Projects

WE! ARE! HERE! - an artistic “Despite it All!”

An artistic commemoration project is currently being prepared together with survivors. It opened on the 80th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference.  

 

On January 20, 1942, fifteen men met in a villa on Berlin's Wannsee Lake for a working breakfast. They were members of the NSDAP or belonged to various ministries  and governmental divisions. The aim of the meeting was to enable participants to coordinate the Nazi regime’s decision to murder eleven million Jews in Europe. The goal was the perfect organization of the greatest crime in human history. The organizational plans agreed upon at the Wannsee Conference ultimately led to the murder of six million Jews. Some, however survived plans for their extermination. These survivors and their descendants are here among us.

The visual images of the fifteen perpetrators have now faded from public consciousness. Nonetheless, if you search for them, you will find their biographies, with their lives described in books and on the internet. Their victims, however, including the survivors, are mostly depersonalized in the public consciousness. They are known as "the victims" or "the victims and their descendants."

This lack of personal identity is now being countered by an artistic commemorative concept entitled: "WE! ARE! HERE!" Using a special camera, survivors are portrayed together with a grandchild or great-grandchild for the commemorative installation. Each photograph in this series of portraits unites the past, the present and the future. These pictures are not only meant to focus on the survival and unimaginable suffering of the survivors, but to point to the future - a photographic “Despite it All!”

The exhibition first opened 80 years after the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 2022, in the Parliament Building in Berlin and has since been  exhibited at various locations, for example in Washington, D.C.  www.wsh2022.de

 

 

Ideologies in National Socialism – Handbook and Conferences

For the most part, English language research on the Third Reich has focused on its political, economic and military structures. Comparatively little attention has been paid to the ideological underpinnings of National Socialism, however; to the ideas and discourses that informed the beliefs and actions of both major and minor actors in Hitler’s Germany.

In the sense proposed here, ideology is not to be understood in opposition to rationality, but rather as a precondition for rational thinking. Ideology, in other words, is a prism through which individuals, groups, and state authorities see the world, whilst also providing justification for their actions.

This project is based on the assumption that, if we want to understand the relationship between politics and people’s lived realities, or between the period’s inhuman atrocities and the worldview that informed them, then a deep understanding of National Socialist ideologies is required.

The core of our project is a three-volume reference resource entitled ‘’Ideologies in National Socialism,’’ designed to be unprecedented in its detail and encylopaedic in its coverage.

2024 Handbook Ideologies in National Socialism. Volume 1: Individuals and Ideologies. ISBN: 978-3-11-071254-4

2025 Handbook Ideologies in National Socialism. Volume 2: Institutions and Ideologies.

2026 Handbook Ideologies in National Socialism. Volume 3: History of Ideas.

 

 

Edition - The Service Diaries of Wolfram Sievers

Wolfram Sievers was the Reich director of the SS research institution "Ahnenerbe." His now largely reconstructed service diaries are a unique source for understanding the SS, the history of science in Germany and Europe from 1935 to 1945, and the ethnic and racist ideologies that shaped the SS.

The three-volume edition consists of an introductory volume with a Sievers biography and an introduction to the structure and origins of the diaries. With the exception of a few weeks, the main volume shows Sievers' daily appointments and telephone calls, as well as the numerous projects of the Ahnenerbe. It mentions thousands of people who played a role in the SS  or in the other branches of the NSDAP, as well as key figures in the military (including the Waffen-SS), and, above all, in German and European institutions of science. The last volume gives an encyclopaedic overview of many of these persons and projects.

The work will also be published as online versions, with an extensive search function for actors and projects, as well as links to links in the Ahnenerbe network.

Volume I:
The Science Policy of the "SS-Ahnenerbe”
Wolfram Sievers - A science manager in the service of the SS

Volume II:
The Science Policy of the "SS-Ahnenerbe”
The SS research network in the service diaries of Wolfram Sievers
Documents 1941-45 (in two extensive volumes, ISBN 978-3-11-069996-8)

Volume III: The Science Policy of the "SS-Ahnenerbe”
Selected actors and their projects in European science. The Ancestral Heritage Network. (ISBN 978-3-11-071221-6)

 

 

Politics, Ideology and Democracy

Volume 1: Völkisches Denken 1848 bis 1948. Von der Paulskirche über Weimar zum Petersberg. ISBN: 978-3-11-069745-2

Part 1: The Paulskirche Parliament between a National Awakening and Democratic Decision-Making.
Part 2: From a National Awakening to Murderous Politics. The National Socialist Ideology's Ethnic Origins.
Part 3: How Do You Get the Völkisch out of Your Head? The Re-education and Re-orientation in Occupied Germany.

The rise of parliamentary democracy and political public opinion in the 19th century created the conditions for the emergence of group-bound ideological vocabularies in Germany. This volume spans the arc from Paulskirche in Frankfurt/Main through the interwar period to the era of re-education after the zero hour – an elementary component of the creation of today's parliamentary democracy in Germany.
At the center of the present volume is the great theme of the relationship between ethnic thinking and German democratic aspirations over nearly one hundred years.

