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The aim of this article is to introduce the Czech reader to the issue of the relationship between National Socialism and occultism. In Western Europe, these relationships have been explored since the 1970s, when historians James Webb and Nicholas Goodric Clarke began to explore them. In the Czech environment, however, serious research on this topic is still relatively unknown and a minimum of scientists are devoted to it. Conversely, Popular culture and lovers of mysteries produce countless fantastic stories about Nazi wizards, secret societies controlling the NSDAP, or Nazi quests for the Holy Grail. This ensures a tabloid impression. But if we overcome this impression, we will find that the issue of the relationship between Nazism and occultism is a story about the rapid intellectual, religious and especially political development of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when at other times marginal occult ideas and fantasies could influence the development of entire states. This text is therefore a basic summary of the information known so far about the relationship between National Socialism and occultism. It is processed in the form of a sampling method into the conclusions of research carried out so far and the resulting literature. In it, we observe the intermingling of German nationalism and occultism at the end of the 19th century, which leads to the emergence of a chauvinist and racist occult teaching, the so-called Ariosophy. Ariosophy spread through Austria-Hungary and the German Empire, becoming the political program of various occult and political organizations. In Bavaria, the main representative of Ariosophy is the Thule Society, and the Thule agitation among the workers gave rise to the DAP in 1919, and from 1920 to the NSDAP. The end of the text is devoted to the NSDAP’s ambivalent relationship to the occult. Since 1941, the party faction opposing occultism was victorious and the great persecution of occultists begins. The text introduces the reader to Reinhard Heydrich’s order of June 4, 1941, which begins the persecution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article highlights the activities of elite schools and their creation. It has been revealed that from the very beginning of its existence, the Nazi regime in Germany sought absolute power over all spheres of German life. The field of education and upbringing had a specific importance in the ideology of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (hereinafter NSDAP). Significantly, the ideologues of the Third Reich emphasized the non-class nature of their movement, and the main criterion for achieving personal growth of social peaks was not belonging to a particular class, not property qualifications, but a person's own abilities and personal qualities. However, the main qualities were blind faith in the Führer, ruthlessness towards enemies, and cooperative personality. For the first time in the entire existence of Germany, young people had a sense of their importance. Never before in German history have youth been so needed, and, at the same time, so criminally used. Social selection began to play a fundamental role in society, so it is not surprising that it also affected the sphere of school and youth education. The emergence of elite schools that educated future generals, Gauleiters, and party officials was a logical reaction to the current regime in Germany. In Hitler's elite schools, the dream of educating new German people-lords was to become a reality. In schools named after Adolf Hitler, national-political educational institutions, and Reich schools of the NSDAP, the regime wanted to raise capable performers who, as Hitler's heirs, should have the future. Children were drilled, taught military affairs, and formed their worldviews. They were obliged to "believe, obey and fight", to fulfill the role of political fighters. Young people, attracted by the opportunity to engage in various sports, to have rich leisure time, and to have a promising future career, entered elite boarding schools. There, they were brought up with unconditional loyalty to the regime. During the war, graduates of Hitler's schools were often fanatics. Only one in two survived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial, as forças armadas alemãs incorporaram às suas forças um número significativo de homens (voluntários e conscritos) sem a cidadania alemã, especialmente alemães étnicos e cidadãos de países ocupados pela Alemanha. O presente artigo visa apresentar o complexo sistema pelo qual milhões de estrangeiros acabaram participando do esforço de guerra alemão, suas motivações e a do Estado alemão. Uma especial ênfase é dedicada às especificidades do sistema nazista (especialmente a presença ostensiva da pirâmide racial e à divisão dos estrangeiros entre o Exército regular e a Waffen-SS) e à comparação com outros sistemas de incorporação de estrangeiros nas forças militares (como os Aliados ocidentais e a União Soviética), de forma a levantar elementos para discutir o caráter dual do Estado nazista e suas especificidades.

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During the German Emperor Period—aside of the few state-financed foreign "propaganda" schools—German private schools in external countries were put under the influence of German foreign cultural policy. The focusing on political consideration increased afterWWIas result of the treaty ofVersailles.As part of the heavily discussed foreign policy the mobilization of these schools in foreign countries for the use for propaganda seems restricted until the National Socialists within their aggressive policy changed and made use of these schools in foreign countries for their foreign cultural policy. For a short time, this was realized by the National Socialist Teachers League creating inside a Foreign School District. To study the result of their activity in the archives only few documents have survived for research explaining the work and its ideology, stressing the teachers engaged with their role of a cultural ambassador of the Nazi movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article deals with the problem of institutional mechanics and willingness for acquisition of the Nazi worldview in the Kriegsmarine. In the centre of the reflections remains a crucial question: how the indoctrination process in the German navy took place during the time after 1935. Furthermore, the organisational interactions between the NSDAP and the Kriegsmarine are analysed, as well as motives and limits of the Party’s endeavours to ideologically impact the attitudes and views of the sailors. How this development of indoctrination efforts was carried out and what results it brought is described on the basis of the Nazi pseudo–pedagogic concept of “military spiritual leadership” (wehrgeistige Führung). As part of the measures to preserve its “state within the state” status, the navy, especially during World War II, began to systematically Nazify itself in a paradoxical aim to show Adolf Hitler that it was not necessary to put an end to its traditional independence. In order to prevent the “coordination” (Gleichschaltung) from above, the Kriegsmarine engaged itself more and more in a process of self–indoctrination. The text is an outline of the subject matter.

