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In the 36,525 days of the twentieth century, between 100 and 160 million civilians lost their lives at hand of mass-murder, slaughter and massacres – that is an average of more than 3.000 innocent deaths per day. The pace has not slackened in the new millennium: statistically speaking, September 11 was an ordinary day. In his lecture, Zygmunt Bauman outlines and analyses the efforts made to solve the mystery that more perhaps than any other keeps ethical philosophers awake at night: the mystery of unde malum (Whence the Evil?) and, more specifically and yet more urgently, of “How do good people turn evil?” The latter is, succinctly put, the secret of the mysterious transmogrification of caring family people and friendly and benevolent neighbours into monsters.
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The chief aim of the foreign minority policies of nazi Germany was to secure the acknowledgement of „völkisch” German minorities as an officially organised ethnic group (Volksgruppe) with autonomy rights. But during World War II the integrative ethnic policy with regard to the Germans was gradually pushed to the background by an exclusion policy which the nazi regime applied to the „inferior” peoples and races, and took the form of prosecution and extermination on the basis of ethnicity and religion. Despite the discriminative „Jewish Laws” (1938, 1939), the Hungarian Jewry lived relatively undisturbed under the regime of governor Miklós Horthy. Dramatic change came in this regard with the German occupation of the country (19 March 1944). Then started the stigmatization, ghettoization and deportation of the Jews – predominantly to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The exact number of martyrs is still hotly debated. According to the most authoritative scholarly opinions, the number of deported Jewish victims can be put to between 440 and 550 thousand. Yet in political parlance and public history the round and symbolic figure of 600 thousand has become rooted. Another debated issue is whether the prosecution by the nazis of the Sintis and Roma was done on racial grounds, or they were treated as so-called anti-social elements. The number of Gypsies deported to extermination camps from Hungary can be put to a couple of thousand. From the late 1930s the claim of instrumentalizing the German minorities in the service of the aggressive foreign political aims of the Third Reich became increasingly evident. In Hungary this role was assumed by the so-called Volksbund (People’s Association of Germans in Hungary). From the start of World War II, a new element in the policies of nazi Germany towards the foreign Germans appeared, which can be termed as the idea of „return” to the Empire („Heim ins Reich”). In order to accomplish the re-settlement plans, the Germans concluded interstate treaties with almost all countries in Europe where German minorities lived. (The agreement with Hungary was signed on 29 May 1940, but it was never put into effect.) In the eastern regions occupied during the war an overt and brutal Germanizing policy was implemented, based on the Generalplan Ost, which had been elaborated in offices of the SS specially assigned to this task. In the foreign policies of the Federal Republic of Germany, especially under the aegis of the Brandtian Ostpolitik, considerable emphasis was put on relations with the states belonging to the former German settlement area, such as Hungary, and on strengthening the bridge-function of those German minorities which had remained there after refuge and deportation in the war.
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One of the characteristic traits of Romanian fascism is rooted in the fact that it came to power after the majority of its political élite had been ordered to be killed, without even lipservice to legal formalities, by king Charles II. Having forced the removal of the king, general Antonescu needed mass support, and consequently ceded part of the power to the Iron Guard, alias the Legion of Saint Michael the Archangel. As this measure led to political chaos, the general suppressed the Legion and persecuted its members with all possible means. During the five months of legionary domination, the young literate elite faced the task of defining what exactly the legionary revolution meant. The philosopher Constantin Noica mainly legalized vengeance with his pseudo-theological articles. Cioran, the anti-philosopher, adopted a peculiar tactics by glorifying on the one hand Codreanu, the assassinated leader of the Iron Guard, thereby relativising the greatness of his successor Horia Sima, and writing about Transylvania as Romania’s Prussia on the other hand, thereby strengthening the legitimacy of Sima, himself a Transylvanian. While the legionarism of the historian Petre P. Panaitescu is generally explained by his ambitions, he was in fact guided in his production of stereotyped fascist journalism by his conviction that the contemporary state of Romania’s development was best matched by fascist modernization. Traian Herseni, a great promise of Romanian sociology, began to promulgate primitive racial theory. Paradoxically, all four intellectuals were capable of drawing a more positive program in the 1930s, when the Iron Guard was still excluded from power, than in the period of its political dominance. Yet through their cult of vengeance, leadership and race, all four paved the way before the communists and their cult of class struggle, of the Party and its leader and of the working classes in general. Cioran was alone in reneging on his fascist record, the other three intellectuals gradually found their place in the anti-intellectual intellectual framework of the national communist system.
