DOCSLIB.ORG

The Passion of Max Von Oppenheim Archaeology and Intrigue in the Middle East from Wilhelm II to Hitler

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Passion of Max Von Oppenheim Archaeology and Intrigue in the Middle East from Wilhelm II to Hitler To access digital resources including: blog posts videos online appendices and to purchase copies of this book in: hardback paperback ebook editions Go to: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/163 Open Book Publishers is a non-profit independent initiative. We rely on sales and donations to continue publishing high-quality academic works. Lionel Gossman is M. Taylor Pyne Professor of Romance Languages (Emeritus) at Princeton University. Most of his work has been on seventeenth and eighteenth-century French literature, nineteenth-century European cultural history, and the theory and practice of historiography. His publications include Men and Masks: A Study of Molière; Medievalism and the Ideologies of the Enlightenment: The World and Work of La Curne de Sainte- Palaye; French Society and Culture: Background for 18th Century Literature; Augustin Thierry and Liberal Historiography; The Empire Unpossess’d: An Essay on Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall”; Between History and Literature; Basel in the Age of Burckhardt: A Study in Unseasonable Ideas; The Making of a Romantic Icon: The Religious Context of Friedrich Overbeck’s “Italia und Germania”; Figuring History; and several edited volumes: The Charles Sanders Peirce Symposium on Semiotics and the Arts; Building a Profession: Autobiographical Perspectives on the Beginnings of Comparative Literature in the United States (with Mihai Spariosu); Geneva-Zurich-Basel: History, Culture, and National Identity, and Begegnungen mit Jacob Burckhardt (with Andreas Cesana). He is also the author of Brownshirt Princess: A Study of the ‘Nazi Conscience’, and the editor and translator of The End and the Beginning: The Book of My Life by Hermynia Zur Mühlen, both published by OBP. The Passion of Max von Oppenheim Archaeology and Intrigue in the Middle East from Wilhelm II to Hitler Lionel Gossman Unless otherwise stated, all contents of this book are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 unported license available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ © 2013 Lionel Gossman. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work; to adapt the work and to make commercial use of the work providing attribution is made to the author (but not in any way that suggests that she endorses you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information: Gossman, Lionel. The Passion of Max von Oppenheim: Archaeology and Intrigue in the Middle East from Wilhelm II to Hitler. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2014, http://dx.doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0030 Further details about CC BY licenses are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Digital material and resources associated with this volume are available on our website at: http://www.openbookpublishers.com/9781909254206 ISBN Paperback: 978-1-909254-20-6 ISBN Hardback: 978-1-909254-21-3 ISBN Digital (PDF): 978-1-909254-22-0 ISBN Digital ebook (epub version): 978-1-909254-23-7 ISBN Digital ebook (mobi version): 978-1-909254-24-4 DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0030 Cover image: A new Haroun Al Raschid. A Dream of Baghdad, Made in Germany, cartoon by Leonard Raven-Hill, Punch (25 January, 1911). Princeton University Library. Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders; any omissions or errors will be corrected if notification is made to the publisher. All paper used by Open Book Publishers is SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative), and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) Certified. Printed in the United Kingdom and United States by Lightning Source for Open Book Publishers In fond and grateful memory of my teachers, Miss McCallum (Pollokshields Primary School, Glasgow), Miss Ross (Largs Higher Grade School, Ayrshire), Miss Gibson and Miss Forsyth (Eastwood Secondary School, Renfrewshire), Alan M. Boase and Norman Cohn (Glasgow University), Jean Frappier (Paris) and Jean Seznec (Oxford). Table of Contents Dedication v Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xiii Note on Translations xiii Foreword xvii INTRODUCTION xxiii I. FAMILY BACKGROUND, DIPLOMATIC CAREER, ROLE IN WORLD WAR I 1 1. The Oppenheims 3 2. The Charm of the Orient 13 3. Attaché in Cairo. “The Kaiser’s Spy” 33 4. The Spectre of Pan-Islamism and Jihad. The Background of Oppenheim’s 1914 Denkschrift betreffend die Revolutionierung der islamischen Gebiete Unserer Feinde 47 5. Oppenheim’s 1914 Denkschrift 81 6. Promoter of German Economic Expansion and the Berlin-Baghdad Railway 107 II. THE ARCHAEOLOGIST: TELL HALAF 117 7. Discovery and Excavation, Publications and Critical Reception 119 8. Financial Difficulties. The Fate of the Tell Halaf Finds 147 viii The Passion of Max von Oppenheim III. “THE KAISER’S SPY” UNDER NATIONAL SOCIALISM. “LEBEN IM NS-STAAT” 159 9. Questions 161 10. The Oppenheims and their Bank under National Socialism 163 11. Waldemar and Friedrich Carl von Oppenheim, so-called “Quarter-Jews,” during the National Socialist Regime: Work for the Abwehr (German Counter-Intelligence) and Association with the Conservative “Widerstand” (German Resistance) 171 12. Max von Oppenheim, “Half-Jew,” during the National Socialist Regime 205 Oppenheim and the Race Question 205 Support of the Regime 222 13. Plotting for Nazi Germany. Oppenheim’s Role in the Middle East Policy of the Third Reich 231 14. Max von Oppenheim’s Last Years 277 IV. MAX VON OPPENHEIM’S RELATION TO NATIONAL SOCIALISM IN CONTEXT. SOME RESPONSES OF “NON-ARYAN” GERMANS TO NATIONAL SOCIALISM 283 15. Two Jewish Organizations: the Verband nationaldeutscher Juden (Association of German National Jews) and the Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten (Jewish War Veterans Association) 285 16. Some Individuals: Schoeps, Pevsner, Kantorowicz, Landmann 293 17. By Way of Conclusion 325 APPENDIX of originals and translations of passages quoted 337 INDEX OF NAMES 379 Illustrations Frontispiece. “Mein Zelt” (My Tent). Dr. Max Freiherr xvi von Oppenheim, Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf durch den Haurān, die Syrische Wüste und Mesopotamien (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1899), vol. 1, frontispiece. 1.1 Portrait of Salomon Oppenheim jr., founder of the Oppenheim 4 bank. Artist unknown (before 1828). Wikimedia Commons. Original in colour. 1.2 Synagogue in the Glockengasse, funded by the Oppenheim 5 family, 1861. Lithograph by J. Hoegg from a water colour by Carl Emanuel Conrad (1810–1873). Wikimedia Commons. 1.3 Alexander Duncker, Die ländlichen Wohnsitze, Schlösser und 8 Residenzen der Ritterschaftlichen Grundbesitzer in der Preussischen Monarchie, in naturgetreuen künstlerisch ausgeführten, farbigen Darstellungen nebst begleitendem Text (Berlin: Alexander Duncker, 1857–1883), vol. 9 (1866–1867), Plate 530. Original in colour. 2.1 “Bedouin Women.” Dr. Max Freiherr von Oppenheim, 24 Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf durch den Haurān, die Syrische Wüste und Mesopotamien (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1899), vol. 2, facing p. 124. 2.2 “Bedouin Minstrels.” Dr. Max Freiherr von Oppenheim, 24 Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf durch den Haurān, die Syrische Wüste und Mesopotamien (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1899), vol. 2, p. 127. 2.3 “Syrian Villagers.” Dr. Max Freiherr von Oppenheim, Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf, vol. 1, facing p. 254. 24 Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf. Ibid., vol. 1, facing p. 254. x The Passion of Max von Oppenheim 5.1 Al-Ğihād—El Dschihad, Zeitung für die muhammedanischen 88 Kriegsgefangenen (a fortnightly newspaper published in Arabic and other languages by the Nachrichtenstelle für den Orient for Muslim prisoners-of-war, beginning on 1 March, 1915), Arabic issue, no. 21, 4 November, 1915, front page. Courtesy of Staatsbibliothek, Munich (2 H. un.app. 42t). All rights reserved. 