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Margret Dietrich (1920-2004) shaped the discipline of theater studies for decades. The data on her career are remarkable, as they show Dietrich as a pioneer in theater studies: first habilitation (1952), first full professor (1966), first director (1966-1982) of the Institute for Theater Studies at the University of Vienna. This article focuses on her hitherto hardly perceived career start, the beginning of which can be seen in the National Socialist University of Münster: here, as a student, she met her lifelong mentor, the Viennese literature and theater scholar Heinz Kindermann, at whose side she played a decisive role in the establishment of the Central Institute for Theater Studies, which was newly founded in Vienna in 1943. Kindermann and Dietrich also had in common their activities and engagement in the Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend), of which Dietrich had been a member since 1933. In 1938, consequently, she also joined the NSDAP. Indeed, as will be shown here, Dietrich's scholarly oeuvre is also significantly influenced by her ideological orientation as a National Socialist - an aspect that has so far received little attention in research in the humanities and cultural studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"I don't want to have and do anything half in my life. We all don't want to be anything half. So, as botanists, we have to deal with the whole." Few quotations have been used more frequently in the research literature than this one to portray the Carinthian botanist and agricultural scientist Lore Kutschera (1917-2008). It therefore seems particularly ironic that previous accounts of her life have avoided any political contextualization. It is astonishing how persistently the historiographical gap around Kutschera's political past as a National Socialist has persisted to the present day. This article therefore focuses on this biographical gap: Kutschera's youth and student years, her political work and commitment for the NSDAP, her specific precarious situation in the postwar period, which was significantly shaped by her falling out with her former boss and mentor, the botanist Erwin Aichinger. As will be seen, specifically female limitations, but also possibilities, accompanied her path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do pandemics have lasting consequences for political behavior? The authors address this question by examining the consequences of the deadliest pandemic of the last millennium: the Black Death (1347–1351). They claim that pandemics can influence politics in the long run if the loss of life is high enough to increase the price of labor relative to other factors of production. When this occurs, labor-repressive regimes, such as serfdom, become untenable, which ultimately leads to the development of proto-democratic institutions and associated political cultures that shape modalities of political engagement for generations. The authors test their theory by tracing the consequences of the Black Death in German-speaking Central Europe. They find that areas hit hardest by that pandemic were more likely to adopt inclusive political institutions and equitable land ownership patterns, to exhibit electoral behavior indicating independence from landed elite influence during the transition to mass politics, and to have significantly lower vote shares for Hitler's National Socialist Party in the Weimar Republic's fateful 1930 and July 1932 elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At least 129 Gau economic advisers of the NSDAP worked at the intersection of politics and economics, wielding a considerable amount of power. At the regional level, they were able to have a say in the success and existence of corporations. The article examines this group's organization and remit, as well as resources in power and capital. Along the lines of collective biographies, it covers the aspects of generation, origin, socioeconomic status, fluctuation, and entry into the Nazi party. While no homogenous type of Gau economic adviser or a pattern of action could be identified, the final part of the article outlines common aspects and presents five ideal types of Gau economic advisers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the problem of gender vote in the Weimar republic: what were political preferences of the German women of that period, who only had acquired the right to vote under the new constitution. Actuality of such research is caused by the opposite points of view among researchers in a question whow women voted for the main parties of the republic, and also in connection with the forthcoming of 100-year anniversary of formation of the Weimar state. In spite of the fact that the German statistics was one of the best in the world during the considered period, in available data there is a set of gaps that creates a problem of their interpretation and the general conclusions. The author comes to conclusions, 1) that on two Reichstags elections in 1924, parliamentary elections of 1928 and 1930 male and female votes for SDPG, NSDAP and GPP were divided approximately equally; 2) the biggest share of female votes was received by Zentrum party, and as concerns GNPP and the share of female voices prevailing over male voices it is possible to speak about that only before elections of 1924 inclusive, but not after; 3) throughout all history of the Weimar republic the Communist Party of Germany had a prevalence of votes of men over female votes.

