German History

Expanding Christopher Browning’s concept of ‘ordinary men,’ two traditional versions can be identified, variously positing perpetrators as ‘ordinary humans’ (subject to social dynamics) or ‘ordinary Germans’ (subject to cultural-ideological indoctrination). Neither explanatory model is sufficient. Timothy Schroer’s “Ethos of Self-Control” provides a synthesis that salvages the ‘ordinary men’ thesis by integrating both ideology and social context.

"Even the most casual students of German history recognize the name of Otto von Bismarck, who masterminded the creation of the Second Reich through a series of masterful diplomatic negotiations and three carefully selected wars. However, few recognize the importance of Pope Pius IX, who played a significant diplomatic role in the Franco-Prussian War. The pope sent an agent, the Countess of Castiglione, to influence the actions of Napoléon III, with whom she had a relationship in 1856-57. That relationship may have persuaded Napoléon III to support Italian unification in 1861, and it may have helped the legendary noblewoman to gain access to Bismarck in 1871 and plead against German occupation of Paris after the French defeat.
Two of the three wars that Prussia fought under Bismarck’s leadership were against Great Powers of nineteenth century Europe, the Catholic states of Austria and France. Considering their political and religious significance, it is no surprise that the Bishop of Rome would involve himself in these strategic conflicts. Unfortunately for Pius IX, political events in Italy turned against him, and he finished his days in opulent (albeit self-imposed) imprisonment within the Vatican from 1870–1876. However, his ignoble end should not bias us against the very real influence that Pius IX wielded during a very tumultuous period in European history.
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Current debates on Nazism and religion are focused around the notion that the Nazis sought to promote a kind of Christian faith called “positive Christianity”. This article challenges such perspectives. It establishes that “positive Christianity” had an existing meaning in German society before the Nazi Party was formed — dogmatic Christian faith — and demonstrates that this was the same interpretation of religious faith that Hitler appeared to advocate in Mein Kampf. The paper argues that “positive Christianity” had such a wide variety of interpretations that it cannot be considered cohesive.

La storiografia si occupa sempre più intensamente degli anni Settanta e Ottanta, avvalendosi della categoria della «crisi» della società fordista e del compromesso socialdemocratico. In questo vuolume, frutto di un confronto teorico ed empirico tra storici e sociologi italiani e tedeschi, si prova a qualificare quel passaggio in modo più distaccato attraverso l'analisi del «cambiamento» della società in Italia e Germania. Sorgono così delle sfide euristiche attorno alla valutazione delle trasformazioni sociali e alla loro periodizzazione. L'impiego di categorie delle scienze sociali come «individualizzazione», «pluralismo» o «denormativizzazione» contribuisce all'analisi storica? come è possibile storicizzare questi ed altri concetti legati alla percezione di un passaggio d'epoca verso una «società liquida»? La ricerca storica ha bisogno di sturmenti e categorie più ampie? Infine, ma non meno importante: le trasformazioni osservate attraverso queste categorie permettono di riconoscere una cesura con il «moderno» e parlare di un «post-moderno»?

"""With contributions by Laird M. Easton, Claudine Grammont, Cathérine Hug mit Georg Baselitz und Robert Menasse, Frauke Josenhans, Katherine Kuenzli, Peter Kropmanns, Magdalena M. Moeller, Sherwin Simmons.
The German museum edition includes a 127-page supplement containing the essays in English, including the bibliography.
All essays except the final chapter (Cathérine Hug's conversation with Georg Baselitz and Robert Menasse) appear in English in the forthcoming exhibition catalog German Expressionism in Germany and France: From Van Gogh to Kandinsky (Prestel and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2014) and in French in the forthcoming De Van Gogh et Gauguin à Kirchner et Kandinsky : L'Expressionnisme allemand et la France (Prestel with the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, 2014). Illustrations in the German edition differ from those of the English and French editions because of differences in the checklist for the Zurich venue."

Education in Nazi Germany examines how Nazism took shape both in the schools, in particular through curricular and textbook changes, and in the youth groups, in which German boys and girls were socialized in accordance with the regime's ideological aims. Offering a compelling new analysis of Nazi Educational policy, this book brings to the forefront an often-overlooked aspect of the Third Reich