DOCSLIB.ORG

Comment on Julien Reitzenstein's Book Himmlers Forscher

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Comment on Julien Reitzenstein's Book Himmlers Forscher H-Net Comment on Julien Reitzenstein’s book Himmlers Forscher (Himmler’s Scientists) on the occasion of the legal dispute over the review by Sören Flachowsky Page published by Yelena Kalinsky on Thursday, November 16, 2017 From the H-Soz-Kult Editorial Board By Michael Wildt, chairman of Clio-online e.V., and Rüdiger Hohls, head of the working group H-Soz- Kult For the first time in its twenty-year history, H-Soz-Kult has decided to take a review offline. The review concerns Julien Reitzenstein’s bookHimmlers Forscher: Wehrwissenschaft und Medizinverbrechen im „Ahnenerbe“ der SS (Himmler’s Scientists: Military Science and Medical Crimes in the SS Ahnenerbe; Paderborn: Schöningh, 2014). The book was reviewed by Sören Flachowsky who, by virtue of his studies about Nazi science policy, was the best qualified reviewer. The reasons for taking the review offline can be found at the following address: http://www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/rezbuecher-23622 First, Flachowsky states in his review that Reitzenstein’s study is concerned with the evolution of the Institut für wehrwissenschaftliche Zweckforschung (IWZ; The Institute for Military Scientific Research), which emerged from the SS Ahnenerbe and thus focused on the hitherto largely unknown establishment of entgrenzter Wissenschaft (science without moral boundaries). While the Ahnenerbe project has received scholarly attention in recent decades, Flachowsky states that a study of the IWZ has so far been lacking. However, Reitzenstein devotes a considerable part of his research, but without wanting to present a biography, to the rise and wide-ranging activities of the managing director of the Ahnenerbe and the IWZ, Wolfram Sievers, a learned publisher without academic training. From the mid-1930s onwards, Sievers worked with verve on familiarizing and connecting himself with the German research landscape and used his political skill to shift the focus during the war towards war-relevant defense sciences. Sören Flachowsky notes that although only a small part of the book is dedicated to the origin and structure of the Ahnenerbe, Reitzenstein does present new findings on this topic. Among other things Flachowsky mentions how Reitzenstein disproves the contention that Reichsbauernführer (Reich Peasant Leader) Darré belonged to the founding members of the association (26). Flachowsky adds that especially with regard to the financing of the Ahnenerbe, Reitzenstein shows that it received a large part of its funds from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation, DFG). The revaluation of the Ahnenerbe to Amt A within the staff of the Reichsführer SS in 1942 also meant financial relief, since it was now financed by the SS-Wirtschaftsverwaltungshauptamt (SS Central Economic Administrative Office; 34–5; 267–8). According to Flachowsky, another new feature is the inspection of the Ahnenerbe’s real estate properties in Berlin-Dahlem, which were appropriated partly through dubious business practices that also benefited the Ahnenerbe's “aryanization” (270–87). Citation: Yelena Kalinsky. Comment on Julien Reitzenstein’s book Himmlers Forscher (Himmler’s Scientists) on the occasion of the legal dispute over the review by Sören Flachowsky. H-Net. 11-16-2017. https://networks.h-net.org/node/513/pages/846473/comment-julien-reitzensteins-book-himmlers-forscher-himmlers Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-Net The Second World War presented the SS Ahnenerbe, which was oriented towards intellectual history, with serious problems, for it now had to prove its “war-relevance.” This is why the managing director of the IWZ, Wolfram Sievers, carried out the development of the Institut für wehrwissenschaftliche Zweckforschung (Institute for Military Scientific Research). However, according to Flachowsky’s interpretation of Reitzenstein’s book, Sievers did not seem to have proceeded systematically in building these new structures, but let himself be guided by coincidences and the personal interests of Himmler. The emphasis on medicine, however, was not unfounded, because in addition to the treatment of war casualties, it was above all hygienic problems at the front and in the concentration camps that demanded new methods of medical prophylaxis. Yet, one can only agree with Flachowsky’s assessment that Reitzenstein does not take the circumstances adequately into account. Flachowsky states that Reitzenstein neglects to mention that Sievers had no other alternatives than to establish himself in the field of medical military science, since research related to war and armor was already in full swing and