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Európa és Magyarország a 20. században
“The Train of History” by Mária Ormos invites the reader to two different „journeys”. Reception of both, history and historiography. It is a comprehensive study with author’s vision on Europe, focusing on the Hungarian history and Hungarian identity.
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The independence of the Republic of Estonia was proclaimed exactly today 92 years ago. Today is Independence Day in Estonia. Estonia lost its independence in 1940 according to the secret protocol of the non-aggression agreement between the Communist Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and did not regain it after the end of the WWII. Th e occupation and annexation of the Baltic States was never recognised by the United States of America and other Western countries. Estonian diplomatic representations were active in the United States and the United Kingdom for the duration of the Cold War. Estonian passports issued by these representations were accepted as valid travel documents in many Western countries.
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The Institute was founded based on Act No. 181/2007 Coll. passed by the Parliament of the Czech Republic. It assumed work on 1 February, 2008. Its mission includes the study and evaluation of the period of Nazi occupation and communist rule in former Czechoslovakia, the anti-democratic and criminal activities of the state, especially its security services, and of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia; the analysis and documentation of the reasons for the liquidation of the democratic regime, and of the active support for and resistance against the dictatorships, as well as the documentation of Nazi and communist crimes. Through and together with its subordinate entity, the Security Services Archive which administers over 18 km of files, the Institute acquires relevant documents, ensures their digitisation and makes them accessible to the public. The Institute’s further mission is to raise awareness, disseminate information and educate the public, in cooperation with like-minded institutions and persons at home and abroad.
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The principal research question pursued by this work is as follows: How do the Republic of Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine present one another in their history curricula and textbooks? How do the history textbooks of each of these three countries present the relationship between majorities and minorities?This book is thus focused on two main objectives: first, to generate improved understanding of the state of the discipline of history in these countries via discussion of reforms to and debates around history curricula in each country, and second, to shed light on the ways in which history textbooks in each of the three countries represent the other two and their peoples.Curriculum development and textbook production in all three countries still remain centralised. Textbooks are produced by state and private publishing houses. Most textbooks are curriculum-based and developed according to the guidelines issued by the Ministries of Education. Through their textbook publishing policy, these ministries control the content and quality of textbooks. History curricula and textbooks in all three countries have progressed, but we still encounter many problems. Among them are the following:• the content of curricula and history textbooks continues to place too much emphasis on national aspects to the detriment of the world, regional, and local dimensions of history;• it reflects the history of wars and violence instead of giving more space to periods of peaceful coexistence, cooperation and cultural communication, or of mutual enrichment between various social groups as well as between nations;• it neglects regional history and cultural and historical links with neighbouring countries;• as it stands, it causes problems in history education and the development of ethnic identity, as well as the relationship between “Us” and “Others”;• it leads to or accepts poor textbook design.The relationship between national and European history remains a closely debated topic in all three societies. Their shared reality, as evidenced by this study, is that all three countries are currently not presenting one another in any meaningful way in their history textbooks at all educational levels. In all three countries, history education and textbooks are dominated by political history and narratives of victimisation. National histories do not pay attention to their neighbours.History textbooks play an important part in the process of collective identity formation, building a relationship with the past and creating an image of the “other”. The content of textbooks determines, in many cases, students' attitudes to their neighbours. Therefore, in order to improve the situation in history education and to develop a tolerant approach to “others” in history textbooks, there is a great need for joint efforts by politicians, professionals and members of civil society in Moldova, Romania and Ukraine.
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The author of the present paper focuses on the relationship between the individual and the power in a totalitarian state of absurd, created in Russian prose of Vladimir Nabokov. According to the author of the article, by describing totalitarian reality, the Russian writer deals with the problem of human oppression and asks about the reasons for this state of affairs. He shows areas of growing opposition and builds in the reader strength needed to rebel.