7.1 Tell Halaf. “The Pole Goddess,” excavated in 1899. 137 Dr. Max Freiherr von Oppenheim, “Bericht über eine im Jahr 1899 ausgeführte Forschungsreise in der asiatischen Türkei,” Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin, 36, 2 (1901): 69–99. Plate 16. 7.2 Tell Halaf. “The Goddess with the Veil.” Dr. Max Freiherr von 138 Oppenheim, “Der Tell Halaf und die verschleierte Göttin,” Der Alte Orient, 10, 1 (1908): 43. Plate 12. 7.3 Tell Halaf. “Sphinx.” Berlin, Pergamon Museum. Wikimedia 143 Commons. Photograph by Z. Thomas. CC-BY-SA. 7.4 Tell Halaf. “Enthroned Goddess.” Illustrated London News, 145 October 25, 1930, p. 707. 8.1 Façade of Aleppo National Museum, showing plaster casts 148 of caryatids shipped to Berlin by Max von Oppenheim. Wikimedia Commons. 8.2 Illustrated London News, October 25, 1930, front page, showing 149 caryatids from Tell Halaf in newly opened Tell Halaf Museum. 8.3 Tell Halaf. Orthostat. “Seated Figure holding a lotus flower.” 154 New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1943 (43.135.1) © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. All Rights Reserved. 8.4 Tell Halaf. Orthostat. “Lion-hunt scene.” New York, 155 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1943 (43.135.2) © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. All Rights Reserved. 8.5 Tell Halaf. Orthostat. “Two heroes.” Baltimore, MD, 155 The Walters Art Museum, accession no. 21.18. © The Walters Art Museum. All Rights Reserved. Illustrations xi 8.6 Tell Halaf. Orthostat. “Winged goddess.” Baltimore, MD, 155 The Walters Art Museum, accession no. 21.16. © The Walters Art Museum. All Rights Reserved. 14.1 Max von Oppenheim (left) and his faithful manservant 279 Sommer. Photograph sent at end of World War II by Oppenheim to his former collaborator Ernst Herzfeld at the Institute
Load more

Recommended publications
  • New Draft of Art Historiography Article
    Regarding the exhibition: the Munich exhibition Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art (1910) and its scholarly position Eva-Maria Troelenberg ‘Muhammadan art’ in the Weltstadt It was the cultural event of the year 1910:1 on 14 May, the municipal exhibition ground in Munich’s Theresienhöhe opened its gates to an unprecedented and exotic event, the exhibition Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art. This mammoth undertaking featured more than 3,600 artworks from approximately 250 international collections, museums and institutions and was installed in eighty halls (figure 1). * This paper summarizes and partially expands some aspects of my dissertation, which is the first comprehensive and contextualized monograph on the Munich exhibition Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art (Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst): Eva-Maria Troelenberg, Eine Ausstellung wird besichtigt. Die Münchner ‘Ausstellung von Meisterwerken muhammedanischer Kunst’ 1910 in kultur- und wissenschaftsgeschichtlicher Perspektive, Frankfurt and Berlin: Peter Lang, 2011. For the sake of brevity, I will not refer to every corresponding section of my own book in this paper. For specific facets of the Munich show see also the contributions in Andrea Lermer and Avinoam Shalem, eds, After One Hundred Years. The 1910 Exhibition ‘Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst’ Reconsidered, Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2010; as well as the catalogue for the exhibition The Future of Tradition – The Tradition of Future, which was held at Haus der Kunst in Munich in 2010-11: see Chris Dercon, León Krempel and Avinoam Shalem, eds, The Future of Tradition – The Tradition of Future. 100 years after the exhibition Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art in Munich, Munich, London and New York: Prestel, 2010. Apart from these publications, which were prompted by the centenary of the event, and appeared almost simultaneously, the 1910 Munich exhibition had been addressed by several scholars who have touched upon it within larger contexts of art history, historiography or museology, most notably: David J.
