Erntefest – od etymologii do zastosowania

Author(s): Katarzyna Kuczyńska-Koschany / Language(s): Polish Issue: 15/2019

The text is a preliminary discussion about the Holocaust semantic neologisms and it is based on reflections on the Nazi codename for Aktion Erntefest (3–4 November 1943). These reflections have a few different dimensions: a linguistic one (etymology, the metaphor, references to the LTI), a comparative one (the Polish and German perspective), and also a contextually historical and anthropological one (the category of festivity and celebration). According to the author, rooted in the very codename was an instruction manual, the genocidal practice.

Behördliche Berichte über die sorbischen Sprach- und Kulturverhältnisse in der Niederlausitz 1933 – 1945

Author(s): Edmund Pech,Peter Schurmann / Language(s): German Issue: 1/2020

The Second World War led to a deterioration of policy towards the Sorbs. Up until 1939 it was mostly teachers and pastors in Upper Lusatia who were hit by forced transfers, but after 1939 the authorities turned their attention also to Lower Lusatia. The NS authorities made plans in 1940 for the relocation of a large number of teachers and pastors, whose mother tongue was Sorbian, because they stood in the way of a “final solution of the Wendish problem”. This was, however, not put into practice after the first military defeats on the Eastern Front. But it was impressed on those concerned that they had to practise “the utmost restraint in their use of the Wendish language.” As a result, reli­gious activities, in particular church services, were no longer allowed in Wendish. Furthermore, all forms of liturgy of the Word in Wendish, which were still performed in some parishes, were stopped. In addition, the Wendish teachers were no longer allowed to conduct bible classes, and no singing at funerals was allowed in their mother tongue. NS-government offices were required to ensure that only the German language was used in schools and churches of Lower Lusatia.

Savezničko bombardovanje Mostara u Drugom svjetskom ratu 1943-1945.

Author(s): Ahmet Kurt / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 18/2019

The narrative about the WW2 Allied bombings of Mostar still lives in the local traditions, mainly orally transferred from the elder generation to the younger one. The lack of the written testimonies about those events caused the memories to grow weaker and less reliable, locating even the time frame of the very narrative (imprecisely) in the phrase: “sometime during the Second World War.“ The testimonies of the few still living witnesses of those bombings, as well as oral traditions are submitted to the critical analyses and control in this essay; and a substantial work has been done in searching for the documents which could affirm or negate (wholly or partially) the oral traditions. This essay humbly corrects the inaccuracies (regarding those bombings) in the collective memory of the natives of Mostar, and chronologically detailing, minute by minute, reconstructing the biggest attack from January 14th 1944, including the tragic crash of one of the aircraft on the public shelter, located in Panjevina neighborhood on April 17th the same year. It also follows the faith of one of the local survivors. The identity and the age of 86 victims of the Allied aerial bombing are also established, as well as the dates of the shootdown of 6 American bombers in Mostar air space.

Un anno con Jan Karski: alcune considerazioni (non) finali

Author(s): Paweł Stasikowski,Luca Bernardini / Language(s): Italian Issue: 5/2014

Il 6 dicembre 2013 il Parlamento della Repubblica di Polonia ha proclamato il 2014 “Anno di Jan Karski”, su iniziativa e impegno del Ministero degli Affari Esteri e del Museo di Storia della Polonia di Varsavia. Il centenario della nascita dell’emissario dello Stato segreto polacco, che è caduto il 24 aprile, è coinciso con il culmine di un progetto quadriennale, promosso dal Museo di Storia della Polonia e intitolato Jan Karski. Una missione incompiuta (Jan Karski. Niedokończona Misja), inaugurato nel 2010, ossia nel decimo anniversario della morte dell’emissario.

Le lettere di Jan Kozielewski, ovvero la figura di Jan Karski tra narrazione letteraria e documentazione storiografica

Author(s): Luca Bernardini / Language(s): Italian Issue: 5/2014

Per centinaia di migliaia di lettori prima, e per milioni di spettatori poi, Jan Karski – o meglio Jan Kozielewski – è stato vuoi l’autore del bestseller Story of a Secret State, vuoi uno dei testimoni più autorevoli intervistati da Claude Lanzmann nel suo capolavoro Shoah. Non tutti però sono consapevoli del fatto che Jan Karski non è stato solo l’emissario del governo clandestino polacco durante la Seconda guerra mondiale, un testimone dell’Olocausto e un messaggero che avrebbe cercato di attirare l’attenzione del cosiddetto mondo civile sullo sterminio degli ebrei dell’Europa orientale, ma anche un personaggio letterario, tanto in vita quanto dopo la sua morte. E nella sua ipostasi di personaggio, Karski sembra aver conservato una sua tragica caratteristica costante: la disperata volontà di essere ascoltato, compreso e creduto da uditori che non erano in grado o non intendevano prestar fede a quello che aveva da dire.