covered by networks of universities and research departments, and the Ahnenerbe had simply missed the boat due to its one-sided orientation up to that point. At the center of the book are the ten departments of the IWZ, but according to Flachowsky, Reitzenstein concentrates less on the research undertaken at the institute and more on the formation and expansion of its departments, its networks, and the internal decision-making processes of the SS related to it (77–8). Hardly any of the departments—of which only six operated—appear to have produced usable results for NS warfare. Following recent theoretical concepts of the “new statism” [neue Staatlichkeit] of the Nazi system, Reitzenstein comes to the conclusion that Sievers was one of the “interface managers” of the NS research system who zealously worked for the leadership and developed a partly murderous dynamic. The “structural success” in establishing the IWZ was based on its alignment with the person of Sievers (306), and put the institute “on a good path” to becoming “an established research institution” (303) by the end of 1944. It was through Sievers’ expertise as a special commissar of Himmler, Reitzenstein continues, that his “position of power within the SS” had expanded so much that he was “emancipated” not only from his competitors Oswald Pohl and Ernst-Robert Grawitz, but simultaneously even from Himmler and the SS (304). This, Reitzenstein argues, was not least due to the fact that Sievers had also taken on “influential” posts outside the Ahnenerbe after 1943—such as the Reichsforschungsrat (Reich Research Council, RFR)—and in this way coordinated the “defense research of the German Reich” (261; 302–7). Like Flachowsky in his review, we are of the opinion that this view requires a clear correction. In his introduction, Reitzenstein already overstates the importance of the Ahnenerbe when he writes that “its ideologization has contributed to the radicalization of an entire generation” (10). In our opinion, Sievers was also no “science manager powerful far beyond the Ahnenerbe” (41). Although Sievers had close relations with the DFG President and department head of science in the Reich Ministry of Education, SS Brigadier general Rudolf Mentzel, it can hardly be inferred from this that he "co- managed" the RFR (256). The appointment of Sievers to Deputy Chief of the RFR—here we agree with the reviewer Flachowsky—was more likely a concession of the Reich Ministry of Education to Himmler in order to secure a position in the RFR for Mentzel, whose own position of power was temporarily on the line. In this way, the Ahnenerbe was dependent on Mentzel’s goodwill, which Himmler’s research community and thus also Sievers used to secure his own position. Reitzenstein himself states that Sievers merely sat “in the antechamber of power” (51). Citation: Yelena Kalinsky. Comment on Julien Reitzenstein’s book Himmlers Forscher (Himmler’s Scientists) on the occasion of the legal dispute over the review by Sören Flachowsky. H-Net. 11-16-2017. https://networks.h-net.org/node/513/pages/846473/comment-julien-reitzensteins-book-himmlers-forscher-himmlers Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 2 H-Net Reitzenstein’s study pays special attention to the involvement of the Institute in criminal human trials. Thus Flachowsky praises Reizenstein for casting off the anonymity of the victims of the mustard gas experiments carried out by Prof. Dr. August Hirt (135–9) and for illuminating the backdrop of what led to the infamous “skull and skeleton collection” at the University of Strasbourg (114–7; 126–7 ). On the other hand, other remarks by Reitzenstein are to be assessed not only as unfortunate, but as problematic formulations. Here are two quotations from Reitzenstein’s book: On p.61 one finds the passage: It is shown that Rascher was striving for lethal experiments from the outset, while Sievers never called for such experimental arrangements on his own initiative. From this it follows that Sievers himself only pushed for potentially deadly procedures in two places: the mustard gas experiments by Hirt and the so-called “Jewish skeleton collection.” And on p. 223 one reads: After Schilling had invited Plötner to work together again, the peace between them remained only for a short time. The reason was that Plötner refused to conduct human experiments with Polygal and/or malarial parasites before the effect mechanisms had been thoroughly investigated. Plötner's refusal was confirmed not only by Neff, but also by Sievers himself in Nuremberg. There is no evidence suggesting that Sievers would have demanded human experiments if there were alternatives. This corroborates Ina Schmidt’s thesis that Sievers rejected human experiments for religious reason. Since the resignation of Rascher, Himmler’s former protégé, no lethal or particularly cruel experiments were documented at the Institut für wehrwissenschaftliche Zweckforschung (Institute for Military Scientific Research, IWZ). Speaking of “... if there were alternatives” and Nuremberg: Sievers was sentenced to death as a war criminal during the Doctors’ Trial on August 20, 1947, and was executed the following year in the Landsberg am Lech prison. There is also prolific evidence in Reitzenstein’s book that Sievers pushed, coordinated, and financed fatal human experiments (89–90, 92, 120–1, 122–3, 129–30, 150, 155–6), and even attended some of the experiments in person (173, 177–8).