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There has been always been a great buzz around Valerián Bystrický. It is not different even today. His study is almost continuously occupied by his friends, colleagues and pupils. They work not only at his household institution – the Institute of History of the Slovak Academy of Sciences – but also at other scholarly institutions and universities. They come to him for a friendly chat and to discuss their professional issues expecting his opinion and advice. Authors who participated on this publication represent a small sample of them. The topics included in this book represent a very broad and colorful spectrum and the same can be said about the view and professional erudition of Dr. Bystrický. It would be not very useful to list all the topics he has dealt with. They can be found in the selected bibliography of his writings at the end of this book. It doesn’t matter if he is dealing with European or Slovak history; the 1st and 2nd Czechoslovak republic or the war Slovak republic; politics, personalities or society – all his works are characterized by comprehension, detachment and great knowledge of sources. He doesn’t belong to theoreticians or speculative methodologists of various systems and –isms. He goes to the problem always in medias res. His method is the accurate documentation of historical processes and consistent knowledge about the searched topic and sources. That is how his pertinent works based on arguments had been created. Many of them belong to fundamental and pioneering works of our historiography. We must admire the curiousness and interest of Dr. Bystrický for new problems. We can say that a man with such an erudition and detachment can’t be surprised easily. It is a gift or a privilege that there is always something which he is interested in – he is still able to contemplate and to think intensely about historical and social problems. He is a proponent of the necessity to always take a clear and resolute stand to key questions. He is not shy to let his positive or negative attitude be known. The latter possibility brought numerous stories, occasional good-hearted acrimonies and anecdotes that are still very popular. They originated from the fact that he is a well-known enemy of smallmindedness and petty wars. As he often says: „Something is always going to happen.” For a scholar of his caliber, one must admire the graciousness of Dr. Bystrický which has an extra significance in the scholarly circles. In connection with his natural authority, it has a special value mainly for the middle generation of today’s historians. He has always treated them with human understanding and they have had the opportunity to cooperate with a wise and helpful man.
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Moja knjiga je još pre objavljivanja postala centar polemike i predmet jedne organizovane kampanje. Sasvim je prirodno što je ta kampanja, vođena svim dobro poznatim sredstvima stvaranja lažne predstave i manipulisanja javnošću, privukla mnogo više pažnje od same polemike, tako da je površna buka kampanje na neki način potisnula i ugušila polemiku. To je postalo sasvim jasno kada je čudnovata mešavina jedne i druge, iskazana skoro identičnim rečima — kao da su tekstovi u kojima se napada knjiga (a još češće njen autor) izlazili "iz mašine za kopiranje" (Meri MekKarti) — preneta iz Amerike u Englesku, a zatim u Evropu, gde knjiga još nije bila ni objavljena. […]
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Następnego dnia po osadzeniu w obozie pod Riazanicm, cale nasze bractwo wyległo na zewnątrz baraków. Teren otoczony był wysokim płotem z desek, bez najmniejszej szpary lub otworu. W pewnym momencie gdzieś z daleka, lecz dosyć wyraźnie, usłyszeliśmy: „O mój rozmarynie, rozwijaj się...”. Znieruchomieliśmy. Jeszcze jedna zwrotka. Potem młodzieńczym głosem zabrzmiał rozkaz: „ W tyraliery!” i za płotem zaległa cisza.
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When the United States entered the Second World War, Nazi media focused on the new opponent. While a lot of the patterns which writers used on the US were long established – particularly antisemitic concepts that had since 1939 been used in anti-British propaganda – organised crime for several reasons seem to be a promising topic. Somewhat exceptional is Heinz Halters book Der Polyp von New York. Die Geschichte Tammany Halls. Korruption und Verbrechen im demokratischen Amerika (1942). As source for his book, Halter mainly used Herbert Asbury’s Gangs of New York. An Informal History of the Underworld (1928), which also served as original book for Martin Scorseses movie of 2002 with the same title.
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For several decades, the personal continuity between the researchers on East and South East Europe during the Nazi regime and those who after 1945 managed to rebuild research institutions, had remained a taboo topic, at least in West Germany. Only in 2002, a conference organized by the Südost-Institut discussed several aspects of this continuity. This article summarizes the research on Albania in Germany between 1933 and 1945, not only on language and history, but also on all fields of science relevant for the country and its people, including the notorious „racial research“, and gives details on several careers of the scientists involved. It discusses the main structures, especially the two competing institutions for research on South East Europe in Munich, led by Fritz Valjavec, and in Leipzig, headed by Georg Stadtmüller, who both would become leading figures in West German studies on that region after 1945. A main aspect of careers and institutions as well are their manifold links with political structures of the Third Reich (like the SS), a system of tutelage and protection, which has been described as “polycracy”. The author discusses several reasons why Albanology was only a very peripheric field of research in Nazi Germany.