This study examines the political role of German and Austrian maxillofacial surgeons in the Third Reich. It is based on archival sources, most of which have been evaluated for the first time – including the National Socialist Workers' Party membership files in the Federal Archives in Berlin. The examinations yielded five key findings: (1) A total of 187 specialist surgeons were identified; 116 (62%) of these were members of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). (2) More than half of the collective (54%) belonged to the educated or property-owning bourgeoisie due to their father's profession; surgeons of bourgeois origin generally showed barely any less affinity to the NSDAP than those who came from the middle class. (3) Party members were able to further their careers during the Third Reich far more frequently than non-members. (4) The specialist surgeons were deeply divided regarding the question of the forced sterilization of patients with cleft lips and palates. (5) After 1945, the vast majority of NSDAP members did not suffer any career setbacks. It can be concluded that maxillofacial surgeons joined the NSDAP to a greater extent than the medical profession as a whole (ca. 45%). This was partly due to the fact that the Nazis emphasized the important role of maxillofacial surgeons in the care of injured soldiers and civilians. In addition, most maxillofacial surgeons were employed at university hospitals, where party membership was particularly career-enhancing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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After the establishment of the Free City of Danzig, the process of the renovation and inventory of arcaded houses (Vorlaubenhäuser) and timber-framed churches in the vicinity of Gdańsk began, along with the increasing scientific interest in them. At the same time, in numerous projects from the 1930s, the interest of architects in traditional rural construction, related to the orders of the Nationalist Socialist Party for certain types of structures, can be observed. In the suburbs of Gdańsk and Sopot, standard, posed as idyllic workers' housing estates were founded, which were to combine the advantages of living in the countryside and in the city. The network of kindergartens of the National Socialist People's Welfare (Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt) as well as youth hostels used by the Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend) and the League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel) was expanded. According to the Blut-und-Boden ideology, a network of camps for the Land Service (Landdienst) for the Hitlerjugend, community houses for members of the NSDAP Party, and exemplary farms were also founded. The repertoire of local materials, traditional architectural details, as well as references in interior design were intended as manifestations of the regional identity, used by the National Socialist authorities to serve the purposes of the Party propaganda, which was creating the myth of an idyllic, strong, homogeneous national community and proving the uninterrupted continuity of German culture in the Free City of Danzig, despite its separation from the German Reich. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

W niniejszym artykule przebadano niemieckojęzyczną broszurę propagandową, wydaną w roku 1943 przez Centralne Wydawnictwo Narodowo-Socjalistycznej Niemieckiej Partii Robotniczej. Broszura nosi tytuł: Masowy mord w lesie katyńskim. Sprawozdanie oparte na faktach. Celem analizy jest stwierdzenie, czy i w jaki sposób wspomniana broszura realizuje wytyczne propagandowe, wyznaczone przez Ministerstwo Oświecenia Narodowego i Propagandy Rzeszy (PROMI) także w odniesieniu do sposobu przedstawiania i propagandowego wykorzystania faktu znalezienia w Lesie Katyńskim masowych grobów, w których zostali pochowani zamordowani przez NKWD polscy oficerowie, jeńcy sowieccy, więzieni w obozie w Starobielsku. Zagadnienie przebadano na tle istotnych dla analizy wydarzeń historycznych. Analizie materiałowej, retorycznej i językoznawczej poddano wybrane fragmenty tekstu broszury, które zawierają środki propagandowo-perswazyjne. Stwierdzono, iż badany tekst nosi wszelkie cechy tekstu propagandowego, typowego dla okresu, miejsca i celu, jaki miał realizować w ramach działań, prowadzonych przez PROMI. Wybrane do analizy fragmenty zostały przetłumaczone na język polski.

