DOCSLIB.ORG

Weber on Serrier, 'Entre Allemagne Et Pologne: Nations Et Identités Frontalières, 1848-1914'

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Weber on Serrier, 'Entre Allemagne Et Pologne: Nations Et Identités Frontalières, 1848-1914' H-German Weber on Serrier, 'Entre Allemagne et Pologne: Nations et identités frontalières, 1848-1914' Review published on Wednesday, June 1, 2005 Thomas Serrier. Entre Allemagne et Pologne: Nations et identités frontalières, 1848-1914. Paris: Belin, 2002. 351 S. EUR 19.60 (broschiert), ISBN 978-2-7011-3022-4. Reviewed by Pierre-Frdric Weber (Department of German Studies, Sorbonne University) Published on H-German (June, 2005) Posen in the Nineteenth Century: National Conflict and This is the book version of Thomas Serrier's doctoral thesis submitted in 2000 at Paris VIII University, entitled La Prusse polonaise en qute d'identit. Posnanie, Ostmark, Wielkopolska du milieu du XIXme sicle la Premire Guerre mondiale and supervised by Professor Jacques Le Rider.[1] The place forming the context for Serrier's study is the German-Polish border region of Posen/Poznan after the successive partitions of Poland among its three neighbors in 1772, 1793, and 1795, finally resulting in the erasure of the Polish kingdom from the map, as Russia would occupy 82 percent, Austria 10 percent, and Prussia the remaining 8 percent of the Polish territory by 1918. This new Prussian territory, which largely corresponded to the former Wielkopolska, was called first Great Duchy of Posnania, then Province of Posen. The main thesis of the book is that the tremendous changes that affected the German-Polish border during the twentieth century cannot be accounted for only by Germany's total defeat in 1945; the return of Poland on the Oder-Neisse boundary has to be seen as the final result of a process rooted in the nineteenth century: with the emergence of modern nationalism on the European continent, the administration of this border region started to be a source of problems and conflict between the Prussian state and its Polish citizens. Serrier insists on the fact that until now tackling this problem has often led either to strictly geopolitical analyses (as for example in diplomatic history) or to studies focusing mostly on social and cultural aspects of the German and Polish populations living in this border region (such as socio- demographic explanations or many publications on collective identities). Yet, he claims that in order to understand the whole process, external and internal factors have to be considered together. This position leads him to relate both the construction of national identities and the (mental) representations of the territory at the regional level. He tries to show the evolution of collective identities in the multicultural region of Posen in times of national disruption (p. 19). Besides (and as presented later: between) Germans and Poles, the Jewish community played an important role that also constitutes a particular aspect of Serrier's work. During his presentation of the selected period (1848-1914), the author justifies his decision to begin in 1848 by the fact that after the revolution, the middle of the nineteenth century marks the moment when, under the pressure of a slow democratization and the extension of the state's territory, the relations between "homeland" (which Serrier calls "petite patrie" to account for the specifically German "Heimat") and "fatherland" ("grande patrie"/"Vaterland") were modified and had to be Citation: H-Net Reviews. Weber on Serrier, 'Entre Allemagne et Pologne: Nations et identités frontalières, 1848-1914'. H-German. 09-30-2014. https://networks.h-net.org/node/35008/reviews/44221/weber-serrier-entre-allemagne-et-pologne-nations-et-identit%C3%A9s Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-German reconsidered. Another reason behind the national conflict was a geopolitical one. While Prussia expanded along a west-east axis, Poland, before disappearing as a state, developed along the south- north corridor of the Vistula; as both axes intersected, this caused a conflict between two logics, so that Prussia and Poland gradually came to see each other as a threat to their respective reasons of state (p. 121). The first section of the book presents the policy of the Prussian (and later German) state concerning the administration of the new eastern province mainly populated by Poles (more than 60 percent). Serrier shows that before 1848 it did not aim at germanizing the Polish population, but only tried to have the Poles become loyal Prussian subjects, which implied making Prussian administration