It thus offers an exemplary overview of  ideologies that have long preoccupied German politics and are currently preoccupying it again.

The contributions featured in the anthology are largely based on conference results. The CfP/conference programs can be found here.


The anthology was published by De Gruyter Publishers (ISBN 978-3-11-069734-6)

 

Volume 2: Lisa Gottschall: Völkische Forschung am Krakauer "Institut für Deutsche Ostarbeit". Die Wiener "Völkerkunde" und Anthropologie – Biographien und Netzwerke. The Monograph was published by De Gruyter Publishers (ISBN: 978-3-11-079595-0)

 

Volume 3: Merchant of Ideologies – Erich Ludendorff.
The Monograph will be published by De Gruyter Publishers in 2025

 

 

 

Teams

We assemble ad-hoc teams for each project. As an example we may introduce the team of Volume 1 of Handbook Ideologies in National Socialism:

 

Volume 1 Editorial Office (Volume 2 and 3 will have different teams):

Darren O’Byrne and Julien Reitzenstein (Editors)

Barbara Nowak, Orli Vogt-Vincent, Bastian Tonk (Administration, Organisation and Copyediting)

Area Editors:

  • Darren O’Byrne
  • Claus Bundgård Christensen
  • Thomas Clausen
  • Monica Fioravanzo
  • Paolo Fonzi
  • Christian Fuhrmeister
  • Michael Hanzel
  • Daniel Meis
  • Julien Reitzenstein
  • Carmen Scheide
  • Stephan Lehnstaedt
  • Luitgard Löw
  • Yulia von Saal
  • Dirk Schuster
  • Udo Tietz
  • Annika Wienert

Contributors (selection):

 

  • Sofie Bak - “The Danish Streicher”: Aage H. Andersen
  • Darren O´Byrne - Herbert Backe and the Reich Ministry for Food and Agriculture: Actions and Ideologies
  • Henrik Lundtofte - Otto Bovensiepen: Security Police Leader and Long-Time National Socialist
  • Heike Görtemaker - Eva Braun: Worldview of A Hidden Mistress
  • Johannes Spohr - Otto Bräutigam: The “Eastern Expert”
  • Udo Bermbach - The Völkisch Thought of Houston Stewart Chamberlain
  • Claus Bundgård Christensen - Frits Clausen: The Failed Danish Fuhrer
  • Horst Gies - Richard Walther Darré: The Failure of a Racial Ideologue in Hitler’s State
  • Sara Follacchio - Fighting for God, the Volk, and the Fatherland: Guida Diehl’s Political Programme for Women in National Socialism
  • Sebastian Balling - Dietrich Eckart and the Genesis of National Socialist Antisemitism
  • Sofie Bak - No Place for a Woman: Olga Eggers
  • Torgeir Ekerholt Sæveraas - Generaloberst Nikolaus Paul von Falkenhorst: Leader of the Armee Norwegen and Committed to the National Socialist Cause
  • Nicola Karcher - Olaf Willy Fermann: A Norwegian Collaborator and Proponent

