1,721,559 research outputs found
Imperial Humanitarianism. Italy and the Greek Famine during the Second World War (1941–1943)
No full textFood, scarcity and power in Southeastern Europe during the Second World War
No full textThe experience of all occupied countries during the Second World War was characterised by severe material shortages. Food, most noticeably, became a scarcity in everyday life; and that food grew into a major stake for all political groups at this time. This book shines a much-needed spotlight on the political role of food in Southeastern Europe from 1939 to 1945.
Controlling food was a key strategy adopted by all actors – be they occupiers, state institutions, resistance organizations, international humanitarian organizations or private interest groups – in substantiating their bid for power. As a predominantly agrarian area with a substantial peasant population, investigating this topic is particularly poignant for Southeastern Europe. From discussions of searching for and fighting for food to offering relief and instrumentalising of food politically, the chapters in this volume add nuance to discussions on the complex intertwined political and social dynamics of war and occupation. In so doing, this sophisticated study fills an important gap in our understanding of the Second World War, food policy, and the social history of Europe more broadly
“No German Must Starve”: The Germans and the Soviet Famines of 1931–1933
No full textThis article centers on the German perception of the Great Soviet Famines of 1931–1933, with a focus on Soviet Ukraine in particular. The first part explores the channels through which information from the Soviet Union detailing the Famine reached the Germans and the attempts by different Reich institutions to control the spread of knowledge in German society about this human tragedy. Against this framework the article details the policy enacted by different organizations to provide relief to the starving Germans, both ethnic Germans and German citizens, who were living in the USSR. In the second part, the article deals with the patterns of perception that shaped the German view of the Famine. The author thus provides invaluable insight into the Reich’s policy towards Soviet Ukraine, and more broadly into the perception of the Famine among well-informed Germans of the 1930s
“No German Must Starve”: The Germans and the Soviet Famines of 1931–1933
No full textThis article centers on the German perception of the Great Soviet Famines of 1931–1933, with a focus on Soviet Ukraine in particular. The first part explores the channels through which information from the Soviet Union detailing the Famine reached the Germans and the attempts by different Reich institutions to control the spread of knowledge in German society about this human tragedy. Against this framework the article details the policy enacted by different organizations to provide relief to the starving Germans, both ethnic Germans and German citizens, who were living in the USSR. In the second part, the article deals with the patterns of perception that shaped the German view of the Famine. The author thus provides invaluable insight into the Reich’s policy towards Soviet Ukraine, and more broadly into the perception of the Famine among well-informed Germans of the 1930s
Volksgemeinschaft: tra storiografia e memoria
No full textIn recent years a debate has been taking place among historians of National socialism about the role played by the concept of Volksgemeinschaft (popular community) in the Third Reich. Though historians agree on the general relevance of this ideal for the National Socialist regime, the debate revolves around the question, whether this concept can be also useful employed for understanding material, political and social processes. In this section three German historians present their argumentations in favor or against the use of the concept of Volksgemeinschaft in this sense. Their stances imply different evaluations of how extensive and intense was the participation of the common Germans in the Nazi policy
La Großraumwirtschaft e l’Unione Europea dei Pagamenti: continuità nella cultura economica tedesca a cavallo del 1945
No full textIn the first part, the article compares two international payment systems: the Central Clearing established by Nazi Germany during the Second World War in occupied Europe (the so called European Greater Space); and the European Payments Union (EPU), set up by the OEEC countries in 1950. Although political differences between the two international payment systems are predominant, the author highlights some economic analogies. On the basis of this comparison, the second part of the articles discusses the debate on the creation of EPU within the German economic administration. As a result, personal and conceptual continuities emerge between the discussion of 1940 on the Greater Economic Space and the 1950-52 debate over the EPU
Erhart Kästner’s Travel Accounts and Nazi Perceptions of Greece
No full textThis essay examines the work of the German writer Erhart Kästner, the author of a number of travel accounts on Greece published during the Second World War. Commissioned by the Wehrmacht, Kästner’s books were intended to provide German soldiers with knowledge about the country they were occupying and to serve as leisure reading. The essay focuses on Kästner ́s accounts, using them as a lens through which to examine how National Socialism's racial stereotyping of Greece was appropriated by the rank and file of the German army, shaping their perception of the country. On the other hand, it also investigates how a repertoire of stereotypes, deeply rooted in German and, more generally, Western culture, fed into the Nazis' ideological view of Greece during the occupation
Beyond the Myth of the ‘Good Italian’. Recent Trends in the Study of the Italian Occupation of Southeastern Europe during the Second World War
No full textThis article surveys the existing literature on the occupation policy Italy conducted in Southeastern Europe during the Second World War. The whole subject was largely neglected by scholars of contemporary Italian history up to the 1990s, but in the last twenty years a consistent flow of studies has begun to appear. The reasons for the previous disregard of the topic and, now, the growing interest in it are investigated in the first part of this article. The second part focuses on work done in recent years. It evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of this new literature, and maps out a series of a blank spots that should be addressed by future research
La penetrazione economica dell’Italia fascista nella Grecia occupata durante la Seconda guerra mondiale (1941-1943)
No full text- …