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Florian Schmaltz. Kampfstoff-Forschung Im
    Florian Schmaltz. Kampfstoff-Forschung im Nationalsozialismus: Zur Kooperation von Kaiser-Wilhelm- Instituten, Militär und Industrie.Geschichte der Kaiser-Wilhelm- Gesellschaft im Nationalsozialismus. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2005. 676 pp. Illustrations. EUR 39.00 (paper), ISBN 9783892448808. Wolfgang Schieder and Achim Trunk, eds. Adolf Butenandt und die Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft: Wissenschaft, Industrie und Politik im Dritten Geschichte der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft im Nationalsozialismus. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2004. 456 pp. Table of contents. EUR 34.00 (paper), ISBN 9783892447528. Reviewed by Avraham Barkai, Leo Baeck Institute. Published by H-German (January,2007) Belated Confrontation Tw o generations after the fall of the "Third Rürup and Wolfgang Schieder.InJune 2001, the Reich" at the hands of the Allied victors, German president of the Max Planck Gesellschaft (MPG), public opinion, as far as reflected in the media, Hubert Markl, announced its first publications, seems to have faced the uneasy recognition that before an audience that included survivors of Hitler and his regime, its policy, its war and its Auschwitz as invited guests, in a remarkable atrocious crimes were based not only on broad speech, stating: "For way too long, manyquestions consent but also on the willing cooperation and were not asked; for way too long manyquestions welcome of its "benefits" by the greater part of the remained uninvestigated and only dealt with by German people. Since the early 1990s outsiders; ... For too long, colleagues supported governmental, municipal and other public agencies each other by remaining silent and not asking have created commissions that have unearthed questions instead of opening the door to honest proof of such acceptance and have broadened our investigation that was needed.
    [Show full text]
  • German Historical Institute London Bulletin Vol 23 (2001), No. 1
    German Historical Institute London Bulletin Volume XXIII, No. 1 May 2001 CONTENTS Seminars 3 Review Article Raiding the Storehouse of European Art: National Socialist Art Plunder during the Second World War (Ines Schlenker) 5 Debate Stefan Berger responds to Ulrich Muhlack 21 Book Reviews I. S. Robinson, Henry IV of Germany, 1056-1106 (Hanna Vollrath) 34 Gerd Althoff, Spielregeln der Politik im Mittelalter: Kommuni- kation in Frieden und Fehde (Timothy Reuter) 40 William Gervase Clarence-Smith, Cocoa and Chocolate, 1765-1914 (Andreas Eckert) 48 L. G. Mitchell, Lord Melbourne 1779-1848 (Patrick Bahners) 53 Wolfgang Piereth, Bayerns Pressepolitik und die Neuordnung Deutschlands nach den Befreiungskriegen (Michael Rowe) 65 Margit Szöllösi-Janze, Fritz Haber 1868-1934: Eine Biographie (Raymond Stokes) 71 Gesine Krüger, Kriegsbewältigung und Geschichtsbewußtsein: Realität, Deutung und Verarbeitung des deutschen Kolonial- kriegs in Namibia 1904 bis 1907 (Tilman Dedering) 76 Contents Kurt Flasch, Die geistige Mobilmachung: Die deutschen Intellektuellen und der Erste Weltkrieg. Ein Versuch (Roger Chickering) 80 Notker Hammerstein, Die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft in der Weimarer Republik und im Dritten Reich: Wissenschafts- politik in Republik und Diktatur; Michael Fahlbusch, Wissen- schaft im Dienst der nationalsozialistischen Politik? Die ‘Volksdeutschen Forschungsgemeinschaften’ von 1931-1945 (Paul Weindling) 83 Peter Strunk, Zensur und Zensoren: Medienkontrolle und Propagandapolitik unter sowjetischer Besatzungsherrschaft in Deutschland (Patrick Major) 89 Paul Nolte, Die Ordnung der deutschen Gesellschaft: Selbstent- wurf und Selbstbeschreibung im 20. Jahrhundert (Thomas Rohrkrämer) 93 Noticeboard 98 Library News 111 Recent Acquisitions 2 SEMINARS AT THE GHIL SUMMER 2001 15 May PROFESSOR GÜNTHER HEYDEMANN (Leipzig) The Revolution of 1989/90 in the GDR—Recent Research Günther Heydemann has published widely on European history of the nineteenth century and the twentieth-century German dictator- ships.
