Contemporary History Commission

The Commission for Contemporary History e. V. is a non-university research institution for the documentation and research of the history of German Catholicism in the 19th and 20th centuries. To this end, it publishes contemporary historical sources (editions) and scientific studies (dissertations, habilitation theses). The edition of the “ Files of German Bishops ” is one of the most renowned basic research projects in historical studies in Germany. In addition, the Commission for Contemporary History takes on the tasks of national and international research coordination, it develops and networks research projects on contemporary church history, and accompanies current thematic focal topics through additional research and studies.

organization

The Commission for Contemporary History, founded in 1962. V. is a free association of Catholic personalities from science, church and public life. It consists of a sponsoring association, a scientific commission and an office and research center. The purpose of the association is to conduct, promote and publish scientific research on the history of German Catholicism. To this end, he entrusts an interdisciplinary committee of independent specialists from the fields of history, political science and theology (the Scientific Commission) to advise on research projects and to review manuscripts.

The Bonn- based office and research center has an archive with collections from church-related organizations and the estates of historical personalities. The special library, which has been systematically expanded over more than 40 years, comprises around 28,000 volumes on the history of the Catholic Church and Catholicism in Germany and Europe, as well as more than 50 current scientific journals.

founding

Research into contemporary history in the Federal Republic of Germany initially meant research into National Socialism and its prehistory. The desire to research the National Socialist church struggle also gave the impetus to found the Commission for Contemporary History. Since the mid-1950s, four different impulses initiated a personal networking and programmatic development of contemporary Catholicism research:

a) From the environment of the CDU and political Catholicism, Heinrich Krone and Johannes Schauff supported an overall presentation of the church struggle and developed the idea of ​​a central archiving and advice center staffed by specialist historians.

b) In a group of historians gathered by Prelate Wilhelm Böhler because of the legal disputes over the validity of the Reich Concordat (judgment of the BVerfG 1957), plans arose for an "Institute for Research into the History of Catholic Germany in the 18th and 19th Centuries" .

c) In the summer of 1960, Ernst Deuerlein and Rudolf Morsey, together with the Grünewald publishing house in Mainz, concretized the conceptual blueprint for the publication of sources, research and portraits of life on the history of German Catholicism in the 19th and 20th centuries.

d) Rudolf Morsey's groundbreaking study on the fall of the Center Party, published in July 1960, finally formed the impetus for a contemporary witness conference "The German Catholics and the Fate of the Weimar Republic" organized by the director of the Catholic Academy in Bavaria , Monsignor Karl Forster , in early May 1961 in Würzburg.

The initiative of Catholic historians ( Dieter Albrecht , Rudolf Morsey, Konrad Repgen ) and the interest of Catholic personalities in church and public life (Msgr. Karl Forster, Heinrich Krone, Johannes Schauff) led to the establishment of the "Commission for Contemporary History" in September 1962 of the Catholic Academy in Bavaria ”. The historian Konrad Repgen took over the scientific chairmanship. Since 1972 the “Commission for Contemporary History e. V. ”and its business and research center is based in Bonn.

research

The research interests focus on the social and political effectiveness of German Catholicism from its beginnings in the 19th century to the present day. The area of ​​experience of those who lived with them is always included: first of all, the time after 1945 and, in the unified Germany, especially the history of Catholicism in the GDR. Thematically and methodologically, the historical research takes up questions of political and institutional history, church history and cultural history.

Over 4,800 documents for the years 1871 to 1945 are annotated and published in 16 volumes, “Files of German Bishops”. These are the ones

• Files of the Fulda Bishops' Conference from 1871 to 1918
• Files of German bishops on the situation of the church 1918–1933
• Files of German bishops on the situation of the church 1933–1945

as well as the

• Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber's files 1917–1952
• Files, letters and sermons Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galens 1933–1945

Since 2006 there has also been an annotated selection of sources entitled “Catholic Church and National Socialism 1930–1945” for teaching at schools and universities.

The “Files of German Bishops since 1945” continue the series of editions beyond the Third Reich. The thoughts and actions of the German bishops are documented in parallel for the occupation zones in West and East or the Federal Republic and the GDR. The project, initially based on seven volumes, covers the period between the end of the war in 1945 and the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The seven volumes will provide around 2,500 additional documents for the years 1945–1961; The edition “Files of German Bishops since 1945. GDR 1957–1961” has already been published. Current projects include the development of a web-based biographical-bibliographic lexicon of Catholic Germany since 1800 and the publication of the files and reports of the Apostolic Nuncio in Berlin 1930–1939 .