bearable and thus led to important social reforms (e.g. in 1816, 1823, 1825, and 1831). To a certain extent, Prussian rule was seen as a path to modernity. After 1848, and even more when Bismarck became chancellor, the Prussian state acted far more aggressively against the Polish element and started both a germanizing policy, through the Kulturkampf (against the Catholic Church as one of the main bearers of Polish identity), and a policy aimed at extending the acreage owned by Germans. The rest of the section analyzes the attitudes and reactions of the different actors: Poles, bearing up against this policy through great efforts to defend and promote their culture (pp. 63-69); Germans, moving from passivity toward a growing support of active Germanization, partly through the openly nationalistic Deutscher Ostmarkenverein, also known as "Hakata" (pp. 78-82); and the Jews who considered the change from a merely Jewish identity to a Jewish-Prussian or Jewish-German one as an improvement of their status among the different national elements present in Central Europe (p. 108). The second section deals with the peculiar situation of Posen both as a border region and point of contact between Prussia and Russia and as a peripheral Prussian (German) province. Serrier points out, in particular, that the situation depended on Berlin's policy. He also perspicaciously emphasizes the identity complex hiding behind the demographic, religious and national issues at stake in the province of Posen. From German specialists who became alarmed by statistics showing a growth of the Polish population and dramatically appealed for an "internal colonization" by German settlers, to promoters of German culture who attempted to gather examples of famous Germans (especially writers) who had spent some time in Posen, the reader makes a step-by-step discovery of the paradoxes of the official germanizing policy (p. 149). Conscious of their own fragile position as representatives of the ruling national minority in this province, Germans in Posen experienced powerlessness when facing the intractable cross-border "problem" of Polish cultural vitality based upon a historically stronger position in the region. Even the efforts of nationalistic authors contributing to a specific literature of the "Ostmark" were not able to fill the lack of cultural legitimacy characterizing the Prussian/German presence in Posen.[2] Lacking other means, the affirmation of Germanness more and more commonly led to the repression and criticism of the Polish camp (as in the issue of the term "polnische Wirtschaft," discussed on pp. 154-157). The strategic use of the past in historiography constitutes the tenor of the third section. German historians in Posen mostly concentrated on seeking elements of the German past of the region, so as to enforce the legitimacy of the German presence. Serrier highlights the activities of the Historische Gesellschaft fr die Provinz Posen created for that purpose. Historical research in architecture, folklore, etc. was intended to enable the symbolical appropriation of the territory through history.[3] Attention was paid, primarily, to the study of the Middle Ages, stressing the important role of the Citation: H-Net Reviews. Weber on Serrier, 'Entre Allemagne et Pologne: Nations et identités frontalières, 1848-1914'. H-German. 09-30-2014. https://networks.h-net.org/node/35008/reviews/44221/weber-serrier-entre-allemagne-et-pologne-nations-et-identit%C3%A9s Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 2 H-German German settlers in those times in the context of the Ostkolonisation. The political implications of this kind of work appeared clearly through the fact that many studies were provided by specialized members of the Prussian administration. An extension of these reflections finally can be found in the last section, which insists on the role of geographical names. "The power of toponymics revealed itself a growing temptation for the German authority as a mental tool contributing to the appropriation of the Polish province" (p. 278). However, the German names (Inowrazlaw, Lissa, etc.) never came to replace the Polish ones: it was only a juxtaposition, as Germans, Poles and Jews never managed, in any case, to agree on a common toponymy (p. 286). To sum up, contrary to other German provinces in Poland (like Silesia or Eastern Prussia), the Provinz Posen always remained an uncertain territory. Neither the Prussian nor the German administration managed to (re)create, through their policies, what was structurally and historically lacking in this province, namely, a strong German element. Serrier suggests that