    [Show full text]
  • Heisenberg and the Nazi Atomic Bomb Project, 1939-1945: a Study in German Culture
    Heisenberg and the Nazi Atomic Bomb Project http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft838nb56t&chunk.id=0&doc.v... Preferred Citation: Rose, Paul Lawrence. Heisenberg and the Nazi Atomic Bomb Project, 1939-1945: A Study in German Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1998 1998. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft838nb56t/ Heisenberg and the Nazi Atomic Bomb Project A Study in German Culture Paul Lawrence Rose UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley · Los Angeles · Oxford © 1998 The Regents of the University of California In affectionate memory of Brian Dalton (1924–1996), Scholar, gentleman, leader, friend And in honor of my father's 80th birthday Preferred Citation: Rose, Paul Lawrence. Heisenberg and the Nazi Atomic Bomb Project, 1939-1945: A Study in German Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1998 1998. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft838nb56t/ In affectionate memory of Brian Dalton (1924–1996), Scholar, gentleman, leader, friend And in honor of my father's 80th birthday ― ix ― ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For hospitality during various phases of work on this book I am grateful to Aryeh Dvoretzky, Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, whose invitation there allowed me to begin work on the book while on sabbatical leave from James Cook University of North Queensland, Australia, in 1983; and to those colleagues whose good offices made it possible for me to resume research on the subject while a visiting professor at York University and the University of Toronto, Canada, in 1990–92. Grants from the College of the Liberal Arts and the Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies of The Pennsylvania State University enabled me to complete the research and writing of the book.
    [Show full text]
  • Hitler's Uranium Club, the Secret Recordings at Farm Hall
    HITLER’S URANIUM CLUB DER FARMHALLER NOBELPREIS-SONG (Melodie: Studio of seiner Reis) Detained since more than half a year Ein jeder weiss, das Unglueck kam Sind Hahn und wir in Farm Hall hier. Infolge splitting von Uran, Und fragt man wer is Schuld daran Und fragt man, wer ist Schuld daran, So ist die Antwort: Otto Hahn. So ist die Antwort: Otto Hahn. The real reason nebenbei Die energy macht alles waermer. Ist weil we worked on nuclei. Only die Schweden werden aermer. Und fragt man, wer ist Schuld daran, Und fragt man, wer ist Schuld daran, So ist die Antwort: Otto Hahn. So ist die Antwort: Otto Hahn. Die nuclei waren fuer den Krieg Auf akademisches Geheiss Und fuer den allgemeinen Sieg. Kriegt Deutschland einen Nobel-Preis. Und fragt man, wer ist Schuld daran, Und fragt man, wer ist Schuld daran, So ist die Antwort: Otto Hahn. So ist die Antwort: Otto Hahn. Wie ist das moeglich, fragt man sich, In Oxford Street, da lebt ein Wesen, The story seems wunderlich. Die wird das heut’ mit Thraenen lesen. Und fragt man, wer ist Schuld daran Und fragt man, wer ist Schuld daran, So ist die Antwort: Otto Hahn. So ist die Antwort: Otto Hahn. Die Feldherrn, Staatschefs, Zeitungsknaben, Es fehlte damals nur ein atom, Ihn everyday im Munde haben. Haett er gesagt: I marry you madam. Und fragt man, wer ist Schuld daran, Und fragt man, wer ist Schuld daran, So ist die Antwort: Otto Hahn. So ist die Antwort: Otto Hahn. Even the sweethearts in the world(s) Dies ist nur unsre-erste Feier, Sie nennen sich jetzt: “Atom-girls.” Ich glaub die Sache wird noch teuer, Und fragt man, wer ist Schuld daran, Und fragt man, wer ist Schuld daran, So ist die Antwort: Otto Hahn.