    [Show full text]
  • Gay Marriage Opponents Closer To
    Columbia Foundation Articles and Reports July 2012 Arts and Culture ALONZO KING’S LINES BALLET $40,000 awarded in August 2010 for two new world-premiere ballets, a collaboration with architect Christopher Haas (Triangle of the Squinches) and a new work set to Sephardic music (Resin) 1. Isadora Duncan Dance Awards, March 27, 2012 2012 Isadora Duncan Dance Award Winners Announced Christopher Haas wins a 2012 Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design for his set design for Triangle of the Squinches. Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet wins two other Isadora Duncan Dance Awards for the production Sheherazade. ASIAN ART MUSEUM $255,000 awarded since 2003, including $50,000 in July 2011 for Phantoms of Asia, the first major exhibition of Asian contemporary art from May 18 to September 2, 2012, which explores the question “What is Asia?” through the lens of supernatural, non-material, and spiritual sensibilities in art of the Asian region 2. San Francisco Chronicle, May 13, 2012 Asian Art Museum's 'Phantoms of Asia' connects Phantoms of Asia features over 60 pieces of contemporary art playing off and connecting with the Asian Art Museum's prized historical objects. According to the writer, Phantoms of Asia, the museum’s first large-scale exhibition of contemporary art is an “an expansive and ambitious show.” Allison Harding, the Asian Art Museum's assistant curator of contemporary art says, “We're trying to create a dialogue between art of the past and art of the present, and look at the way in which artists today are exploring many of the same concerns of artists throughout time.
    [Show full text]
  • Completeandleft
    MEN WOMEN 1. Adam Ant=English musician who gained popularity as the Amy Adams=Actress, singer=134,576=68 AA lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Amy Acuff=Athletics (sport) competitor=34,965=270 Ants=70,455=40 Allison Adler=Television producer=151,413=58 Aljur Abrenica=Actor, singer, guitarist=65,045=46 Anouk Aimée=Actress=36,527=261 Atif Aslam=Pakistani pop singer and film actor=35,066=80 Azra Akin=Model and actress=67,136=143 Andre Agassi=American tennis player=26,880=103 Asa Akira=Pornographic act ress=66,356=144 Anthony Andrews=Actor=10,472=233 Aleisha Allen=American actress=55,110=171 Aaron Ashmore=Actor=10,483=232 Absolutely Amber=American, Model=32,149=287 Armand Assante=Actor=14,175=170 Alessandra Ambrosio=Brazilian model=447,340=15 Alan Autry=American, Actor=26,187=104 Alexis Amore=American pornographic actress=42,795=228 Andrea Anders=American, Actress=61,421=155 Alison Angel=American, Pornstar=642,060=6 COMPLETEandLEFT Aracely Arámbula=Mexican, Actress=73,760=136 Anne Archer=Film, television actress=50,785=182 AA,Abigail Adams AA,Adam Arkin Asia Argento=Actress, film director=85,193=110 AA,Alan Alda Alison Armitage=English, Swimming=31,118=299 AA,Alan Arkin Ariadne Artiles=Spanish, Model=31,652=291 AA,Alan Autry Anara Atanes=English, Model=55,112=170 AA,Alvin Ailey ……………. AA,Amedeo Avogadro ACTION ACTION AA,Amy Adams AA,Andre Agasi ALY & AJ AA,Andre Agassi ANDREW ALLEN AA,Anouk Aimée ANGELA AMMONS AA,Ansel Adams ASAF AVIDAN AA,Army Archerd ASKING ALEXANDRIA AA,Art Alexakis AA,Arthur Ashe ATTACK ATTACK! AA,Ashley
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of COLOGNE Annual Report 2016 UNIVERSITY of COLOGNE Annual Report 2016 Contents
    UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE Annual Report 2016 UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE Annual Report 2016 Contents Foreword 5 Highlights 2016 6 Research 10 Teaching 38 University and Society 56 Honours 66 Personnel 76 Infrastructure 88 Governance 96 Donations 114 List of Abbreviations 119 Publication Details 120 University of Cologne Foreword 6 | 7 Professor Dr Axel Freimuth With its educational mandate and as an engine for research and innovation, the University of Cologne is making a major contribution to the development of our society. Universities stand for new ideas and current scientific developments and opportunities and makes it possib- change, often coming from a com- firmly embedded in social discourse. le for us to become involved in a pletely unexpected direction. They Our dynamic international network diverse range of areas. Moreover, are an engine for research and in- – with 85 partner universities and I would like to thank our many fri- novation and help to solve pressing more than 500 Faculty partnerships ends and benefactors as well as problems in our society. Moreover, – as well as the international and di- our collaboration partners for their they are in increasing demand as verse life on campus create a cosmo- continuous and generous support. educational institutions: Today, one politan and stimulating atmosphere Their commitment helps to stimula- in two young people in Germany and excellent opportunities for aca- te social discourse with and within starts a degree programme. Besi- demic exchange. our university, thus creating a fer- des preparing our students for a tile environment for contemporary professional career, the UoC’s stu- This Annual Report provides infor- research and teaching.