in the long run the negation of the Polish identity was unbearable and unsustainable. This denial was close to what psychoanalysts, since Lacan, have been calling "forclusion": the symbolic abolishment of a reality (here, the Polish element) that should have been symbolized. By losing Posen, Germans lost in fact what they never really possessed. One of the main qualities of this contribution to the history of German-Polish relations is undoubtedly its double perspective. Serrier always tries to focus both on internal and external factors, convincingly showing how they were related and where they led. Last, but not least, the curious reader will appreciate the numerous biographical sketches placing important local actors within context (such as Otto Hoetzsch, Friedrich Ratzel, or Karl Emil Franzos). Though this book supposes solid knowledge of the analyzed period on the reader's part, it may also provide a larger public with valuable information in various fields (including the political role of arts and literature) about this thrilling portion of European history.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Der Ausdruck Drang Nach Osten
    Universiteit Gent Academiejaar 2006-2007 DER AUSDRUCK DRANG NACH OSTEN Auf der Suche nach der historischen und sprachlichen Funktion Verhandeling voorgelegd aan de Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte voor het verkrijgen van de graad van licentiaat in de taal- en letterkunde: Germaanse talen, door Promotor: Dr. Torsten Leuschner Sarah Vanparys Universiteit Gent Academiejaar 2006-2007 DER AUSDRUCK DRANG NACH OSTEN Auf der Suche nach der historischen und sprachlichen Funktion Verhandeling voorgelegd aan de Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte voor het verkrijgen van de graad van licentiaat in de taal- en letterkunde: Germaanse talen, door Promotor: Dr. Torsten Leuschner Sarah Vanparys Dankeswort Zu Beginn möchte ich einigen Personen danken, die mich beim Verfassen der vorliegenden Arbeit unterstützt haben. An erster Stelle geht mein herzlicher Dank an Herrn Dr. Torsten Leuschner. Er hat nicht nur mein Interesse für dieses Thema geweckt und somit unmittelbar Anstoß zu dieser Diplomarbeit gegeben, sondern er hat mich auch in allen anderen Phasen der Untersuchung stets freundlich und hilfsbereit unterstützt und fachkundig korrigiert. Ein Wort des herzlichen Dankes gilt auch Herrn Prof. Dr. Luc De Grauwe und Herrn Prof. Dr. Walter De Cubber, die mir auf begeisternde Weise die notwendigen Deutschkenntnisse vermittelt und mir während der vier Studienjahre immer großes Vertrauen entgegengebracht haben. Auch Frau Martine Rottier möchte ich für ihre Hilfe in der Seminarbibliothek danken. Besonderer Dank geht ebenfalls an Edgar, der diese Arbeit sorgfältig auf Fehler nachgelesen und auch inhaltliche Vorschläge zur Verbesserung gegeben hat. Nicht zuletzt möchte ich mich bei meiner Familie und bei meinen Freunden bedanken: besonders meiner Mutter und Pierre, die mein Studium ermöglichten, bin ich zu Dank verpflichtet.
    [Show full text]
  • A.J.P. Taylor:The Course of German History
    The Course of German History A.J.P. Taylor July 27-30, 2015 Taylor does not suffer from as much as he enjoys Germophobia. The book was written just after the end of the War which he sees as the logical conclusion of German destiny. This rather tendentious survey makes for good reading and entertainment, the author generously drops his sarcasms as so many high-explosives and spreads his ’bon mots’ around as artillery fire. The nation of Germany is probably older than the nation of either England and France, due to the formation of the Holy Roman Empire. It can be traced back to Charlemagne, and was of course a feudal contraption of vassals under the nominal authority of the Emperor. The high point of Germany was during the Middle-Ages, according to Taylor. A time of prosperity and local self-government and a proud tradition of independent towns and cities. And also the high-point of the Hanseatic League monopolizing trade on the Baltic. But early on there were two Germanies, the author reminds the reader. The Germany of the West, and the Germany of the East. It is the former with which most westerners are familiar, it is the civilized country of culture and achievement, while the Germany of the East, whom the Slavs would encounter to their peril, was an expansive and brutal power intent on expansion and subjugation, relentlessly and inexorably driving the Slavs eastwards. This ’Drang nach Osten’ is hence something that Taylor identifies as a defining character of the German fate. Luther was a catastrophe for Germany, Taylor claims.