    [Show full text]
  • Wissenschaft, Planung, Vertreibung. Der Generalplan Ost Der Nationalsozialisten
    WISSENSCHAFT PLANUNG VERTREIBUNG Der Generalplan Ost der Nationalsozialisten Eine Ausstellung der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft „ ... wenn einmal Grund und Boden in deutscher Hand sind.“ Aus dem Generalplan Ost vom Juni 1942: „Die Eindeutschung wird als vollzogen angenommen, wenn einmal der Grund und Boden in deutsche Hand überführt worden ist, zum anderen, wenn die beruflichen Selbständigen, die Beamten, Angestellten, die gehobenen Arbeiter und die dazugehörenden Familien deutsch sind. Aufgrund der in den Raumordnungsskizzen niedergelegten Zielplanung wird die ländliche Bevölkerung rund 2,9 Millionen Menschen, die städtische etwa 4,3 Millionen Menschen betragen. Für die Eindeutschung wird auf dem Lande eine Bevölkerungszahl von rund 1,8 Millionen, in der Stadt von etwa 2,2 Millionen deutscher Menschen für erforderlich gehalten.“ (über annektierte westpolnische Gebiete) „Die Durchdringung der großen Räume des Ostens mit deutschem Leben stellt das Reich vor die zwingende Notwendigkeit, neuen Besiedlungsformen zu finden, die die Raumgröße und die jeweils verfügbaren deutschen Menschen miteinander in Einklang bringen.“ (über deutsche Siedlungsstützpunkte) „Da auf die Mitarbeit der in den Gebieten jetzt bodenständigen Bevölkerung nicht verzichtet werden kann, muß die zu schaffende Volksordnung im Ostraum auf eine Befriedung der dortigen Einwohner abzielen. Die Befriedung wird dadurch erreicht, daß die nötige Bereitstellung von Siedlungsland für die Ansetzung deutscher Menschen nicht wie bisher durch Evakuierungen, sondern durch Umsetzung
    [Show full text]
  • The Virus House      -
    David Irving The Virus House - F FOCAL POINT Copyright © by David Irving Electronic version copyright © by Parforce UK Ltd. All rights reserved No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. Copies may be downloaded from our website for research purposes only. No part of this publication may be commercially reproduced, copied, or transmitted save with written permission in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. To Pilar is the son of a Royal Navy commander. Imper- fectly educated at London’s Imperial College of Science & Tech- nology and at University College, he subsequently spent a year in Germany working in a steel mill and perfecting his fluency in the language. In he published The Destruction of Dresden. This became a best-seller in many countries. Among his thirty books (including three in German), the best-known include Hitler’s War; The Trail of the Fox: The Life of Field Marshal Rommel; Accident, the Death of General Sikorski; The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe; Göring: a Biography; and Nuremberg, the Last Battle. The second volume of Churchill's War appeared in and he is now completing the third. His works are available as free downloads at www.fpp.co.uk/books. Contents Author’s Introduction ............................. Solstice.......................................................... A Letter to the War Office ........................ The Plutonium Alternative....................... An Error of Consequence ......................... Item Sixteen on a Long Agenda............... Freshman................................................... Vemork Attacked.....................................
    [Show full text]
  • 24.11 Books MH 17/11/05 5:01 PM Page 427
    24.11 books MH 17/11/05 5:01 PM Page 427 NATURE|Vol 438|24 November 2005 BOOKS & ARTS died. Bickenbach was later condemned by a French court to 20 years in jail. During the A poisonous present lawsuit, Kuhn wrote to Bickenbach’s lawyer, saying that the experiments were “scientifically Kampfstoff-Forschung im in 1938, Kuhn took over some of his lab space. perfect” and “a blessing for future generations”. Nationalsozialismus: Zur Kooperation This gave him access to the nerve poisons Bickenbach was released in 1955 after a Ger- von Kaiser-Wilhelm-Instituten, Militär tabun and sarin, synthesized in secret in 1936 man medical court found nothing wrong with und Industrie. [Weapons Research in and 1939 by chemists of the IG Farben compa- his experiments and allowed him to practice National Socialism] nies. The Allies only learned of their existence medicine again. by Florian Schmaltz shortly before the end of the war. Kuhn’s Schmaltz, a historian, presents all this and Wallstein: 2005. 676 pp. €39 colleagues showed that the poisons worked much more in great detail. The flow of money by inhibiting acetylcholine esterase, and his between industry, the army and science, in Benno Müller-Hill laboratory synthesized an even more effective particular, is well documented, but the chem- Germany started developing chemical weapons acetylcholine esterase inhibitor, soman, in istry is flawed in places. The structures of sarin nearly a century ago, during the First World 1944. These poisons were synthesized in large and soman are given, but that of tabun is miss- War. Fritz Haber, then director of the Kaiser quantities for use in grenades, but they were ing, and the structure of pinacoline alcohol, a Wilhelm Institute of Physical Chemistry in never used.