Lo Stato clandestino polacco

Author(s): Maciej Podbielkowski / Language(s): Italian Issue: 5/2014

Il 1° settembre 1939 alle ore 4.45 la Germania dette inizio alle operazioni belliche contro la Polonia senza alcuna formale dichiarazione di guerra. Nonostante la superiorità numerica del nemico (più che doppia), l’esercito polacco resistette oltre un mese. La Polonia, legata da trattati d’alleanza a due potenze mondiali, la Francia e la Gran Bretagna, non ottenne l’aiuto promesso. I governi di questi Stati si limitarono soltanto a una formale dichiarazione di guerra contro Hitler, senza intraprendere alcuna attività bellica.

Pola Nireńska, la moglie dell’“ebreo cristiano” Jan Karski

Author(s): Giovanna Tomassucci / Language(s): Italian Issue: 5/2014

In uno dei frammenti non utilizzati della lunga intervista di Lanzmann a Jan Karski, oggi accessibile sul sito internet dell’Holocaust Memorial Museum (), la cinepresa inquadra fugacemente un suo ritratto un po’ zingaresco. Pola ci sorride mestamente, vestita di rosso, con un barboncino nero sulle ginocchia, a destra del divano su cui Jan Karski – con una tensione che lo attraversa come una scarica elettrica – narra la sua visita clandestina nel campo di concentramento di Bełżec.

Inserto iconografico

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Italian Issue: 5/2014

Albrecht Hagemann: Hermann Rauschning. Ein deutsches Leben zwischen NS-Ruhm und Exil

Author(s): Alexander Hesse / Language(s): German Issue: 4/2019

Review of: Alexander Hesse - Albrecht Hagemann: Hermann Rauschning. Ein deutsches Leben zwischen NS-Ruhm und Exil. Böhlau Verlag. Köln – Weimar 2018. 645 S., Ill. ISBN 978-3-412-51104-3. (€ 40,–.)

Marek Edelman: Nieznane zapiski o getcie warszawskim. [Unbekannte Aufzeichnungen über das Warschauer Getto.] Bearb. von Martyna Rusiniak-Karwat

Author(s): Klaus-Peter Friedrich / Language(s): German Issue: 4/2019

Review of: Klaus-Peter Friedrich - Marek Edelman: Nieznane zapiski o getcie warszawskim. [Unbekannte Aufzeichnungen über das Warschauer Getto.] Bearb. von Martyna Rusiniak-Karwat. Instytut Studiów Politycznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk – Fundacja Zeszytów Literackich. Warszawa 2017. 215 S., Ill. ISBN 978-83-64091-91-9, 978-83-64648-62-5.

Continuity and Change in the Vienna Police Force, 1914-1945 (Part II)

Author(s): Mark Lewis / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

Part II is the second half of a study examining the transformation of the Viennese police during four political systems. Part I had shown that the police was centralized and given additional powers between 1927 and 1934, yet the force was not ideologically unified, as a small section joined the Nazi Party. Part II, covering Austrofascism and Nazism, sheds light on the Kriminalpolizei and the Sicherheitswache (the latter became the German Schutzpolizei after March 1938). Both institutions were shaped “from above” and “from below”. The Nazi Sicherheitsdienst wanted to build a new, expanded state police in Vienna (the Gestapo) and secure the compliance of the regular police, yet police at the middle and lower ranks adapted themselves to Nazi policy, even if they were not Nazi Party members. In particular, the Kriminalpolizei and Schutzpolizei helped enforce labor policy, expropriation, racial persecution, and deportation of Roma and Jews.

Barbara Schneider: Erich Maschke

Author(s): Hans-Christian Petersen / Language(s): German Issue: 4/2018

Review of: Barbara Schneider: Erich Maschke. Im Beziehungsgeflecht von Politik und Geschichtswissenschaft. (Schriftenreihe der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Bd. 90.) V&R Academic. Göttingen 2016. 391 S. ISBN 978-3-525- 36080-4. (€ 70,–.). Reviewed by Hans-Christian Petersen.

Daniel Kupfert Heller: Jabotinsky’s Children

Author(s): Daniel Mahla / Language(s): German Issue: 4/2018

Review of: Daniel Kupfert Heller: Jabotinsky’s Children. Polish Jews and the Rise of Right-Wing Zionism. Princeton University Press. Princeton – Oxford 2017. XIII, 331 S., Ill. ISBN 978- 0-691-17475-4. ($ 35,–.). Reviewed by Daniel Mahla.

Fridolín Macháček: Pilsen – Theresienstadt – Flossenbürg

Author(s): Ehrhardt Cremers / Language(s): German Issue: 4/2018

Review of: Fridolín Macháček: Pilsen – Theresienstadt – Flossenbürg. Die Überlebensgeschichte eines tschechischen Intellektuellen. Hrsg. von Christa Schikorra , Jörg Skriebeleit und Jan Švimberský . Aus dem Tschechischen übersetzt von Kathrin Janka . (Flossenbürger Forum, Bd. 2.) Wallstein. Göttingen 2017. 304 S., Ill. ISBN 978-3-8353-1886-1. (€ 19,90.). Reviewed by Ehrhardt Cremers.

