INHALT mit Abstracts

Editorial, S. 7

I. Abhandlungen

Dieter Langewiesche:
Humboldt als Leitbild? Die deutsche Universität in den Berliner Rektoratsreden seit dem 19. Jahrhundert, S. 15-37

In the course of the 19th century the tradition of the annual lecture of the chancellor (Rektoratsrede) was established in the universities of the German-speaking countries. The chancellors presented the university as a promotor of progress and independent educational institutions, as a leading player in the shaping of state and society and a migthy keystone of the emerging German nation institutions. On the other hand the chancellors insisted on the autonomy of the university and on the principle of scientific freedom. The model which was designed in these annual lectures became known as the Humboldtsche Universität, the university as a centre of learning and research which was supposedly free from external influence. In the meantime it is well-known that this label was by no means coined in the context of the foundation of the University of Berlin in 1810, and not even later in the 19th century. This essay gives evidence that it was only after the Second World War that the new label Humboldtsche Universität began to substitute the older label Deutsche Universität, but familiar it is only since the 1970s. The essay examines these developments and especially the role of the University of Berlin in the changes of meaning from the early 19th until the late 20th century.

Winfried Schulze:
„Universitas semper reformanda est.“ Über die aktuellen Reformperspektiven der Universität, S. 39-47

This paper tries to put the ongoing debate about the character of German universities in a wider context. Instead of speaking only of the alternatives of „job orientation“ vs. „ivory tower or „McKinsey“ vs. „Humboldt“ it lines out the main conditions and obligations of the modern tertiary system in the Federal Republic of Germany confronted with a massive interest in higher education going up to more than 39 %. To cope with these fundamental changes of the role of the universities it recommends a wide system of different institutions with specific profiles to ensure a growing number of student population the advantages of adaequate qualifications which are absolutely necessary in a modern science-based society.

Margit Szöllösi-Janze:
„Der Geist des Wettbewerbs ist aus der Flasche!“ Der Exzellenzwettbewerb zwischen den deutschen Universitäten in historischer Perspektive, S. 49-73

At present, German universities are busy positioning themselves for the second phase of the so-called Excellence Initiative, unleashing a competition for additional (mainly federal) funding, awarded for top-level research and the best institutional strategies. The article uncovers different competitive mechanisms among universities in the 19th and 20th centuries. Taking recourse to the analytical categories of Georg Simmel’s “Sociology of Competition” (1903), in the 19th and early 20th centuries German uni-versities were rivalling for the “award” for the most excellent scholars and scientists. Under the impact of the dissolving Humboldtian university model, the “award” has shifted to other scarce resources since the 1960s: competition for additional (public and private) funds, for extra time for research, for the most promising students. Simultaneously, an initially very small expert network established itself in the German Science Council. It promoted the transformation of the university landscape according to free market forces and gained momentum with the neoliberal turn since the 1980s. Consequently, the German Science Council, claiming an arbitrary authority in the Excellence Initiative at present, can also be seen as an intricate instrument of po¬litical governance.

Gangolf Hübinger:
Max Webers Geschichtsdenken, S. 75-86

Max Weber considered all the themes he addressed from a consistently historical per-spective. In its introductions and commentaries the Weber-Gesamtausgabe has pro-duced an array of new insights in this regard, whether bearing on Weber’s early writings on legal history or on his late work on the sociology of the state. For Weber and his time, fundamentally the same question arose as for historians today: that of how to find a methodologically appropriate and empirically fruitful way of addressing “problems of universal history”. Four aspects are discussed: The cultural meaning of economic action as key to Weber’s historical thinking as a whole (I.); Weber’s in-sistence on the primacy of analytical problems and of choices of perspectives as in-tellectual presuppositions of historical knowledge (II.); The cardinal question of cul-tural history in general: how ideas take effect in historical constellations and conflicts, and how the peculiarity of European cultural development is to be described in its universal-historical significance (III.); The relevance of the First World War for Weber’s problems and perspectives: his concentration on an historical-political theory of power and domination and of the genesis and structure of the modern state and democracy (IV.)

Christof Dipper, Melanie Hanel, Isabel Schmidt:
Die TH Darmstadt 1930-1950. Eine erste Erkundung, S. 87-124

The article analyses the history of the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt between 1930 and1950 highlighting the Selbstmobilisierung of the university staff in the “Third Reich” as a result of political resentments and professional aims, which led to their active role in arms research. The text starts with the incidents concerning the Machtergreifung at the TH Darmstadt characterised by internal power struggles and the expulsion of scientists and students because of political or racist reasons. Then the study shows the career advancement of a dedicated member of the Nazi-party who became Rector without allowing the party substantial influence in order not to prevent the university from becoming an important agency of military research. Furthermore the article gives insight in the armament projects of various institutes and reveals that the personnel and edificial extension of the university during Second World War depended exclusively on war imperatives. The second part focuses on the denazification of the university members. It points to the strategies of the university to gain control over these procedures, establishing konstruierte Kontinuität. Although a significant number of scientists had become members of the Nazi party, only three of them had to leave the university permanently.

