Action Ritterbusch

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The Ritterbusch campaign is the name given to two major scientific projects of National Socialism . Under the direction of Paul Ritterbusch , the campaign served the "war effort of the humanities".

course

In the "Working Group for the War Deployment of the Humanities" of the Reich Ministry for Science, Education and National Education and the "Reich Working Group for Spatial Research ", which planned and advised on the National Socialist spatial and population policy , more than 500 scholars volunteered - mostly professors, including about the well-known constitutional lawyer Carl Schmitt - to scientifically back up National Socialist European plans across disciplines and universities . Science was defined - in contrast to the international understanding of science - as the "essential expression" of the German people .Classical studies , English studies , geography , German studies , historical studies , art history , oriental studies , philosophy , Romance studies , constitutional law , international law and civil law should be used to enforce a nationally hierarchical European model. The motto was “The best scientist in the world must stand next to the best soldier in the world.” Under the title “German science in the struggle for empire and living space ”, a large-scale propaganda exhibition on this science campaign took place in 1941.

In 1944, the major projects under Ritterbusch's leadership faced competition from the head of the Germanic Scientific Unit of the Research Association of German Ahnenerbe ; Hauptsturmführer Hans Ernst Schneider called for a "total war effort of the humanities".

The focal point of the action, which was understood as a “joint effort”, was the ethnically oriented geography . From here one went on to practical spatial planning . With ethnic-geographical categories such as cultural area , people , blood and soil , empire and race , the " essence " of the respective inhabitants of a country should be defined by merging geographical, racial, linguistic, cultural, economic and political factors and arguments for the cultural superiority of Germanness to be delivered.

An initial academic review by the Romance scholar Frank-Rutger Hausmann in 1998 showed that, especially in 1941, there was a high willingness, even euphoria, in all the academic areas involved to participate in these two major science-political projects. Initially, the war effort was mainly aimed at “ research on the West ”, but in the course of the war research on the East was intensified within the framework of the General Plan East under increased influence from the SS .

Research results for the period after 1945

A special aspect of research into the Ritterbusch campaign is the question of personal and scientific continuity and how this part of the history of science is dealt with. After the war, the commitment was recognized as proof of professional qualification for those involved. Many works were reissued or even completed until the 1960s. Based on the sources, Hausmann states that the scientists knew enough about the purpose of the war effort and that they were aware of the crimes of National Socialism. In interviews, on the other hand, knowledge and usually even participation was denied (cf. contemporary knowledge of the Holocaust ).

Those involved in the Ritterbusch campaign also include representatives of the West German humanities and social sciences after 1945. This includes research: Albrecht Alt , Hermann Aubin , Hans-Georg Gadamer , Arnold Gehlen , Ernst Rudolf Huber , Hermann Jahrreiß , Karl Larenz , Theodor Maunz , Joachim Ritter , Fritz Schalk , Wolfgang Schadewaldt , Ulrich Scheuner , Wolfgang Schmidt-Hidding , Franz Wieacker , Benno von Wiese .

Due to the intensive research since the 1990s, future research will concentrate on the question of how these scientists apparently "successfully" distanced themselves from National Socialism after 1945. For this purpose, the role of these scientists before 1933 will be examined more intensively.

literature

  • Frank-Rutger Hausmann : "German Spiritual Science" in World War II. The "Aktion Ritterbusch" (1940–1945) (= studies on the history of science and universities. Vol. 12). 3rd, expanded edition. Synchron Publishers, Heidelberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-935025-98-0 .
  • Frank-Rutger Hausmann: On the way to the political: Carl Schmitt and the war effort of the German humanities . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . Pictures and Times, March 13, 1999, No. 61, p. 2.
  • Frank-Rutger Hausmann: "Even in war the muses are not silent". The German Scientific Institutes in World War II. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001 review
  • Frank-Rutger Hausmann: "Even in war the muses are not silent". The "German Scientific Institute" (DWI) in World War II (1940–1945) . In: Yearbook of the Historical College 2000, pp. 123–163 ( digitized version ).
  • Frank-Rutger Hausmann (ed.): The role of the humanities in the Third Reich 1933–45 (= writings of the Historical College. Colloquia. Vol. 53) . Munich 2002 ISBN 978-3-486-56639-0 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frank-Rutger Hausmann "German Spiritual Science" in World War II. The "Aktion Ritterbusch" (1940-1945), (writings on the history of science and university, 1), Dresden: Dresden University Press 1998, 414 p., ISBN 3-933168-10-4 , reviewed for H-Soz-u- Cult of Wilfried Nippel
  2. ↑ Collective review: Humanities and NS at H-Soz-Kult u. Historical forum of the HU-Berlin "Westforschung" reviews