest between northern São Paulo and southern Bahia, Brazil, we clarify taxonomic relationships in two little-known species of Mouriri. As a result, we synonymize M. megasperma and M. sellowiana under M. arborea, and M. bahiensis under M. regeliana. We designate a lectotype for M. sellowiana, as the holotype was destroyed during World War II. In addition, we present updated morphological descriptions, data on geographic distribution, conservation status assignments, illustrations, and comments on taxonomic and nomenclatural aspects of M. arborea and M. regeliana. Photographs based on fresh material of M. arborea are presented.

“Thoroughly Impregnated with Bolshevik Philosophy”

Annie Buller makes for an interesting case study of Canada’s World War II security state and how it functioned vis-à-vis the Communist Party of Canada and its allies. Her experiences speak to gender, party history, and broader elements of political policing, community responses, and confinement experiences. Like her life, her wartime encounters with the Canadian security state were concurrently like and different from those of other criminalized female and male activists at the time about whom we know more. Among the apprehended and incarcerated, female or male, Buller was somewhat of an anomaly and warrants special attention. Buller’s particular situation helps to shed light on lesser-understood elements of the Communist wartime carceral experience, including the lack of trust officials had in these processes at times to accomplish the intended repression and important details about efforts to free those incarcerated. Ultimately, Buller’s case and the movement to liberate her and the other incarcerated members of the party illustrate the power of grassroots activism in challenging oppressive systems.

Did Karl Marx party in 1891? The effect of SPD's Erfurt program on Karl Marx's citations

AbstractThe Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) is often proposed as a pre‐Soviet popularizer of Marxist economic theories due to its electoral successes in Germany in the decades before World War I. Using the synthetic control method, we examine whether German‐language print references to Karl Marx responded to the SPD's adoption of the Marx‐inspired Erfurt Program of 1891. In doing so, we account for the near‐simultaneous repeal of anti‐socialist censorship laws in Germany. Evidence of a boost to Marx's citations from the Erfurt Program is modest, and cannot be distinguished from the effect of the censorship repeal on all socialist writers. These results suggest that the SPD's role in popularizing Marx was minor compared to later events such as the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Restitution and the Treaty of Versailles: Restitution from Germany to France, 1918–1928

This article proposes a re-examination of one of the most controversial cases of reparations: the Treaty of Versailles. By focusing on Article 238, which stipulated the restitution of objects stolen or displaced by the German army during the First World War, we can see that the treaty helped to solidify norms concerning the protection of civilian property in wartime and gave civilians a right to have a voice in international law. However, the process of restitution was beset with both practical and political challenges and its success hinged on the role of public authorities, the nature of the objects returned and the impact of social class dynamics. Through this study, we are able to gain a more nuanced understanding of the possibilities of restitution, its potential as well as its limitations.

Family Ties: Vatican Humanitarianism and Family Reunification at the End of Empire

This essay analyses the Holy See's engagement in the postwar discourse surrounding displaced minors by focusing on the case of displaced Italian children from Libya. Separated from their families and evacuated to Italy at the onset of the Second World War, they were placed in Italian Youth of the Lictor (Gioventù Italiana del Littorio; GIL) camps. In the aftermath of the war, these displaced children petitioned to return to their families who had remained in territories no longer part of the Italian empire. This article shows how the Papal Aid Committee for Assisting Refugees took part in the relocation efforts and contributed to the conversation on family reunification. By navigating postwar aid and forming unexpected alliances, the Holy See not only contributed to reshaping Italy's geopolitical presence in the Mediterranean but also solidified conservative family norms within the international discussion on humanitarianism.

The Nazi Bomb Project: A Case Study of Value Neutrality in Science and Technology

Scientists in Nazi Germany attempted but failed to build an atomic bomb or working nuclear reactor during the years of the Second World War, 1939-1945. Can philosophical meaning be drawn from this history? The history of the Nazi scientists and nuclear fission raises important issues concerning the alleged value-neutrality of scientific research and technological development. We can also ask whether there is an ethical dimension to the failure of the Nazi bomb project. Did the scientists who worked in the Third Reich make a moral decision not to complete the development of a working nuclear reactor and/or a usable nuclear explosive device? In this essay, I argue that Werner Heisenberg and other Nazi scientists fell victim to a value-neutral conception of science that led them to make unethical choices in support of the Nazi regime. The story of the Nazi bomb project exemplifies a more general philosophical point: if scientists fail to understand the social, political, and cultural context of their research they will be vulnerable to ethically wrong decisions.

