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This paper is based on intensive study of the contents of the journal "Raumforschung und Raumordnung" (RuR) - from its first publication in 1936 to its (temporary) discontinuation in 1944. It was the forum for the new scientific and political thoughts and reflections that were formed in this field during the Nazi era and was supported by the institutions in charge of its publication: the "Reich Association for Spatial Research" (RAG) and the "Reich Agency for Spatial Planning" (RfR). The aim of the paper is to uncover which social developments and accompanying intellectual groundwork from the time before 1933 the authors were able to build upon, both positively and negatively, and which expositions paid tribute to the (malevolent) spirit of the times and the goals of the Nazi regime. The contradiction between professional competence and intellectual subservience to the Nazi regime, or even the perversion of professionality, is revealed in the career behaviour of academics and practitioners, almost all of whom were born around 1900. Their activities after 1945 and their future careers are mentioned but are not the subject of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the historical context of the emigration of "Jewish" doctors during the "Third Reich". The approximately 9000 Jewish physicians, who were still able to emigrate, represented 17% of the German medical profession in 1933. Around three quarters of them left the German Reich by 1939, mainly for the USA, Palestine and Great Britain. Initially, Jewish organizations fueled hopes of a temporary exile; however, in the wake of the events of 1938 ("Anschluss" of Austria, failure of the Evian Conference, establishment of the Central Office for Jewish Emigration headed by Adolf Eichmann in Vienna, maximization of economic plundering etc.) emigration via the intermediate step of forced emigration had turned into a life-saving flight. Scientists could appeal to special aid organizations for support. Among the best known are the Emergency Community of German Scientists Abroad initiated in Zurich, the Academic Assistance Council founded in England, from which originated the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning as well as the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced German Scholars created in New York. Their help was often subject to criteria, such as publication performance, scientific reputation and age. Promising researchers who were awarded a scholarship before 1933 could rely on a commitment from the Rockefeller Foundation. The historical analysis of options and motivations but also of restrictions and impediments affecting the decision-making process to emigrate, provides the basis for a retrospective approach to individual hardships and fates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the fifty thousand Jewish refugees who escaped from the National Socialists in western and central Europe between 1933 and the beginning of World War II was a group of young and idealistic German-speaking Zionists, mainly from Germany and Austria. In 1942 many of them created and joined the Hapalmach Hagermanit—the German Platoon of the Palmach, the strike force of the Haganah, a Zionist underground paramilitary organization that operated in Palestine. The Deutsche Abteilung (German Platoon) embodied the first "German" clandestine Jewish fighting force in British Mandate Palestine. This article explores the origin and history of this unit and its significance as the first German-Jewish fighting unit in World War II. It also discusses the internal and external challenges its members faced and eventually overcame. This article relies on the few available sources on the German Platoon, including the testimonials of veterans recorded at their reunions, interviews with the last living member of the German Platoon conducted between 2011 and 2016, and documents and photos obtained with the assistance of the Palmach Archive in Ramat Aviv, Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeology of genocide, war crimes, and mass death has become a growing sub-discipline in recent decades, with the most attention given to the locations of National Socialist 'terror and mass death'. Within genocide research, the porajmos, or genocide of Romani people, is not a well-known topic, especially in Slovenia. Contrary to popular belief, the mistreatment of Romani and violence against them was not inflicted only by the Nazis and their allies, but by pro-communist-orientated Slovenian partisans as well. Archaeological traces of three mass executions have provided us with evidence of serious and poignant crimes committed against the Romani ethnic minority. The remains might have a significant role in determining whether these crimes are a part of porajmos or not and represent a unique material testimony of crimes against the Romani population in the Slovenian and the wider European context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of the article is the history of a Hungarian ethnic group, the Szekelys of Bukovina during and after the Second World War from the perspective of legal history. The Szekelys, who fled from Transylvania after the massacre of Madéfalva (1764), had lived for almost two centuries in five villages in Bukovina, a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918. Bukovina became part of the Kingdom of Romania after the First World War, and the Szekely villages became overpopulated and suffered from the increasing Romanian nationalism. Plans to resettle the Szekelys of Bukovina date back to the 19th century