    [Show full text]
  • Domesticating the German East: Nazi Propaganda and Women's Roles in the “Germanization” of the Warthegau During World Wa
    DOMESTICATING THE GERMAN EAST: NAZI PROPAGANDA AND WOMEN’S ROLES IN THE “GERMANIZATION” OF THE WARTHEGAU DURING WORLD WAR II Madeline James A thesis submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the History Department in the College of Arts and Sciences. Chapel Hill 2020 Approved by: Konrad Jarausch Karen Auerbach Karen Hagemann © 2020 Madeline James ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Madeline James: Domesticating the German East: Nazi Propaganda And Women’s Roles in the “Germanization” of the Warthegau during World War II (Under the direction of Konrad Jarausch and Karen Auerbach) This thesis utilizes Nazi women’s propaganda to explore the relationship between Nazi gender and racial ideology, particularly in relation to the Nazi Germanization program in the Warthegau during World War II. At the heart of this study is an examination of a paradox inherent in Nazi gender ideology, which simultaneously limited and expanded “Aryan” German women’s roles in the greater German community. Far from being “returned to the home” by the Nazis in 1933, German women experienced an expanded sphere of influence both within and beyond the borders of the Reich due to their social and cultural roles as “mothers of the nation.” As “bearers of German culture,” German women came to occupy a significant role in Nazi plans to create a new “German homeland” in Eastern Europe. This female role of “domesticating” the East, opposite the perceived “male” tasks of occupation, expulsion, and resettlement, entailed cultivating and reinforcing Germanness in the Volksdeutsche (ethnic German) communities, molding them into “future masters of the German East.” This thesis therefore also examines the ways in which Reich German women utilized the notion of a distinctly female cultural sphere to stake a claim in the Germanizing mission.
    [Show full text]
  • The Oder-Neisse Line
    Guy MacLean NO MAN'S LAND: THE ODER-NEISSE LINE FEw PEOPLE IN THE WEsT realize that the "German Problem" is in reality three distinct problems. Two of these come readily to mind as Berlin and the division of Germany into East and West, but the third has been almost totally ignored. It is the unresolved question of the borderland between Germany and Poland, the line between the Teutonic and Slavic peoples which has been in dispute for centuries and is now referred to as the "Lost Provinces of Germany" or the "Western Provinces of Poland," depending on which side of the Iron Curtain one stands. The differences between the Germans and the Slavs in this area is nothing new. The Vistula basin was settled originally by Germanic peoples who had come from southern Scandinavia. In the fifth and sixth centuries for reasons which are still unknown they migrated westward and southward into richer lands and more hospitable climates. The territory which they abandoned was gradually populated by Slavs who had moved just as mysteriously out of the East; but within a few hundred years the Germans began to move back. This reverse migration was for the most part gradual and undramatic, but it frequently assumed the proportions of a large scale invasion. The "Drive to the East" (Drang nach Osten) was inspired at times by religious fervour, commercial interest, and desire for military conquest, or by a combination of all three. In the twelfth century the most famous of the German Emperors, Frederick Barbarossa, reached Posen with an army/ but the thirteenth century witnessed the most powerful incursion of Germans into the Slavic world when the Teutonic Knights, at the invitation of the Polish King, undertook a fifty-year campaign against the Prussians, a militant people who had long threat­ ened the Polish monarchy.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Überschrift 1
    Tzu-hsin Tu Die Deutsche Ostsiedlung als Ideologie bis zum Ende des Ersten Weltkriegs kassel university press Die vorliegende Arbeit wurde vom Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften der Universität Kassel als Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktors der Philosophie (Dr. phil.) angenommen. Erster Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Jens Flemming Zweiter Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Dietmar Hüser Tag der mündlichen Prüfung 9. Juli 2009 Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar Zugl.: Kassel, Univ., Diss. 2009 ISBN print: 978-3-89958-802-6 ISBN online: 978-3-89958-803-3 URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0002-8034 © 2009, kassel university press GmbH, Kassel www.upress.uni-kassel.de Printed in Germany Vorwort Die vorliegende Untersuchung ist eine überarbeitete Fassung meiner Disseration, die am 9. Juli 2009 vom Institut für die neuere und neueste Geschichte am Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften der Universität Kassel angenommen worden ist. Erster Gutachter war Herr Prof. Dr. Jens Flemming, zweiter Gutachter Herr Prof. Dr. Dietmar Hüser. Die Disputation fand am 9. Juli 2009 statt. Zuallererst möchte ich all jenen meinen herzlichen Dank sagen, die mich während der Abfassung meiner Dissertation beraten und unterstützt haben. Der erste Dank gilt meinem verehrten akademischen Lehrer, Herrn Prof. Dr. Jens Flemming, der in allen Höhen und Tiefen entscheidenden Anteil an meiner Arbeit genommen hat. Seiner Betreuung und seinen profunden geschichtlichen Kenntnissen über Deutschland und Osteuropa hat diese Arbeit sehr viel zu verdanken. Bedanken möchte ich mich auch bei Herrn Prof. Dr. Dietmar Hüser für die konstruktiven Gespräche und die Übernahme des Korreferats.
