Research center for contemporary history in Hamburg

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Coordinates: 53 ° 34 ′ 10.7 ″  N , 9 ° 58 ′ 32.9 ″  E

Research Center for Contemporary History
- FZH -
Carrier: Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
Legal form of the carrier: Public foundation under civil law Since 2000 scientific institution of the University of Hamburg
Seat of the wearer: Hamburg
Management: Kirsten Heinsohn from August 1st, 2020 Thomas Großbölting
Employee: approx. 16
Homepage: Homepage of the FZH

The Research Center for Contemporary History in Hamburg ( FZH ) has been a foundation under civil law sponsored by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg since 1997 and a scientific institution ( affiliated institute ) of the University of Hamburg since 2000 . Her research area covers the 20th century with a focus on the history of Hamburg and northern Germany as well as the time of National Socialism .

precursor

As early as August 1949, the Senate founded a “ Research Center for the History of Hamburg from 1933 to 1945 ”. It was their task to secure and process sources and archival materials from the time of National Socialism. The background was the scandal surrounding a study by Kurt Detlev Möller on the Hamburg Gauleiter Karl Kaufmann , in which only his positive role in the surrender of the city without a fight was highlighted and which led to violent protests in the citizenry and the media.

Headquarters of the FZH (formerly Schlump tax office in Hamburg-Eimsbüttel)

This research center with insufficient staff did not produce any significant publications and could not do anything to counter the exonerating interpretation of history, according to which it was also during the time of National Socialism in "always liberal Hamburg Hanseatic moderate". The institute was closed in 1956.

It was not until the winter of 1959 in the Federal Republic of Germany that a series of "swastika smearings", which also attracted international attention, was set up in April 1960 as a "Research Center for the History of National Socialism in Hamburg" . The concept extended the time frame for the research work to the years 1918 to 1948 in order to be able to work out the political and socio-historical reasons for the rise of the National Socialists. The anti-Semitic currents after 1945 should also be analyzed.

This research center, which was again inadequately staffed and financially inadequate, continued to work under its director Werner Jochmann , who retired in 1986. The research center had delivered a number of scientifically recognized publications. However, there were hardly any high-profile contributions, specifically on the Third Reich and National Socialist terror. The research center was therefore severely attacked in 1984 by the Green Alternative List (GAL). She criticized the “arrogance and inaction” of the research center, which had not refuted the “legend of the liberal, cosmopolitan Hamburg”; Only the “lay research movement” had exposed the “Hamburg model district” as a whitewashed myth. In 1984 the book Heilen und Vernichten im “Mustergau Hamburg” , which was co-financed by the GAL and was written by lay historians at the time, was published in Hamburg . In this book, almost for the first time in a serious publication, the implementation and participation of Hamburg politicians and authorities in injustice by the National Socialists such as u. a. the euthanasia murders , the persecution of the Jews and the mistreatment of the forced laborers from Eastern Europe .

The time of the Third Reich, persecution and expulsion as research subjects now moved more into the foreground of the work. The “ Oral History ” was documented with the project “Hamburg CVs - Workshop of Remembrance ” . After that the directors changed frequently. Jochmann's successor was Detlev Peukert in 1988 , who died two years later. He was followed by the renowned scientist Ulrich Herbert , who in 1995 preferred a professorship in Freiburg to the research center.

Extension of the research contract

In 1997, the institute was renamed, converted into a foundation under civil law and incorporated into the university three years later. The new programmatic designation "Research Center for Contemporary History in Hamburg (FZH)" refers to the expansion of the research assignment beyond the previously set time limits. The founding director was Arnold Sywottek , who died in 2000. He was followed by the Hamburg historian Axel Schildt , who retired after the 2017 summer semester. Thomas Großbölting will succeed him in August 2020 .

The Research Center for Contemporary History in Hamburg names the following as its main research areas:

  • Hamburg in the "Third Reich"
  • Hamburg elites in the 20th century
  • Rule, hardship and persecution from 1923 until the rebuilding after the war
  • Public and popular cultures
For example "Consumption, media and politics in the youth culture of the 1960s"
  • External references and global networks
For example "Colonial goods trade in Hamburg in the course of the 20th century"

Library

In 2007 the institute moved to a converted building on Bundesstrasse / Beim Schlump 83, which also housed the Institute for the History of German Jews .

The reference library comprises around 70,000 works and is listed in the campus catalog of the University of Hamburg. It is free to use.

archive

The archive has extensive collections of original documents, press clippings and leaflets. Numerous political, social and cultural organizations have handed over their archives.

literature

  • Ursula Büttner : The research center for the history of National Socialism in Hamburg. In: Journal of the Association for Hamburg History. Vol. 74/75, 1989, ISSN  0083-5587 pp. 81-96, online under the digitized journals of the Hamburg State and University Library Hamburgensien digital here .
  • Peter Reichel , Harald Schmid: From catastrophe to stumbling block. Hamburg and National Socialism after 1945 (= Hamburg Zeitspuren. Vol. 4). Dölling and Galitz, Munich a. a. 2005, ISBN 3-937904-27-1 .
  • Josef Schmid (Red.): Research Center for Contemporary History in Hamburg (FZH). 1997-2007. Published by the Research Center for Contemporary History in Hamburg. Research Center for Contemporary History, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-00-022795-0 .

Web links

Footnotes

  1. Peter Reichel, Harald Schmidt: From the catastrophe to the stumbling block. Hamburg and National Socialism after 1945. 2005, p. 40.
  2. cf. Angelika Ebbinghaus , Heidrun Kaupen-Haas , Karl Heinz Roth (eds.): Healing and destroying in the model district Hamburg. Population and Health Policy in the Third Reich. Konkret-Literatur-Verlag, Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-922144-41-1 .