Ewa K. Bacon: Saving Lives in Auschwitz

Author(s): Karin Orth / Language(s): German Issue: 3/2018

Review of: Ewa K. Bacon: Saving Lives in Auschwitz. The Prisoners’ Hospital in Buna-Monowitz. Purdue University Press. West Lafayette 2017. XI, 199 S., Ill. ISBN 978-1-55753-779-9 (€ 34,49.). Reviewed by Karin Orth.

Evgeny Finkel: Ordinary Jews

Author(s): Maximilian Becker / Language(s): German Issue: 3/2018

Review of: Evgeny Finkel: Ordinary Jews. Choice and Survival during the Holocaust. Princeton University Press. Princeton – Oxford 2017. 279 S. ISBN 978-0-691-17257-6. ($ 29,95.). Reviewed by Maximilian Becker.

Monika Polit: Mordechaj Chaim Rumkowski – Wahrheit und Legende. „Meine jüdische Seele fürchtet den Tag des Gerichts nicht.“

Author(s): Klaus-Peter Friedrich / Language(s): German Issue: 2/2018

Review of: Monika Polit: Mordechaj Chaim Rumkowski – Wahrheit und Legende. „Meine jüdische Seele fürchtet den Tag des Gerichts nicht.“ (Klio in Polen, Bd. 18.) fibre. Osnabrück 2017. 271 S., s/w Abb. ISBN 978-3-944870-02-1. (€ 29,80.). Reviewed by Klaus-Peter Friedrich.

Children in the Holocaust and Its Aftermath. Historical and Psychological Studies of the Kestenberg Archive. Hrsg. von Sharon Kangisser Cohen, Eva Fogelman und Dalia Ofer

Author(s): Klaus-Peter Friedrich / Language(s): German Issue: 2/2018

Review of: Children in the Holocaust and Its Aftermath. Historical and Psychological Studies of the Kestenberg Archive. Hrsg. von Sharon Kangisser Cohen, Eva Fogelman und Dalia Ofer. Berghahn. New York – Oxford 2016. VIII, 266 S. ISBN 978-1-78533-438-2. ($ 120,–.). Reviewed by Klaus-Peter Friedrich.

Die Altstadt als Passage. Quellen- und bildkritische Analyse der „Denkschrift des Stadtbaurats über die Gesundung der Altstadt“ von Stettin (1936)

Author(s): Katja Bernhardt / Language(s): German Issue: 1/2018

The plans that were developed by governors and regional leaders for the transformation of Stettin (Szczecin) under National Socialism, were ambitious and aimed at establishing the city as a leading centre on the southern Baltic coast. The details of these plans have hardly ever been investigated, both because only scant sources have survived and because the available sources only marginally found their way into research. This article is based around one such source. The article deals with the ‘Memorandum of the Director of Urban Planning on the Recovery of the Historic Centre’, which was compiled in 1936 by the director of urban planning Bruno Lehnemann and was made up of drawn plans, text documents and annotated reproductions of earlier cityscapes. Though the documentation is only partially preserved, it provides illuminating insights into planning ideas, requirements and processes as well as specific urban development projects and concepts. The article is based on detailed source criticism that allows us to reconstruct the planning process and its relation to urban planning in the Weimar Republic era. The breakdown of the planning context is made possible by consulting further archived, documented memoranda and planning concepts, and shows, in turn, that the so-called ‘recovery of the historic city centre’ was only part of a comprehensive plan to redesign the entire city as a regional centre. Also, through critical analysis of the memorandum’s surviving visual material, we are able to more fully understand, both the urban planning concept and the significance that Szczecin was to gain through its envisioned transformation. This investigation taps into archival material relating to Szczecin’s urban planning history under National Socialism that, until now, only marginally has been researched. At the same time, by combining discussion on source material, historical reconstruction and indepth image analysis, the study opens up a discourse relating to urban planning history, which has the potential to give fresh impetus in the area of Nazi planning history.

Melanie Hembera, Die Shoah im Distrikt Krakau. Jüdisches Leben und deutsche Be-satzung in Tarnów 1939-1945

Author(s): Lars Jockheck / Language(s): German Issue: 1/2018

Review of: Melanie Hembera: Die Shoah im Distrikt Krakau. Jüdisches Leben und deutsche Besatzung in Tarnów 1939-1945. (Veröffentlichungen der Forschungsstelle Ludwigsburg der Universität Stuttgart, Bd. 28.) WBG. Darmstadt 2016. 352 S., 10 Ill. ISBN 978-3-534- 26786-6. (€ 89,95.). Reviewed by Lars Jockheck.