    [Show full text]
  • When a Jew Rules the World: English
    ADVANCE PRAISE Joel Richardson has written a very important and hard-hitting book. His arguments against replacement theology, or supersessionism, are powerful and solid. I have greater optimism of the final end of the age on the tribulation. However, the basic thrust of this book is right and true and a wonderful contribution. —DANIEL JUSTER, TH. D. TIKKUN INTERNATIONAL, JERUSALEM This latest book by Joel Richardson is desperately needed and a must read for the serious Christian. His characteristic scholarship and diligence is long overdue on this very crucial perspective for everyone that claims the name of Christ. The inevitable rise of criticism will simply underscore the reality that these issues lie at the very centroid of all doctrines of a Biblical faith and include a crucial re-examination of the eschatological issues on our immediate horizon. Indeed, a pivotal contribution for us all. —CHUCK MISSLER, KOINONIA HOUSE This book draws the reader through foundational biblical and historical issues regarding the restoration of the Jewish people, as well as the speckled and sometimes glorious history of the body of Messiah vis-à-vis Israel’s destiny. Thoughtful, respectful, helpful, edifying. —AVNER BOSKEY, FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES, BEERSHEVA, ISRAEL There are numerous points of light that illuminate the canvas on which the history of the church is rendered. However, these points of light shine against a shadowy backdrop rendered in dark crimson. The vitriol and bloodlust displayed by many nations toward the people that birthed God’s Son has dimmed the light of God and obscured the path of love he came to reveal.
    [Show full text]
  • Indictment Presented to the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg, 18 October 1945)
    Indictment presented to the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg, 18 October 1945) Caption: On 18 October 1945, the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg accuses 24 German political, military and economic leaders of conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Source: Indictment presented to the International Military Tribunal sitting at Berlin on 18th October 1945. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, November 1945. 50 p. (Cmd. 6696). p. 2-50. Copyright: Crown copyright is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office and the Queen's Printer for Scotland URL: http://www.cvce.eu/obj/indictment_presented_to_the_international_military_tribunal_nuremberg_18_october_1945-en- 6b56300d-27a5-4550-8b07-f71e303ba2b1.html Last updated: 03/07/2015 1 / 46 03/07/2015 Indictment presented to the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg, 18 October 1945) INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, AND THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS — AGAINST — HERMANN WILHELM GÖRING, RUDOLF HESS, JOACHIM VON RIBBENTROP, ROBERT LEY, WILHELM KEITEL, ERNST KALTEN BRUNNER, ALFRED ROSENBERG, HANS FRANK, WILHELM FRICK, JULIUS STREICHER, WALTER FUNK, HJALMAR SCHACHT, GUSTAV KRUPP VON BOHLEN UND HALBACH, KARL DÖNITZ, ERICH RAEDER, BALDUR VON SCHIRACH, FRITZ SAUCKEL, ALFRED JODL, MARTIN BORMANN, FRANZ VON PAPEN, ARTUR SEYSS INQUART, ALBERT SPEER, CONSTANTIN VON NEURATH, AND HANS FRITZSCHE,
    [Show full text]
  • The Diplomatic Battle for the United States, 1914-1917
    ACQUIRING AMERICA: THE DIPLOMATIC BATTLE FOR THE UNITED STATES, 1914-1917 Presented to The Division of History The University of Sheffield Fulfilment of the requirements for PhD by Justin Quinn Olmstead January 2013 Table of Contents Introduction 1: Pre-War Diplomacy 29 A Latent Animosity: German-American Relations 33 Britain and the U.S.: The Intimacy of Attraction and Repulsion 38 Rapprochement a la Kaiser Wilhelm 11 45 The Set Up 52 Advancing British Interests 55 Conclusion 59 2: The United States and Britain's Blockade 63 Neutrality and the Declaration of London 65 The Order in Council of 20 August 1914 73 Freedom of the Seas 83 Conclusion 92 3: The Diplomacy of U-Boat Warfare 94 The Chancellor's Challenge 96 The Chancellor's Decision 99 The President's Protest 111 The Belligerent's Responses 116 First Contact: The Impact of U-Boat Warfare 119 Conclusion 134 4: Diplomatic Acquisition via Mexico 137 Entering the Fray 140 Punitive Measures 145 Zimmerman's Gamble 155 Conclusion 159 5: The Peace Option 163 Posturing for Peace: 1914-1915 169 The House-Grey Memorandum 183 The German Peace Offer of 1916 193 Conclusion 197 6: Conclusion 200 Bibliography 227 Introduction Shortly after war was declared in August 1914 the undisputed leaders of each alliance, Great Britain and Gennany, found they were unable to win the war outright and began searching for further means to secure victory; the fonnation of a blockade, the use of submarines, attacking the flanks (Allied attacks in the Balkans and Baltic), Gennan Zeppelin bombardment of British coastal towns, and the diplomatic search for additional allies in an attempt to break the stalemate that had ensued soon after fighting had commenced.