“I Get So Mad Cause We Ain’t Got No Freedom”: Black Women, Rage, and the Harlem Uprising of 1943

In the early evening of August 1, 1943, a New York City police officer arrested Marjorie Polite at the Braddock Hotel. Polite’s arrest created an expansive political moment for shortly after her arrest, some 3,000 New Yorkers deployed upon 125th Street. Over the course of the next two days and in their shared rage, a group of Black Harlemites targeted white-owned businesses which culminated in 500 physical injuries, at least six deaths, a reported 5 million dollars in property damages, and 623 arrests at the height of World War II. What do the stories of five ordinary women, each with different relationships to Harlem and the uprising, tell us about Black women’s experience in mid-twentieth century urban America? Using the biographical vignettes of Black women arrested in connection with the Harlem uprising, this article examines popular protest and property destruction as a feminine form of rage.

‘Musing upon the king my brother’s wreck’: Shipwrecked Nostos in a Ulyssean Palimpsest in The Waste Land

Abstract In this article, I read the shipwrecked journeys in T. S. Eliot’s 1922 poem The Waste Land as belonging to a long-standing trope of travel by sea. By examining the connections between the scenes of shipwrecks in the poem and its intertexts, including works by Homer and Shakespeare, I reconstruct the characters’ homecoming journeys in a Ulyssean palimpsest of nostos (‘homecoming’) in these scenes. I argue that these scenes foreground the challenges of homecoming by sea while implying the hope for returns through mythical implications and dramatic effect. The article situates drowning and resurrection, the governing themes of the poem, in the critical lineage of nostos that encompasses deferred return and symbolic rebirth. Informed by the context of the Great War and Eliot’s New England heritage, the article challenges the work in modernist studies that tends to interpret Eliot’s depiction of these thwarted journeys as a rejection of homecoming.

Geschichte und Leben eines Textes: Über die Erklärung Zur Problematik der Aussiedlung der Sudetendeutschen aus 1995

The article recalls the publication and historical context of the Declaration on the Question of the Expulsion of the Sudeten Germans, which was adopted as an official statement by the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB) in 1995. The document dealt with the past and present of relations between Czechs and Germans, in particular with the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans from the Czechoslovak border regions after the Second World War. The ECCB’s declaration was intended to express the fact that the two nations caused each other considerable harm during this period. However, a common future is only possible through mutual reconciliation, forgiveness and a joint endeavour to overcome historical injustice. The creation of the declaration was a reaction to the context at the time, when the aim was to find a new way of co-operation between Czechs and Germans after the revolution of 1989. After forty years of communist rule in Czechoslovakia, mutual antipathy was once again widespread among the public. The Sudeten German Landsmannschaft was a key group in this respect. The authors of the Declaration on the Question of the Expulsion of the Sudeten Germans faced criticism, mainly because of historical inaccuracies or an alleged unnecessary humiliation of the Czechs towards the Germans. Nevertheless, the document was largely favourably received by the public and politicians and was gratefully received by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). Subsequently, the declaration was taken as inspiration for further work on the topic and, in cooperation with the EKD, a Protestant anthology on the subject was produced.

Springfield, South Australia 1928–1952: From Prestige Subdivision to Elite Suburb

ABSTRACT Nestled in the foothills of Adelaide’s leafy eastern suburbs lies the Springfield Estate. Springfield was established in 1928 as a planned prestige residential suburb. While the Estate approaches its one hundredth anniversary, the area’s original human occupation harks back some hundreds of thousands of years earlier, only entering Western written record when, not long after the Proclamation of the Colony of the Province of South Australia in 1836, a family of 150 Kaurna peoples, based at “Wirraparinga” near Brownhill Creek, were forced off their land by the establishment of several local large rural properties by wealthy settlers. The latter’s early rural holdings were resourced by the newly established Mitcham village, itself later to become part of what is now the City of Mitcham, which now includes 32 suburbs, including Springfield. In 1928, one of these early rural holdings, “Springfield,” comprising some eighty acres of sloping woodland owned by Mrs Frank Rymill, was bought by real estate agents Wilkinson, Sando, & Wyles (hereafter WSW), who subdivided it into 70-odd blocks, and marketed these explicitly to wealthy prospective home builders. WSW formed “Springfield Limited” and consciously and purposefully planned the area as a “prestige” subdivision; a community of well-off homeowners whose system would reflect the desire for image, privacy and control. Today, Springfield is a visual essay in the somewhat anodyne architecture of concentrated wealth. However, dotted amongst its sprawling footprint trophy homes, old and new, are some rather special, and well-sited mid-century modern homes that complicate a hitherto fore untold architectural story, all of which taken together, helps us re-evaluate the arrival of modernism in Adelaide, as well as shedding light on the dramatic social forces of the Depression and Second World War on exclusive master-planned enclave estates in Australia.