    [Show full text]
  • Aus Dem Institut Für Ethik Und Geschichte Der Medizin
    Aus dem Institut für Ethik und Geschichte der Medizin Täter, Netzwerker, Forscher: Die Medizinverbrechen von Dr. med. Sigmund Rascher und sein personelles Umfeld Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Medizin der Medizinischen Fakultät der Eberhard Karls Universität zu Tübingen vorgelegt von Janze, Matthias Michael 2020 Dekan: Professor Dr. B. Pichler 1. Berichterstatter: Privatdozent Dr. H. Tümmers 2. Berichterstatter: Professor Dr. F. Dross Tag der Disputation: 26.07.2018 Inhaltsverzeichnis Tabellenverzeichnis .......................................................................................................... 5 Abkürzungsverzeichnis .................................................................................................... 6 Einleitung ......................................................................................................................... 8 A. Quellengrundlage und Quellenkritik ..................................................................... 10 B. Forschungsstand ..................................................................................................... 15 1. Raschers Werdegang und seine Experimente ..................................................... 15 2. Täterforschung .................................................................................................... 22 3. Netzwerkanalyse ................................................................................................. 26 C. Gliederung und Ziel dieser Studie ........................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • James, Steinhauser, Hoffmann, Friedrich One Hundred Years at The
    James, Steinhauser, Hoffmann, Friedrich One Hundred Years at the Intersection of Chemistry and Physics Published under the auspices of the Board of Directors of the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society: Hans-Joachim Freund Gerard Meijer Matthias Scheffler Robert Schlögl Martin Wolf Jeremiah James · Thomas Steinhauser · Dieter Hoffmann · Bretislav Friedrich One Hundred Years at the Intersection of Chemistry and Physics The Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society 1911–2011 De Gruyter An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libra- ries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access. More information about the initiative can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org Aut ho rs: Dr. Jeremiah James Prof. Dr. Dieter Hoffmann Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Institute for the Max Planck Society History of Science Faradayweg 4–6 Boltzmannstr. 22 14195 Berlin 14195 Berlin [email protected] [email protected] Dr. Thomas Steinhauser Prof. Dr. Bretislav Friedrich Fritz Haber Institute of the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society Max Planck Society Faradayweg 4–6 Faradayweg 4–6 14195 Berlin 14195 Berlin [email protected] [email protected] Cover images: Front cover: Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, 1913. From left to right, “factory” building, main building, director’s villa, known today as Haber Villa. Back cover: Campus of the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, 2011. The Institute’s his- toric buildings, contiguous with the “Röntgenbau” on their right, house the Departments of Physical Chemistry and Molecular Physics.
    [Show full text]
  • Eine Erfolgsgeschichte?
