Das Deutsche Wissenschaftliche Institut (DWI) in Bukarest
The German Institute of Science in Bucharest

Summary/Abstract: The German Institute of Science in Bucharest was the most important instrument of German National Socialist propaganda in Romania between 1940 and 1944. The Institute’s program was focused on winning over the Romanian elite with lectures, films, language courses, grants, and the active promotion of professional literature. Although the French and the Italians competed with the Germans’ cultural activities, many Romanian cultural figures were considered sympathetic to the „New Germany“. These included the young folklorist Ovidiu Papadima, the authors Nichifor Crainic and Liviu Rebreanu, and the philosopher Constantin Rădulescu-Motru. Among others, the following persons received grants in the Third Reich: the literary scientist Gheorghe Vrabie, the historian Ion Hurdubeţiu, the economist Constantin Sporea (who hardly had any knowledge of the German language), the specialist in German studies Jean Livescu-Leahu and the conductor Sergiu Celibidache. The few years that the German Institute of Science in Bucharest had to campaign for the „higher mission“ of Nazi Germany was too short to achieve many remarkable results. The members of the Romanian intelligentsia who were won over to the Third Reich in this short time came, as a rule, from Transylvania or had had a German education. It was the fear of the „Communist danger“ of the Soviet Union that caused many of them – and also many Romanians – to favour German culture.

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