Science in the Third Reich

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How true is it that National Socialism led to an ideologically distorted pseudo-science What was the relationship between the regime funding useful' scientific projects and the scientists offering their expertise And what happened to the German scientific community after 1945, especially to those who betrayed and denounced Jewish colleagues In recent years, the history of the sciences in the Third Reich has become a field of growing importance, and the in-depth research of a new generation of German scholars provides us with new, important insights into the Nazi system and the complicated relationship between an elite and the dictatorship. This book portrays the attitudes of scientists facing National Socialism and war and uncovers the continuities and discontinuities of German science from the beginning of the twentieth century to the postwar period. It looks at ideas, especially the Humboldtian concept of the university; examines major disciplines such as eugenics, pathology, biochemistry and aeronautics, as well as technologies such as biotechnology and area planning; and it traces the careers of individual scientists as actors or victims. The striking results of these investigations fill a considerable gap in our knowledge of the Third Reich but also of the postwar role of German scientists within Germany and abroad.

Reviews

'A fascinating collection of essays ... The generation of German historians that has written these essays ... see this period with in Germany with lucidity - something that has vauable, indeed crucial, lessons to teach.' The Times Higher Education Supplement 'The volume is a good reflection of the state of German scholarship on science in the Nazi era, and, with its excellent introduction to that subject, it is a valuable contribution to its historiography as well.' Geert Somsen, Ambix: The Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

Author Bio

Dr. Margit Szllsi-Janze Professor of Contemporary History,University of Salzburg