The University of Göttingen and Its Postwar Response to Persecuted Colleagues: A Broken Relationship

Anikó Szabó demonstrates how the postwar process of rebuilding the German university system frequently failed to achieve its goals. The Senate of the University of Göttingen, its highest decision-making body, established a policy of Ergänzung der Besten [appointing only the best] in selecting new fa...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Szabó, Anikó 1961- (Author)
Format: Print Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Indiana University Press 2022
In: The betrayal of the humanities
Year: 2022, Pages: 491-521
Further subjects:B Professor
B National Socialism
B Politically persecuted person
B Lower Saxony
B Reparation
B History 1950-1960
Description
Summary:Anikó Szabó demonstrates how the postwar process of rebuilding the German university system frequently failed to achieve its goals. The Senate of the University of Göttingen, its highest decision-making body, established a policy of Ergänzung der Besten [appointing only the best] in selecting new faculty members for the regeneration of the university after the war. However, the university’s use of this criterion would be implemented by academics who, even if they had passed muster during the British purge, still had lived within and often accepted many of the attitudes and practices of the Nazi regime. Furthermore, the rebuilding of the university took place during those years when German control over denazification gradually softened that process. In real terms, as a result, the implementation of appointing only the best primarily benefited colleagues who had been removed from their positions during the first phase of denazification, as well as those who had fled positions in the Soviet zone of occupation during the postwar period. Through a series of case studies, Szabó demonstrates the many barriers to a postwar reconciliation and reconstruction of the Germany university system.
ISBN:0253060796
Contains:Enthalten in: The betrayal of the humanities