    [Show full text]
  • East Prussia Danzig
    INFORMATION NOTES EAST PRUSSIA AND DANZIG Issued by THE· POLISH MINISTRY OF PREPARATORY WORK CONCERNING THE PEACE CONFERENCE The following Notes are prepared by experts and are desigr give the basic facts essential to the settlement of Polish post-war pror They are primarily intended for the use of students and writ. international affairs. They may be obtained direct from The Ministry of Preparatory Work Concerning the Peace Con 73. Portland Place, London, W.l. Any opinions expressed in this publication are not necessariC of the Polish Government. April, 1944 Printed at Barnard and Westwood Ltd. London, W.J CONTENTS PAGE _;iECURITY OF POLAND AND THE PEACE OF EUROPE 5 1-JISTORICAL AND ETHNICAL fACTS . • . 6 f-CONOMIC UNITY OF POLAND, DANZIG AND EAST PRUSSIA 7 . !RELATIONS Of GERMANY TO EAST PRUSSIA 8 ,,E ATTITUDE OF POLAND II :oNCLUSIONS 13 \NNEXES: \REA AND POPULATION 15 (a) Eas1 Prussia (b) Fr<-e City of Danzig (c) Number of Households in East Prussia in 1933 EMIGRATION FROM EAST PRUSSIA 15 INCREASE OF POPULATION AND MIGRATION IN lllE COUNTIES OF EAST PRUSSIA DURING THE PERIOD FROM 1925-1933 16 NATIONAUTIES IN EAST PRUSSIA 17 (n) Poles h) Lithuanians c) Foreign Workers .J) Gernnanizarion re) Plebiscite .IAL AND ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF EAST PRUSSIA .. 23 (a) Occupations (b) Social Structure (c) lndusrry and Crafts (d) Agrarian System (e) Participarion in the National Income of Germany (f) Participation in Income Tax (g) Wages (h) A British View ·sr PRUSSIA AS A SoURCE OF MILITARY MAN POWER " 25 i>) Narural Increase of Population (b) Children under 15 according to 1933 Census (c) Recruitment of Soldiers ·oME VIEWS CoNCERNING THE PoLISH OIJTLET TO rnE SEA .
    [Show full text]
  • Download The
    Paths to Empire: The Production and Mobilization of Historical Narratives by Baltic German Émigrés, 1905-1918 by ERIKS EDUARDS BREDOVSKIS B.A. (Hons.) the University of Toronto, 2014. A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (History) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) June 2016 © Eriks Eduards Bredovskis, 2016 Abstract This thesis examines how Baltic German émigrés living in the German Empire argued for the inclusion of the Baltic Provinces of the Russian Empire (Estland, Kurland, and Livland) into the Kaiserreich. At the start of the twentieth century, Baltic German intellectuals took up academic positions at universities in Germany. Embittered by their previous experience of Russification in the 1880s and then surrounded by a German nationalist academic and political environment, they produced numerous histories of Russia and the Baltic Provinces, which underscored the region’s Germanness and its perceived trajectory away from a German national teleology. World War One was a crucial moment in the development of these narratives as now there was a possibility of actually acquiring these provinces. This thesis argues that Balten narratives of eastern Europe demanded the incorporation of the Baltic Provinces into the German Empire through the construction of a specific historical narrative about Germany’s role in eastern Europe. These narratives were informed by existing German conceptions of history—particularly those propagated by Heinrich von Treitschke—and from other nineteenth-century discourses of empire—in particular the domestication of “wild” spaces and the “civilizing mission.” Their narratives can be understood as a form of “the civilizing mission,” which mobilized the concept of Kulturboden—the understanding that specific spaces (soils) had become Germanized over time.