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Alceo Valcini was the Warsaw-based correspondent for the Italian daily “Corriere della Sera” during the years 1933-1946. Valcini encountered great difficulties with the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Aldo Borelli, who was not interested in following the political life of Poland except for Poland’s clashes with the Soviet Union. Valcini managed to publish his articles as long as they stressed the influence of Mussolini’s fascism on Polish political life or if they dealt with Soviet political interference in Central Europe. Valcini was to be replaced by another journalist as correspondent from Warsaw because of his own pro-Polish views and scarce enthusiasm for the aggressive stances of Nazi Germany towards Czechoslovakia and Poland, but he nevertheless managed to witness Hitler’s aggression against Poland. His stories were the first accounts of German persecution of the Polish Jews and Warsaw’s civil population, although they had no chance of publication on the pages of the increasingly pro-Nazi “Corriere della Sera”. Valcini took notice of everything that happened in Poland between the outbreak of the war and the end of July 1944. In 1945, Valcini collected his memoirs in a publication entitled The Calvary of Warsaw, in which he gave a graphic account of life in the city under German occupation. Valcini witnessed to the uprising in the Jewish Ghetto and to the activities of the Polish Secret State. His book was translated into Polish in 1970, after having undergone heavy editing, possibly as a result of intervention by the Communist censors. In any event, Valcini turned out to be one of the very few Italian journalists who – in writing about World War II and the Nazi occupation of Poland – did not fall prey to Goebbel’s Propagandaministerium, unlike the much more celebrated reporter Indro Montanelli.
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Prezentację tej niezwykłej książki wypada rozpocząć od przedstawienia jej Autora. Urodził się na ziemi wieluńskiej 13 grudnia 1915 r. w Żmudzie k. Lututowa w wielodzietnej rodzinie chłopskiej. W Lututowie, który na zawsze stał się dla Niego Małą Ojczyzną, przeżył okres wczesnego dzieciństwa. Tu pobierał naukę w szkole powszechnej, tu związał się z Kościołem, tu – choć po kilkunastoletniej przerwie – spędził trudne cztery lata okupacji hitlerowskiej. Wcześniej jednak, bo w 1926 r., przeniósł się z rodzicami do Dąbrowy Rusieckiej w powiecie łaskim, gdzie nabyli oni gospodarstwo rolne.
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Austrijski pisac Alexander Sacher- Masoch rođen je 18. studenoga 1901. godine u Wittkowitzu, Moravska. U Moravskoj se rodio igrom slučaja. Njegov otac, Arthur Wolfgang Ritter von Sacher- Masoch, po profesiji časnik, često je mijenjao odredišta službovanja. Alexanderova ljubav prema književnosti i pisanju nije slučajna. Njegov otac se također okušao u spisateljskim vodama i bio poprilično uspješan. Pisao je pod pseudonimom Michael Zorn i objavio nekoliko romana i niz kratkih priča. Po njegovom romanu Izmedu rijeke i stepe (1936), 1938. godine je snimljen film sa Attilom Hörbiger u glavnoj ulozi.
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After the war Hanns Chaim Mayer changed his name to Jean Améry. Because he after the war as a way of distancing himself from all things German. He was arrested, tortured, and sent to a number of concentration and extermination camps, namely, Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen. In 1978, at age sixty-six, Améry took his own life in a hotel room in Salzburg. He write the existential condition of the Nazi victim in post-war Europe. First of all in this article refered to resentiment in Améry’s thought. It discoursed what is source, limit and effect of the concept. Nietzsche is the first name that comes to mind when the concept of resentiment is refered. Therefore, the importance of resentiment conception in Nietzsche and Scheler thought will be pointed out and it compare with Améry’s thought.
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The tragic events in Novi Sad in January 1942 constitute an important subject in the prose of Aleksandar Tišma (Knjiga o Blamu [The Book of Blam]), Erih Koš (Novosadski pokolj [Novi Sad Massacre]), and Danilo Kiš (Psalm 44 and Peščanik [Hourglass]). Jewish-Serbian writers were not left disinterested by the fact of the Shoah of fellow Jews or by the violent deaths of their Slavic neighbors. The above-mentioned, formally very diverse works belong to the corpus of Serbian novels about the Holocaust, which are a testament to the crime and which render individual deaths meaningful. Novels about the Novi Sad massacre reveal the psychological motivation of the instigators and direct perpetrators of the crime, shed light upon the logistics and the mechanics of death, and constitute a record of the victims’ reactions in the situation of a direct threat to their lives, and also the world of mental nightmares tormenting the survivors. Finally, and most importantly, they are an artistic tribute to all the identified and anonymous victims of the Hungarian repressive and exterminatory operation. The above-outlined issues were examined using the notions and research tools of psycho pathology, individual psychology, humanistic psychiatry, thanatology, suicidology, victimology, and cultural anthropology.
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