    [Show full text]
  • Cold War: a Report on the Xviith IAMHIST Conference, 25-31 July 1997, Salisbury MD
    After the Fall: Revisioning the Cold War: A Report on the XVIIth IAMHIST Conference, 25-31 July 1997, Salisbury MD By John C. Tibbetts “The past can be seized only as an image,” wrote Walter Benjamin. But if that image is ignored by the present, it “threatens to disappear irretrievably.” [1] One such image, evocative of the past and provocative for our present, appears in a documentary film by the United States Information Agency, The Wall (1963). Midway through its account of everyday life in a divided Berlin, a man is seen standing on an elevation above the Wall, sending out hand signals to children on the other side in the Eastern Sector. With voice communication forbidden by the Soviets, he has only the choreography of his hands and fingers with which to print messages onto the air. Now, almost forty years later, the scene resonates with an almost unbearable poignancy. From the depths of the Cold War, the man seems to be gesturing to us. But his message is unclear and its context obscure. [2] The intervening gulf of years has become a barrier just as impassable as the Wall once was. Or has it? The Wall was just one of dozens of screenings and presentations at the recent “Knaves, Fools, and Heroes: Film and Television Representations of the Cold War”—convened as a joint endeavor of IAMHist and the Literature/Film Association, 25-31 July 1997, at Salisbury State University, in Salisbury, Maryland— that suggested that the Cold War is as relevant to our present as it is to our past.
    [Show full text]
  • Das „Kaukasische Experiment“. Gab Es Eine Weisung Hitlers Zur
    475 Der deutsche Angriff auf die Sowjetunion war für die dort lebenden Menschen eine einzige Katastrophe. Vernichtung, Tod oder bestenfalls Ausbeutung waren gewöhnlich die Folgen der deutschen Okkupation. Doch gab es Ausnahmen, wenn auch begrenzte. Eine solche war der Kaukasus. Welche Ziele verfolgten hier die deutschen Besatzer? Gab es tatsächlich eine entsprechende Weisung Hitlers? Und welche Personen und Kräfte aus dem deutschen Militär- und Besatzungsapparat versuchten hier, die deutsche Besatzungs­ herrschaft im Osten anders zu gestalten als bisher? Manfred Zeidler Das „kaukasische Experiment" Gab es eine Weisung Hitlers zur deutschen Besatzungspolitik im Kaukasus?1 I. Einführung „Es gehört zu den vielen Paradoxien des Zweiten Weltkrieges, daß die Verwen­ dung von Angehörigen kaukasischer und turkotatarischer Völkerschaften in offi­ ziellen Funktionen eine Zusammenarbeit mit Nationalitäten darstellte, die nach der nazistischen Rassenideologie eine besondere Feindgruppe hätten bedeuten müssen. Sie symbolisierten für die Nazi-Rassisten das .Asiatisch-Minderwertige' und wurden in der charakteristischen rassenideologischen Werteskala noch unter den slawischen Völkern eingestuft. [...] Begriffe wie ,Tataren', ,Kirgisen' und ,Mongolen' waren oftmals Synonyme für den folgenschweren Ausdruck ,Unter- mensch', der zu trauriger Berühmtheit gelangen sollte." Diese Feststellung traf Patrick von zur Mühlen vor gut dreißig Jahren in seiner heute noch lesenswerten Studie über den Nationalismus der sowjetischen Orient­ völker im Zweiten Weltkrieg
    [Show full text]
  • North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) / India
    Page 1 of 13 Consulate General of India Frankfurt *** General and Bilateral Brief- North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) / India North Rhine-Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW is the most populous state of Germany, with a population of approximately 18 million, and the fourth largest by area. It was formed in 1946 as a merger of the provinces of North Rhine and Westphalia, both formerly parts of Prussia, and the Free State of Lippe. Its capital is Düsseldorf; the largest city is Cologne. Four of Germany's ten largest cities—Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, and Essen— are located within the state, as well as the second largest metropolitan area on the European continent, Rhine-Ruhr. NRW is a very