Members of the Scientific Commission

Source: Commission for Contemporary History

Michael Kißener , Mainz (Chairman) Urs Altermatt , Freiburg / Switzerland Birgit Aschmann , Berlin Claus Arnold , Frankfurt a. M. Winfried Becker , Passau Thomas Brechenmacher , Potsdam Günter letter , St. Augustine Wilhelm Damberg , Bochum Thomas Großbölting , Münster Ulrich von Hehl , Leipzig Hans Günter Hockerts , Munich

Andreas Holzem , Tübingen Heinz Hürten , Ingolstadt (†) Hans-Michael Körner , Munich Ferdinand Kramer , Munich Antonius Liedhegener , Lucerne Hans Maier , Munich Rudolf Morsey , Speyer Ursula Münch , Tutzing a. Munich Gisela Muschiol , Bonn Heinrich Oberreuter , Passau Hugo Ott , Freiburg

Josef Pilvousek , Erfurt Anton Rauscher SJ, Mönchengladbach Konrad Repgen , Bonn (†) Mark Edward Ruff , St. Louis Joachim Schmiedl , Vallendar Karl Schmitt , Jena Dietmar Suess , Augsburg Norbert Trippen , Cologne (†) Hubert Wolf , Münster Walter Ziegler , Munich

Publications

The research results are published in a separate scientific series, the “Publications of the Commission for Contemporary History”, which is also called the “Blue Series” because of the color of the cover. The publications appear in two sections, Series A: Sources and Series B: Research. The volumes were initially published by Matthias Grünewald-Verlag in Mainz. Since 1995 they have been published by Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh , Paderborn. Over 160 publications on the history of German Catholicism have appeared since 1965, including more than 50 source volumes.

literature

• Winfried Becker: Repression, memory and historical reappraisal in some social protagonists: the Catholic Church. In: Christiane Liermann u. a. (Ed.): On dealing with the past / Come affrontare il passato? de Gruyter, Tübingen 2007, pp. 129-160.
• Olaf Blaschke : Interpretation of history and politics of the past. The Commission for Contemporary History and the network of church-loyal Catholicism researchers 1945–2000. In: Thomas Pittrof, Walter Schmitz (Hrsg.): Free recognition of supra-historical ties. Catholic perception of history in the German-speaking area of ​​the 20th century. rombach catholica, Freiburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7930-9600-9 , pp. 479-521.
• Ulrich von Hehl , Konrad Repgen (Ed.): German Catholicism in contemporary historical research. Grünewald, Mainz 1988, ISBN 3-7867-1393-6 .
• Karl-Joseph Hummel (Hrsg.): Contemporary Catholicism Research. Facts - interpretations - questions. An interim balance (= publications of the Commission for Contemporary History , Series B: Research. Vol. 100). 2nd edition, Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2006, ISBN 3-506-71339-6 .
• Christoph Kösters: The Nazi Past and Research on Catholicism. A contribution to the culture of remembrance and contemporary historiography after 1945. In: Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 120 (2009), pp. 27–57.
• Christoph Kösters, Petra von der Osten: Ludwig Volk (1926–1984) - a Catholic contemporary historian. In: Ronald Lambrecht, Ulf Morgenstern (Eds.): “Strongly advanced detailed research”. Articles for Ulrich von Hehl on his 65th birthday. Edition Kirchhof & Franke, Leipzig / Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-933816-56-6 .
• Rudolf Morsey: Founding and founder of the Commission for Contemporary History 1960–1962. In: Historisches Jahrbuch 115 (1995), pp. 453-485.

Web links

• Contemporary History Commission
• Publications of the Commission for Contemporary History ( PDF )
• Biographical-bibliographical handbook of Catholic Germany since 1800 as part of the WIKINGER e-science initiative

Individual evidence

1. ↑ For details and the following cf. R. MORSEY, founding and founder of the Commission for Contemporary History 1960–1962, in: Historisches Jahrbuch 115 (1995), pp. 453–485.
2. ↑ Hubert Gruber, Catholic Church and National Socialism 1930–1945. A report in Quellen, Paderborn: Schöningh 2006.
3. ↑ Files of German bishops since 1945. GDR 1957–1961, edit. v. Thomas Schulte-Umberg (Publications of the Commission for Contemporary History, Series A: Sources, Vol. 49), Paderborn and others: Schöningh Verlag 2006.
4. ^ Members list