when a special act was made, but only a few thousand Szekelys left Bukovina. Hungary and Romania signed an international treaty in 1941 on the resettlement of the Szekelys from Bukovina to Hungary. The settlement was an element of the forced rehungarization of the Vojvodina region occupied by Hungary in early 1941. The migrants of the state enforced settlement action received an evacuation order in October 1944 and came as refugees to the todays Hungary. They were settled in Baranya und Tolna counties in 1945 in the houses and land properties of Danube Svabians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article compares two historical sources. War letters, such as those sent during the Second World War between home and front, were often written under the impact of the situation, because they were usually written shortly after the events. The witnesses tell about their experiences and their feelings. But their view on the events is often ideologically limited. By contrast, eyewitness interviews, some of which are recorded decades after the experiences in oral history projects, are not only characterized by weaker memories, but also involve the knowledge of the further course of the history. The narrative receives a new framing. Both sources can complement each other in a special way [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An a-political psychoanalysis as proclaimed by Ernest Jones in 1949 never existed. It neither existed during the times of Sigmund Freud nor in later years. Early collaboration with the military began in 1918 at the 5th Budapest Congress of the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPV). But the high hopes for the recognition of psychoanalysis by the military establishment at the end of World War I soon vanished, as Freud wrote rather disenchanted to Max Eitingon on April 6, 1919 (Freud in: Schröter 2005, p. 151). A revival of interest by the military-intelligence complex in psychoanalytic theory and practice began in autumn of 1941, just a few months prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th. The Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute, under the aegis of Franz Alexander, played a key role in analyzing the state of morale of the American public on behalf of the first centralized intelligence service of the United States - the Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI), headed by William J. Donovan. By studying isolationist, fascist, and communist attitudes to understand underlying unconscious processes and eventually »cure« so-called »revolutionary« attitudes (i.e. isolationist, fascist, or communist attitudes), renowned members of the Chicago Institute such as Franz Alexander, Therese Benedek, or Michael Grotjahn began to collaborate with the US-intelligence community in the latter months of 1941. The planning and execution of the collaboration between the Chicago Institute and the US-intelligence community will be addressed briefly in the following article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the location and context of archaeological investigations in England between 1938 and 1945. The analysis of sources, including national inventories and contemporary journals, dispels any notion that archaeological practice was suspended during World War II, despite the absence of some leading practitioners, and reveals that a surprising amount of salvage and research fieldwork took place. Fieldwork was primarily in the south of the country; it reflects pre-war investigative trends, contemporary knowledge, opinion of the archaeological resource, and the increased threat of war-related construction work, but also the impact of immediate post-war concerns such as housing and infrastructure. Although primarily undertaken by established excavators employed by the Ministry of Works, a substantial amount of rescue work was carried out by small groups, local societies, and individuals often outside State funding, which reflects an independent culture of fieldwork that continues to the present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stressful war experiences can cause posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in survivors. To what extent were the soldiers and young women of World War II affected by PTSD symptoms over the course of their lives? Do these men and women differ in the traumatic experiences and PTSD symptom severity? To investigate these questions 52 male and 20 female Germans aged 81-95 years were recruited through newspaper advertisements and notices and interviewed regarding war experiences and PTSD symptoms. Of the men 2 % and 7 % met the criteria for current and lifetime PTSD diagnoses, respectively, as compared to 10 % and 30 % of the women, respectively. Using multiple linear regression a dose-response relationship between the number of trauma types experienced and PTSD symptom severity could be demonstrated. The slope of the regression curve was steeper for women than for men. When controlling for the number of different traumatic experiences women reported a significantly higher severity of PTSD symptoms than men. It is presumed that this difference in severity of symptoms can be attributed to qualitative differences in the type of traumatic stress factors during the war. The present study provides evidence that even today people continue to be affected by PTSD symptoms due to events which occurred during World War II; therefore, during patient contact with this age group the war experiences specific to each individual need to be considered as potential moderators of symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]