    [Show full text]
  • AP European History Chapter 5 Study Questions Three Aging Empires Name
    AP European History Chapter 5 Study Questions Three Aging Empires Name: NAMES & TERMS 1. Knights of the Empire 2. Germanic Liberties 3. Wittelbach Family 4. Guelph family 5. Hohenzollern family 6. Grand Duchy of Lithuania 7. Duchy of Prussia 8. Szlachta 9. Polish liberties 10. John Sobieski 11. Liberum veto 12. Grand vizier 13. Extraterritorial privileges 14. Koprulu family QUESTIONS 1. How did the Thirty Years’ War weaken the Holy Roman Empire? 2. Why were the many German states intent on preserving their “Germanic liberties”? Why were other European powers interested in assisting those states? 3. How did the dominance of the landed aristocracy shape government in Poland? 4. What resulted from the lack of an effective, centralized government in Poland? 5. How did the Turks govern their empire? Compare their policies to those of Christian empires. AP European History Chapter 5 Study Questions The Formation of the Austrian Monarchy Name: NAMES & TERMS 1. Hereditary Provinces 2. Prince Eugene of Savoy 3. Peace of Karlowitz 4. Treaty of Rastadt 5. Peace of Belgrade 6. International Empire 7. Pragmatic Sanction 8. Maria Theresa QUESTIONS 1. What role did Prince Eugene of Savoy play in the struggle against the Turks? 2. What obstacles did Charles VI overcome for the Habsburgs with the Pragmatic Sanction? AP European History Chapter 5 Study Questions The Formation of Prussia Name: NAMES 1. Frederick William the Great Elector 2. Gustavus Adolphus 3. Charles XII 4. Frederick I 5. Frederick William I 6. Frederick II TERMS 1. Drang nach Osten 2. Elector of Brandenburg 3. Junkers QUESTIONS 1.
    [Show full text]
  • East Prussia
    EAST PRUSSIA BY STANISŁAW SROKOWSKI PROFESSOR OF GEOGRAPHY AT THE SCHOOL OF POLITICAL SCIENCES, WARSAW 19 TORUŃ (POLAND) 3 4 THE BALTIC POCKET LIBRARY The Baltic Pocket Library is edited by a joint Committee appointed by the Baltic Institute and the Union of Chambers of Industry and Commerce. The Committee’s aim is to maintain constant contact and co-operation between commercial and indust­ rial circles and the centres of research work represented by the Baltic Institute. The efforts of the Committee are chiefly directed towards furthering investigations of various aspects of Polish overseas trade and maritime communications as also to popular­ izing the results of studies carried on by the Baltic Institute. For this purpose a series of scientific booklets, as detailed below is being published in popular form. Geographical Series (Land and People) Elements of Polish, Culture as Seen by a Resident Foreigner — by Paul Super, General Director of the Polish Y. M. C. A. Toruń 1934, pp. 76, 20 illustr. Price: 1 s. or 25 c. Racial Characteristics of Pomerania — by Leon Wasilewski, Former Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs. 7 he Sociology of the Struggle for Pomerania — by Dr Florian Znaniecki, Professor of Poznań University. Toruń 1934, pp. 58. Price: 6 d. or 10 c. East Prussia — by Stanislaw Srokowski, Professor of the School of Political Science, Warsaw. Toruń 1934, pp. 46, 1 map. Price: 6 d. or 10 c. The Cashubs — by Gregory Macdonald. Marine Dictionary — with Preface by Dr Alexander Briickner, Professor of Berlin Uniwersity (in Polish). Historical Series (History and Civilization) Toruń — the Capital of Pomerania.