diverse state, with vibrant business centers, bustling cities and peaceful natural landscapes. The state is home to one of the strongest industrial regions in the world and offers one of the most vibrant cultural landscapes in Europe. Salient Features 1. Geography: The state covers an area of 34,083 km2 and shares borders with Belgium in the southwest and the Netherlands in the west and northwest. It has borders with the German states of Lower Saxony to the north and northeast, Rhineland-Palatinate to the south and Hesse to the southeast. Thinking of North Rhine-Westphalia also means thinking of the big rivers, of the grassland, the forests, the lakes that stretch between the Eifel hills and the Teutoburg Forest range. The most important rivers flowing at least partially through North Rhine-Westphalia include: the Rhine, the Ruhr, the Ems, the Lippe, and the Weser.
    [Show full text]
  • 1917 the Zimmermann Telegram U.S
    1917_The Zimmermann Telegram U.S. History Resources 1917 The Zimmermann Telegram The following message was sent by the German foreign minister, Arthur Zimmermann, to the Mexican government. It was, however, intercepted by the British who turned it over to the Americans. Widely publicized by British propagandists and in the American press, the Zimmermann telegram inflamed public opinion and helped build up popular sentiment for war. It is our purpose on the 1st of February to Your Excellency will make the above commence the unrestricted U-boat war. The known to the President [Carranza] in strict attempt will be made to keep America neu- confidence at the moment that war breaks tral in spite of it all. out with the United States, and you will add the suggestion that Japan be requested to In case we should not be successful in this, take part at once and that he simultaneously we propose Mexico an alliance upon the mediate between ourselves and Japan. following terms: Joint conduct of the war. Joint conclusion of peace. Ample financial Please inform the President that the support and an agreement on our part that restricted use of our U-boats now offers the Mexico shall gain back by conquest the prospect of forcing England to sue for peace territory lost by her at a prior period in in the course of a few months. Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Arrange- ment as to details is entrusted to your Confirm receipt. Excellency. QUESTIONS 1. Why do you think the Germans had decided to "commence the unrestricted U-boat war," as the message confirmed? 2.
    [Show full text]
  • What Do We Mean When We Say Islamic Art?
    What do we mean when we say ‘Islamic art’? A plea for a critical rewriting of the history of the arts of Islam Avinoam Shalem In a book published in 2008, Arnold Hottinger provocatively asserted that as far as the Western stance toward Islam is concerned, Islam does not exist.1 He argued correctly that it is pure fiction to speak about Islam using one sole, monolithic and global term. Moreover, he added that the desire to see in the wide-ranging and diverse ‘worlds of Islam’ a homogenous sphere called Islam is simply an abstract cognitive notion, which, as with any general concept, has its sole origin in the mind of the person who creates this concept or theory. It is quite clear, then, that Hottinger, like many other scholars of Islamic studies, developed his ideas in the critical ‘Post-Edwardian Era’; that is, the period following the death of Edward Said in 2003, in which renewed discussion has taken place around his renowned book Orientalism, first published in 1978.2 The ‘imaginary Orient’, as termed by Linda Nochlin in 1983,3 is not restricted to Western literature but impinges on many other fields and is undoubtedly rooted in the history of European thought, especially in the construction of the image of its major ‘Other’ and the creation of its own historical narrative. And yet, this critical notion can and should also be applied to the field of art history in general, and to the construction of the field of Islamic art history within the larger discipline of Western art history in particular.
    [Show full text]