of SS Ideology

  • Lisa Gottschall - Racial Anthropology and Disciplinary Dissolution in Occupied Poland: Elfriede Fliethmann
  • Johan Stenfeldt - Nils Flyg: An Ideological Journey of Political Extremes
  • Thomas Clausen - The People’s Conscience as Legal Ideology: The Case of Roland Freisler
  • Sigurd Sorlie - Rolf Jørgen Fuglesang: The Practical Organiser of National Socialism in Norway
  • Toby Thacker - The National Socialist Ideology of Joseph Goebbels
  • Richard Overy - Hermann Göring: The NS-State Above All
  • Gunnar Hatlehol - Albert Viljam Hagelin: Quisling’s Outsider Insider
  • Guillaume Payen - Martin Heidegger: A Marginal but Radical Nazi Ideologue
  • Christopher T. Goodwin - Exemplary Disability in the “Third Reich”: The Case of Gerhard Hein
  • Roy Ralph Storbeck - Ernst Heinkel: Flying as an Ideology
  • Manfred Görtemaker - Rudolf Hess: “Deputy of the Führer” and Guardian of the Party
  • Robert Gerwarth - Reinhard Heydrich: Mastermind of Genocide
  • Thomas Weber - Adolf Hitler: The Constructivist
  • Christina Irrgang - Heinrich Hoffmann: Producer and Marketer of Photographic Images
  • Henrik Lundtofte - Karl Heinz Hoffmann: Not Quite an Ordinary Gestapo Leader
  • Terje Emberland - Hans Solgaard Jacobsen: An Ideologue of Radical Neo-Pagan National Socialism in Norway
  • Patrick Cassitti, Luitgard Löw - Herbert Jankuhn: German Prehistory and National Socialist Ideology
  • Peter Thompson - National Revolution in the Writings of Ernst Jünger: Evaluating the Shared Ideological Foundations of the Conservative Revolution and National Socialism in Interwar Germany
  • Paolo Fonzi - Erhart Kästner’s Travel Accounts and the Nazi Perception of Greece
  • Daniel Meis - Karl Kaufmann as a Left-Wing Gauleiter of the First and Last Hour
  • Ralf Meindl - Erich Koch: A Gauleiter with his own Regional Ideology
  • Darren O´Byrne - Johannes Krohn: Ideologies and Adaptation across Regimes
  • Sara Follacchio - A Civil Role and a Spiritual Mission: Teresa Labriola’s Political Programme for Women in the Fascist Regime
  • Renaud Meltz - Pierre Laval and Nazi Ideology: Complacency and Indifference from 1933 until his Death
  • Dirk Schuster - Johannes Leipoldt and the “Aryan” Jesus
  • Daniel Meis - Robert Ley: A Left-Wing Ideologue at the Head of the Nazi Labour Organisation
  • Øystein Hetland - Jonas Lie: Himmler’s Nordic Policeman
  • Johan Stenfeldt - Sven Olov Lindholm: An Ideological Journey from the Far Right to the New Left
  • Matthias Fahrenwaldt - Erich Ludendorff: The Untouchable Völkisch Ideologist Fighting National Socialism with Idiosyncratic Conspiracy Theories
  • Sigurd Sorlie - Gulbrand Lunde: Norway’s Little Goebbels
  • Viorel Achim - Sabin Manuilă: Romania’s Leading Expert in Ethnopolitics
  • Joris Lehnert - Charles Maurras: Hitlerism and the Religion of Germanism
  • Roy Ralph Storbeck - Willy Messerschmitt: Creator of the Air Force’s “Workhorse”
  • Henrik Lundtofte - Rudolf Mildner: The Different Worlds of Katowice and Copenhagen
  • Hansjörg Buss - Reichsbischof Ludwig Müller: The Intertwining of Christian Beliefs and National Socialist Ideologies
  • Johannes Spohr - Oskar W. Müller: A Liaison Officer and Proponent of the “Decomposition” of the Soviet Union
  • David Bernardini - Ernst Niekisch: An Ideologist between Class and Nation
  • Henrik Lundtofte - Günther Pancke: The Ideological Endeavours of an SS Officer
  • Karlo Ruzicic-Kessler - A Balkan Dictator: Ante Pavelić and the Ustaša Movement
  • Lisa Gottschall - Ideologically Guided “Racial and Ethnic Research” in Occupied Poland: Anton Adolf Plügel
  • Jan Erik Schulte - Oswald Pohl: Himmler’s Multi-Functionary
  • Ester Saletta - Adelheid Popp: A Viennese Committed Journalist and Social Democrat Member of Parliament Fights against Hitler’s Ideology
  • Gunnar Hatlehol - Wilhelm Redieß: His Master’s Servant
  • Julian Timm, Sarah Nort - Sir John Retcliffe and the Fictional Origin of the “Jewish World Conspiracy”
  • Ramon Reichert - Images of Power – the Power of Images: Leni Riefenstahl and her Relationship with the Ideologies of National Socialism
  • Terje Emberland - Sverre Riisnæs: A Key Norwegian Agent
  • Jürgen Matthäus - The Ideologue as Opportunist: Alfred Rosenberg and the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question”
  • Robert Mark Spaulding, Amy L. Walsh - The Ambiguous Hjalmar Schacht and National Socialist Ideology
  • Eric Kurlander - Otto Scheel: From National Liberal Theologian to Völkisch Nazi Prophet
  • Hervé Doucet - Art Historian Hubert Schrade at the Reichsuniversität in Strasbourg
  • Nuria Jetter - Hans Sedlmayr: Art History against the Autonomy of Mankind in Modernity
  • Julien Reitzenstein - Wolfram Sievers: Administrator of the SS Think Tank Ahnenerbe
  • Nicola Karcher - Ragnar Sigvald Skancke: Reluctant Collaborator or Convinced National Socialist?
  • Wolfgang Schroeter - Albert Speer: A Career between Ideology and Opportunism
  • Lisa Gottschall - Ethnology in the Service of the Nazi Regime in Occupied Poland: Ingeborg Sydow
  • Gunnar Hatlehol - Josef Terboven: Hitler’s Power Broker in Norway
  • Ute Pothmann - The Auditor Dr. Wilhelm Voss and the “Reichswerke Hermann Göring”: On the Relationship between Opportunism and Ideology
  • Ralf Meindl - Otto Weber-Krohse: The Ideologue of Nordic Protestant National Socialism
  • Kate Docking - Gerda Weyand. Gender, Medicine and Ideology: A Female Doctor at Ravensbrück Concentration Camp
  • Luitgard Löw - Herman Wirth: Failed Ideologue and Far-Right Role Model
  • Frank Bajohr - Otto Wolff and the National Socialist Economic Functionaries of the “War Youth Generation”
  • Julien Reitzenstein - Wolf-Dietrich Wolff: A Perfectly Ordinary Young Functionary