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Abstract Herwig Hamperl is undoubtedly one of the most influential and prominent representatives of German pathology in the 20th century. Interestingly, he left behind an autobiography (1972) which provides information not only about pathology in the Third Reich and in post-war Germany, but above all about his own life and work. His memoirs primarily served the purpose of recording his life's work for posterity and of retaining it in collective memory. This article focuses specifically on Hamperl's description of the Third Reich. The overriding aim of the paper is to elaborate on his political role and his relationship to National Socialism, which has hardly been investigated to date. Hamperl's autobiographical statements on this very question are therefore compared with the historical facts and – where necessary – contrasted and corrected. The same applies to the image that Hamperl draws of those pathologists who were part of his professional and personal network. The study is partly based on previously unevaluated archive sources and on a reanalysis of the relevant research literature. The paper concludes that Hamperl practised pronounced "self-fashioning": His memoirs give the impression of being formally and linguistically smoothened out and are clearly misleading in terms of content. They are characterised by omissions, ornamentation, and embellishments. Thus Hamperl makes false statements on the question of his NSDAP membership and depicts himself as a politically uninvolved university teacher. Furthermore, even in retrospect, he makes hardly any critical remarks on Nazi ideology and Nazi crimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The name of the Hamburg pathologist Carl August Krauspe (1895–1983) is closely linked to the history of the "European Society of Pathology" (ESP) and the "German Pathological Society" (DGP): He was one of the founding fathers of the ESP, became its vice president, and was appointed an honorary member in 1983. From 1953–1962 he also served as secretary of the DGP and editor of the association's proceedings. In 1962/63 he finally held the chairmanship of the DGP. Most of the publications about Carl Krauspe accordingly pay tribute to these professional functions and offices. Hardly mentioned – let alone critically discussed – is the fact that Krauspe joined the "Nazi Party" (NSDAP), the Storm Detachment (SA) and other Nazi organizations after Hitler's "seizure of power". The content and tenor of Krauspe's reports on politically exposed colleagues have also hardly been examined. With this in mind, the present study pursues the goal of exploring Krauspe's political role and his possible involvement in National Socialism. It is based on previously unexamined archival sources and a reanalysis of the relevant research literature. The paper points out that Krauspe willingly served the Nazi regime during the Third Reich. Thanks to his "loyalty to the party" he was able to significantly advance his own career after 1933. In addition, individual examples show that Krauspe's "expert reports" on colleagues before 1945, but also in post-war Germany, were obviously ideologically influenced. After 1945 he failed to make a late personal contribution to the making of amends for Nazi injustice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1928 and 1933 Fritz Reinhardt trained 6000 propaganda speakers for the Nazi Party. He made it cheaper for the Party to train a speaker than to print a poster. Reinhardt allowed the NSDAP to project an image of strength, organization and coherence that no other political party in the Weimar Republic could match. Reinhardt’s promises were heard by more members of the electorate than those of any other Nazi, even Hitler. The speakers’ training course was taught by post. The material of the course beginning February 1931 has lain untouched in the archives since. Historians (such as Dietrich Orlow and Joachim Fest) who have made reference to the existence of the school, have dismissed it as ‘primitive’ and entailing only the learning by rote of stock phrases. This is not the case. Reinhardt expressly forbade his students from learning by rote. Rather they were required to learn Reinhardt’s line of reasoning and rephrase it in their own dialect using local issues to illustrate their points. This made the Nazis the most effective propagandists in the fractured polity of the Weimar Republic. This article shows how the speakers school taught and what it taught, in order to illustrate an, as of yet, un-described facet of Nazi electoral propaganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolf Hitler, the leader of national-socialist Germany, was a controversial figure who reached the highest rank in the state using a mixture of unusual oratorical talent and a charismatic personality that exceeded human limitations by far. The large meetings organized by a magnificently controlled propaganda, where people crowded for a chance to touch their idol, created an aura around the Führer, an aura that only the heroes of great legends had. But, while common Germans thought that Providence gave them the leader that would take them to the Gardens of Eden, it was in fact the evil will that was going to lead them, in the end, on the fields of Armageddon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following article presents the evolution of the political discourse used by Adolf Hitler, from the moment he became the leader of the Nazi Party, 1920, until 1933 when he seized official power at the helm of Germany. Moreover this study follows step by step the gradual changes and techniques in the propaganda that both Hitler and the NSDAP adapted and relied during their fast-tracking that culminated into a new fascist totalitarian ideology, known as "nazism". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although extensive research on National Socialist voting behavior has been conducted on a national as well as an international scale, a critical view of the results show that today's knowledge of NSDAP voters has not yet reached a sufficient empirical foundation. A far-reaching consensus on the social and economic situation, party political background and personal motivations of NSDAP voters still relies on a fragmentary, incomplete basis. Particularly the German research landscape needs to catch up with the progress of the international academic community working on NSDAP voting behavior. Two errors are characteristic and frequent in historical election research: the error of 'arbitrary' selection and the error of naive disaggregation. Both lead to a mix of social-statistic correlations with individual correlations resulting in intuitive interpretations that are often unfounded. A closer look on statistical data and the application of methods used in modern election research would help to avoid common false conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article considers the youthful composition of the NSDAP between 1925 and 1933. This article not only challenges Michael Kater's previous analyses on the young party by finding the average age of members in the early years of the party to be younger than previously thought, but also examines information about the young recruits including: age, regional background, religious denomination and occupation. While previous research has shown the NSDAP movement to be one of the middle class, this article finds that, amongst the young members, the skilled working class is more heavily represented, thus challenging many commonly held notions about the party membership. This article also takes into consideration the high turnover rate of the NSDAP, while also analyzing which members subsequently rejoined after leaving the party, a quite common phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]