Abstracts

Dirk Blasius, Hans Rothfels and Carl Schmitt. Mutual Influences in Their Writings during the Weimar Republic

 

This article widens the scope in the debates about Hans Rothfels by assessing the significance of reviews within the political and intellectual culture of the Weimar Republic. Rothfels as a reviewer showed an interest in the publications of Schmitt (Die geistesgeschichtliche Lage des heutigen Parlamentarismus – 1923/26; Politische Romantik – 1919/1925; Der Begriff des Politischen – 1927; Verfassungslehre – 1928). The reviews of Rothfels are short essays which exhibit his own position on the Weimar constitutional system. They make clear the distinction between Rothfels and Schmitt. Rothfels points out the incomplete understanding of history in Schmitt̕s works. Also, he highlights the limitations of his legal theory. In the reviews, Rothfels followed Rudolf Smend (1882–1975), an other authority on jurisprudence (Verfassung und Verfassungsrecht – 1928). An essential part of Carl Schmitt̕s intellectual personality was the history of Prussia, especially Clausewitz. Rothfels̕ “Carl von Clausewitz” (1920) was an important work in the shaping of Schmitt̕s political orientation. After 1945 Schmitt made use of Rothfels̕ Prussian history. Schmitt and Smend read and commented on Rothfels’ “The German Opposition to Hitler. An Appraisal” (1948). Here we find Smend with a noble gesture on Rothfels’ side. In his remarks, Schmitt gives the impression that he was close to the Prussian opposition to Hitler.

 

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Maren Röger, War Children in Poland. Nazi Policies and Experiences in the Polish People’s Republic

 

Despite the strict orders against social interaction, thousands of war children – children of German occupiers and local women – were born. Inasmuch as the authorities were informed about the German father, the National Socialist racial planners decided on further procedures. Children considered “racially valuable” were taken away from their Polish mother. Yet the increasing infiltration of racial ideology into the legal realm also increased the rights of illegitimate children and their mothers. In the case of the Incorporated Polish Territories, where Nazi family law was introduced, this led to the paradoxical situation that fathers could be sued for child support payments despite the simultaneous prohibition of sexual relations between Poles and Germans. The article firstly provides an overview of the policies of the Nazi occupiers towards these war children and secondly investigates the measureswhich the socialist state subsequently applied to the “war mothers”. Also, the experiences of the war children after 1945 are reconstructed on the basis of biographical interviews.

 

 

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Claudia Moisel, History and Psychoanalysis. On the Genesis of John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory

 

Currently the history of psychoanalysis as well as psychological-psychiatric expert discourses is being researched in varied ways in the Anglosphere. This is also true in the expanding interdisciplinary field of “Childhood Studies”. In this context, the article explores the example of current research into the Attachment Theory of the renowned British child psychiatrist John Bowlby (1907–1990). During the 1950s, Bowlby’s influential study of institutionalised children for the World Health Organisation established “Maternal Deprivation” as a central analytical category for early childhood; his memorable explanation on the development and prevention of psychological problems broadly affected family policy. The article also aims at a methodological sounding of the relationship between history and the “psycho-sciences” in two ways: Firstly, by making the constructed character of psychological, psychiatric and psychoanalytic concepts visible; and secondly, by generating attention for the abundance of historically relevant sources and literature, which has been generated in this context, but has not been taken into consideration sufficiently by research.  

 

 

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Uwe Danker, Parliamentary Continuity Studies on the Nazi Period: The Case of Schleswig-Holstein. Methodological Potentials and Limitations

 

The article presents the approach and the central results of a current study on personal and structural continuities in the Parliament of Schleswig-Holstein after 1945. Unlike studies of other institutions which exhibit strong homogeneity on the professional and social level, studies of parliamentary bodies have to presuppose a high degree of heterogeneity among the parliamentarians. Research questions thus have to be formulated differently. Methodologically the investigation strikes a middle course between a mere listing of researched memberships and full biographies. The article puts a two-tier model with five “basic orientations” up for discussion, in which the members of the research group describe generalised positions towards life (and survival) during National Socialism. The derived “types” represent the core of individual roles during the Nazi period. In this manner the profile of Schleswig-Holstein can be described with a much higher degree of differentiation and finer contours than achieved in previous studies of parliamentary bodies. In comparison with other German states, Schleswig-Holstein appears as a special case with a high degree of formal entanglements. Content analysis connects biographies with individual political actions on how to deal with the past: Even in this politically pertinent field, the previous biography of parliamentarians was only one factor among many affecting decisions, proclamations and contributions to debates. Popular presuppositions about correlations on this level lead astray. 

 

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