Bahnhofsmission in Deutschland. Im Kontext der Epochen der Wohlfahrtspflege

The ›Bahnhofsmissionen‹ developed in the context of the tradition of Christian non-profit welfare work in Germany. Through their supporting organisations, they belong to the associations of the Protestant Diakonie and the Catholic Caritas, which have held a dominant position in social work in German society for many decades. The ›Bahnhofsmissionen‹ are highly respected by the public but nontheless work under permanently precarious financial conditions. Without the large number of volunteers, the persistence of their work would not be safeguarded. This makes their 125-year history all the more astonishing, interrupted only by bans during the National Socialist era (between 1939-1945) and the German Democratic Republic (between 1956 and 1990).

Der Strafrechtsordinarius Friedrich Oetker

More than 70 years after the end of the National Socialist dictatorship, research into this darkest chapter in German history in the field of law has so far hardly been carried out. This is surprising in view of the historical awareness that can otherwise be observed especially with regard to the National Socialist era, especially since criminal law in the hands of the violent turned out to be a particularly suitable instrument of oppression. Based on the presentation of the biography and the teachings on selected criminal law areas of the then prominent criminal law scholar Friedrich Oetker compared to contemporary literature, a way to work through the example is followed. The work is supplemented by extensive source material, as well as a list of his publications and the doctoral theses he supervised.

"Die Kraft der deutschen Erde"

The concern among some during the 1932/1933 elections that ‘Hitler means war’ was confirmed when military spending increased considerably under the National Socialist government. Systematic rearmament helped reduce unemployment, but except for the establishment of the Kraftdurch Freude (Strength through Joy) programme, little progress was made in improving Germans’ quality of life despite prominent campaign promises. For the majority of the population nutrition levels and consumption remained poorer than in other developed countries—however, this was not the case with beer. Breweries’ output increased and quality remained high, even in wartime. While the Hauptvereinigung der deutschen Brauwirtschaft, part of the Reichsnährstand (a government body set up in Nazi Germany to regulate food production) located in Berlin-Schöneberg, was striving to lower consumption, the Wirtschaftsgruppe Brauerei, dominated by the brewers, proved to be more assertive. What explains these dynamics between rival groups during the National Socialist era?

O wartościowaniu i prawdzie w języku i tekście. Język narodowego socjalizmu w perspektywie językoznawczej i socjokulturowej

The subject of this publication are linguistic means of evaluation in the text and language, discussed on the basis of the German language of national socialism. The text and its role are perceived here through the prism of values in a universal context, and perhaps first of all through the prism of linguistic means of evaluation represented in it. As ratings are usually assigned to selected elements of reality created with language in order to not only reflect one’s attitude towards these elements but also to implicitly effect a given or desired mental or physical reaction in the recipient of the language message, it should not be surprising that the language of national socialism is examined here in the linguistic and sociocultural perspective. The combination of national values important for the whole community and the official interpretation of truth and non-truth was a priority in the national socialist era. This article deals with the problem related to the interpretation of appropriate situations and their meanings considered as correct from the perspective of the language of values and issues related to manipulation and persuasion.

Idealistic Education in the National Socialist Era in Germany: Character and Race Unity

It is understood that the education’s being brought under the control of government and educational activities carried out under the name of character and race unity education were tools for the destruction of the individual and masses during the national socialist era in Germany. For this reason, the state’s monopolizing and more or less intervening in moral education can be regarded as a fascist act. The connection of altruism with race and the fact that race consciousness has aspects supporting the idealism have been abused by the fascist education. The fact that the individuals were directed to race by being impregnated with the sense of altruism showed how the two basic principles of national socialist education complemented each other. On the one hand, the individual was taught how to be altruistic, on the other hand, the superiority, holiness and supremacy of race were romanticized, and the infrastructure of the reason for the necessity of being altruistic was instilled on their mind.This study, which was made by reviewing the documents of Hitler (1938), Kubizek (1954), Schirach (1967), Gay (1968), Fest (1970 and 1973), Noakes (1971), Giles (1985), Domarus (1990), Burleigh and Wippermann (1991) and Canetti (2014), not only shows the fact that the character and race unity education that Nazis gave in schools wasn’t compatible with universal principles, but also the fact that the number of children in school age who died during the World War II reached a half million teaches how to act against the negative success of the fascist education that is focused on destruction.

Memory studies in a moment of danger: Fascism, postfascism, and the contemporary political imaginary

Inspired by Walter Benjamin’s concept of the “moment of danger,” this essay considers the contemporary return of the memory of fascism and Nazism among both far-right political movements and liberal and left critics of the right. We briefly sketch how memories and symbols derived from the fascist and National Socialist era, among other sources, help constitute new political subjects in our moment of danger, and we look extensively at responses to the election of Donald Trump and evaluate the way the invocation of the fascist era as memory and warning shapes versions of resistant remembrance. We argue that transnational memory studies needs to think more about the historical consciousness that buttresses contemporary far-right politics and about the potential memory politics that might oppose it.