    Forschungsprogramm „Geschichte der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft im Nationalsozialismus“ Research Program „History of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in the National Socialist Era“ EINE ERFOLGSGESCHICHTE? SCHLAGLICHTER AUF DIE GESCHICHTE DER GENERALVERWALTUNG DER KAISER-WILHELM-GESELLSCHAFT IM „DRITTEN REICH“ Rüdiger Hachtmann Ergebnisse 19 Impressum Ergebnisse. Vorabdrucke aus dem Forschungsprogramm „Geschichte der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft im Nationalsozialismus“ Herausgegeben von Susanne Heim im Auftrag der Präsidentenkommission der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Copyright © 2004 by Rüdiger Hachtmann Redaktion: Elke Brüns Bezugsadresse: Forschungsprogramm „Geschichte der Kaiser-Wilhelm- Gesellschaft im Nationalsozialismus“ Glinkastraße 5–7 D-10117 Berlin Tel.: 0049–(0)30–2 26 67–154 Fax: 0049–(0)30–2 26 67–333 Email: [email protected] Umschlaggestaltung: punkt 8, Berlin ([email protected]) INHALT Kurzfassung / Abstract 4 Einleitung 5 1. Etatentwicklung der KWG und Finanzpolitik der Generalverwaltung 9 2. Die Euphorie des „nationalen Aufbruchs“ 1933 13 3.1. Alte Träume werden wahr: „Wiederwehrhaftmachung“ und Rüstungsforschung 15 3.2. Ostpolitik und „Grenzlandarbeit“ 18 3. Im Sog des Nationalsozialismus: Selbstverständnis und Politik der Generalverwaltung 21 3.1. Personalisierung und Informalisierung der Politik – Bemerkungen zu einigen Strukturmerkmalen des NS-Herrschaftssystems 22 3.2. Friedrich Glum – biographische Facetten 24 3.3. Glums Netzwerke auf ‚klassischer’ Honoratiorenbasis
    [Show full text]
  • The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics During World War II, 1938/42–1945
    Chapter 4 In the Realm of Opportunity: The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics during World War II, 1938/42–1945 4.1 The “Reorganization” of the Institute under the Banner of Phenogenetics, 1938–1942 4.1.1 Preliminary Considerations in the Years 1938/42 On March 8, 1940, Eugen Fischer wrote a long, confidential letter to Otmar von Verschuer, director of the Institute for Genetic Biology and Race Hygiene at the University of Frankfurt at that time. In this letter Fischer expressed critique – and certainly also self-critique – about the scientific development of his institute since the mid-1930s. At first glance this critical assessment seems surprising. The KWI-A had prof- ited considerably from the genetic and race policy of the National Socialist regime. Money flowed abundantly, research projects received generous support, the expan- sion of the institute proceeded. As the deputy chairman of the Medical Biology Section of the “Academic Council” of the KWG, and even more so as a member of the Expert Committee for “Anthropology and Ethnology” of the Emergency Association of German Science and the Reich Research Council, respectively, the position Fischer held within his area of expertise was central in terms of research strategy.1 The political prestige and social recognition of the KWI-A, and the scientists working there increased constantly. Fischer himself received a number of honors and accolades in the Third Reich, of which his election to membership in the Prussian Academy of Sciences in 1937 was the most important. Just a year ear- lier, in 1939, Fischer had been awarded the Goethe Medal for Art and Science.2 Yet in March 1940 Fischer was not satisfied with the development of the insti- tute.
    [Show full text]
  • An Inter-Country Comparison of Nuclear Pile Development During World War II
    Piles of piles: An inter-country comparison of nuclear pile development during World War II B. Cameron Reed Department of Physics (Emeritus) Alma College Alma, Michigan 48801 USA [email protected] January 23, 2020 Abstract Between the time of the discovery of nuclear fission in early 1939 and the end of 1946, approximately 90 “nuclear piles” were constructed in six countries. These devices ranged from simple graphite columns containing neutron sources but no uranium to others as complex as the water-cooled 250-megawatt plutonium production reactors built at Hanford, Washington. This paper summarizes and compares the properties of these piles. 1 1. Introduction According to the World Nuclear Association, there were 448 operable civilian nuclear power reactors in the world with a further 53 under construction as of late 2019.1 To this total can be added reactors intended for other purposes such as materials testing, medical isotope production, operator training, naval propulsion, and fissile materials production. All of these reactors are the descendants, by some path or other, of the first generation of nuclear “piles” developed in the years following the discovery of nuclear fission in late 1938. Any historian of science possessing even only a passing knowledge of developments in nuclear physics during World War II will be familiar with how Enrico Fermi achieved the first self-sustaining chain reaction with his CP-1 (“Critical Pile 1”) graphite pile at the University of Chicago on December 2, 1942, and how this achievement led to the development, within two years, of large-scale plutonium production reactors at Hanford, Washington.
    [Show full text]