    [Show full text]
  • The Baltic German Case Study in National Socialist Wartime Population Policy, 1939-1945
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Carolina Digital Repository “WALL OF BLOOD”: THE BALTIC GERMAN CASE STUDY IN NATIONAL SOCIALIST WARTIME POPULATION POLICY, 1939-1945 Richards Olafs Plavnieks A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of History. Chapel Hill 2008 Approved by Advisor: Christopher Browning Reader: Konrad Jarausch Reader: Chad Bryant © 2008 Richards Olafs Plavnieks ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT RICHARDS OLAFS PLAVNIEKS: “WALL OF BLOOD”: THE BALTIC GERMAN CASE STUDY IN NATIONAL SOCIALIST WARTIME POPULATION POLICY 1939-1945 (Under the direction of Christopher Browning) This study begins with Hitler’s Reichstag Speech on 6 October 1939 in which he famously called the Baltic Germans ‘Heim ins Reich,’ focuses on their agonizing choice to resettle and on their wartime experiences, and ends with some reflections about the notion of Heimat for the Baltic Germans and their descendents today. It is based on research conducted in three archives: the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland (NARA II), the Bundesarchiv-Berlin (BAB), and the Lastenausgleichsarchiv-Bayreuth (LAA). These archives hold, respectively, the records of the Reichskommissariat für die Festigung deutschen Volkstums (RKFDV), the records of the Einwandererzentralstelle (EWZ), and postwar interviews with Baltic German participants in the resettlement. As the resettlement of the Baltic Germans was the only operation of its sort completed by National Socialist Germany, this case study can illuminate relations between Reich authority and the recipients of its ideological favor.
    [Show full text]
  • Drang Nach Osten: Fortunes of a Slogan- Concept in German-Slavic Relations, 1849-1990'
    Habsburg Selvage on Meyer, 'Drang nach Osten: Fortunes of a Slogan- Concept in German-Slavic Relations, 1849-1990' Review published on Friday, August 1, 1997 Henry Cord Meyer. Drang nach Osten: Fortunes of a Slogan-Concept in German-Slavic Relations, 1849-1990. Bern: Peter Lang, 1996. 142 pp. $29.95 (paper), ISBN 978-3-906755-93-9. Reviewed by Douglas Selvage (Yale University) Published on HABSBURG (August, 1997) Drang nach Osten? At times historians repeat a phrase or concept so often that it becomes accepted as historical fact. In his work, Henry Cord Meyer explores the evolution of the phraseDrang nach Osten as a "slogan- concept" in polemical and scholarly works. Contrary to popular historical wisdom, the phrase, he finds, did not originate in Germany, but in the Slavic world. Indeed, he seeks to establish why Drang nach Osten, which has "achieved full conceptual establishment in the Slavic world since 1945," has been so roundly rejected by German historians (p. 13). German scholars, he believes, should "reconsider the possibilities of the concept in an atmosphere of mutual respect" for their Slavic colleagues (p. 138). According to Meyer, the phrase Drang nach Osten originated in 1849 with the Polish journalist Julian Klaczko. He invented it to "protest the expansionism advocated by important German national liberals at the Frankfurt Parliament." Although the phrase allegedly "fell on barren political ground" in Poland, it was revived in Russia in the 1860s by the Panslav editor of Moskovskie Vedemosti, Mikhail Katkov. Katkov, whom Meyer dubs "the effective originator" of the slogan, popularized it in his polemics with Baltic Germans over Russification (p.
    [Show full text]
  • The Use of German Nazi Vocabulary in English
    How words behave in other languages: the use of German Nazi vocabulary in English Article Accepted Version Schroeter, M. (2018) How words behave in other languages: the use of German Nazi vocabulary in English. Pragmatics and Society, 9 (1). pp. 93-118. ISSN 1878-9714 doi: https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.16027.sch Available at http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/70513/ It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work. See Guidance on citing . To link to this article DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/ps.16027.sch Publisher: John Benjamins All outputs in CentAUR are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including copyright law. Copyright and IPR is retained by the creators or other copyright holders. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the End User Agreement . www.reading.ac.uk/centaur CentAUR Central Archive at the University of Reading Reading’s research outputs online How Words Behave in Other Languages. The use of German Nazi vocabulary in English Abstract This paper undertakes a systematic investigation into the use of German Nazi vocabulary in English. Nazi vocabulary is checked for frequency of occurrence in a large webcorpus of English and then, where it occurs, for reference to Nazi discourse. Next, its frequency is compared to equivalent French and German webcorpora, showing whether or not the use of Nazi vocabulary outside German is unique to English and whether or not its current usage differs between German and the borrowing languages. Finally, the use of two words that occur with similar frequency in all three languages – judenrein and Blitzkrieg – and of two words that occur with the highest difference in frequency – Anschluss and Lebensraum – is investigated in detail by means of the Sketch Engine corpus tool, including analysis of collocations which indicate contexts of usage.
    [Show full text]