Matthias Bürgel:
Das Uraler Berginstitut in Ekaterinburg und Vladivostok 1914-1920. Russische Hochschulentwicklung zwischen den Revolutionen, S. 125-148

Based on an analysis of contemporary press clippings, as well as archival and published materials, this article explores the process of organisation and destruction of one of the latest Tsarist institutions of higher education: a Mining Institute in Ekaterinburg, founded in 1914. Being the „first technical higher education institution in the Urals“, it was desperately needed. During the war the mining engineer Petr P. von Vejmarn (1879-1935) had been assigned to Ekaterinburg. He was an outstanding pioneer in colloidal chemistry, who at the turn of the century had convinced the entire chemical world of the existence of colloids. His energy and strong will greatly influenced the institute’s organisation, as a matter of circumstances, however, he was not able to keep it alive into Soviet times. While parts of the institute were evacuated to Vladivostok during the retreat of white troops to Siberia, the remaining sections of it soon melted into the newly founded Ural State University (1920). After being a short-time rector of the Polytechnical Institute in Vladivostok von Vejmarn left Russia and emigrated to Japan, where he continued his research in collodial chemistry. As a whole, the article sheds light on the late Tsarist regime which generally is known for its restrictive educational policy.

Trude Maurer:
Engagement, Distanz und Selbstbehauptung. Die Feier der patriotischen Jubiläen 1913 an den deutschen Universitäten, S. 149-164

Discussing two patriotic ‘jubilees’ of 1913, this article aims to depict specific features of the German professoriate and German students which they had acquired in the course of the 19th century and which explain their enthusiastic commitment at the beginning of World War I. The celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the anti-Napoleonic wars resulted in solemn declarations and even oaths to fight in future wars as students and professors had done in 1813. And for the Kaiser’s silver jubilee they overcame the frictions between Prussian (in particular Berlin) and non-Prussian universities and united in a common act of tribute. Both events thus demonstrated a specific orientation towards and even closeness to the empire. More surprising, how-ever, than this unity (and almost complete uniformity) of the academic milieu were a few critical comments on nationalism in celebrations of the ‘Wars of Liberation’ and the reserve and remarks by which some speakers cautiously distanced themselves from the emperor on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his accession to the throne. Thus, the German professoriate was neither completely blind nor totally chauvinistic. Moreover, the anniversary of the Wars of Liberation was celebrated more enthusiastically than the Kaiser’s silver jubilee. Given academics’ and students’ particular closeness to and even identification with the state, their readiness and even enthusiasm for war did not come as a surprise. Rather the war provided the opportu-nity for fulfilling the vow professors and students had taken a year earlier. At the same time, the contrast between the Kaiser’s love for peace emphasized by speakers in 1913 and their expectations of war may be considered the source for their future perception of WW I as a defensive war. In hindsight, the celebrations of 1913 antici-pated the commitment of 1914 both mentally and emotionally – and in turn helped to reinforce it a year later.

Sven Ebisch:
Was kam nach der Gestaltpsychologie? Das Berliner Psychologische Institut 1935-1945, S. 165-187

The study investigates the research activities of Berlin’s Psychological Institute during the Third Reich using Ash’s resource-oriented approach to the analysis of the interaction of science (academia), politics and society. Wolfgang Köhler’s struggle to survive in the Nazi system ended with his deposition in 1935; it was not until 1942 that the chair in Psychology, as it was now called, was filled once again with Oswald Kroh’s appointment as the Psychological Institute’s new director. As well as a look behind the scenes of the negotiations surrounding the appointment to the chair and the Psychological Institute’s change of faculty after the war, we present an overview of the fields and topics of the research conducted at the Institute during this time, placing them in the context of Berlin’s psychological research landscape. We pay particular attention to the interactions of the academic discipline of psychology and its practitioners with institutions and decision-makers from state, party and academic organizational bodies in the context of the dictatorship of the time. There have as yet been few answers to the question as to what psychological developments in Berlin came after the gestalt school, which met a brutal end at the hands of the National Socialists. What were the effects of Gleichschaltung (forcible alignment with Nazi policies) on the Psychological Institute? Why did the chair in psychology remain vacant so long? What happened in the years of the interregnum under the acting leadership of Hans Rupp, Johann Baptist Rieffert, Hans Keller and Walther Malmsten Schering? How did the Psychological Institute then go on to develop under Oswald Kroh?

Jochen Jedraszcyk:
Hans Amandus Münster und die Ideologisierung des Leipziger Instituts für Zeitungswissenschaft im Dritten Reich, S. 189-204

Since April 1934 the Institute of Newspaper Science in Leipzig was headed by Hans Amandus Muenster who henceforth inaugurated political and ideological views at the Institution. The separation between politics and science was suspended. The Institute became a strictly National Socialist Institution linked to the criminal “Sicherheitsdienst” (SD) as well ideologically as through its members. New theoretical models of mass communication were established, the so-called Leipzig’s Direction, intended to change the discipline Newspaper Science towards National Socialist ideas and a different view upon scientific research. The denunciation of jews, a mandatory part of the contents of most dissertations, was a typical feature of the ideological practices at the Institute. In regard to its members the transformation of the Institute into a National Socialist Institution became obvious by the forced dismissal of the former head Erich Everth late in 1933. In December 1943 the Institute was destroyed. As a consequence of the air raid the Institute thereafter showed hardly any research activities.

Christoph Lorke:
Von Senkrechtstartern, Missmutigen und „Republikflüchtigen“. Zu Anpassungsstrategien von Hochschullehrern in der DDR 1961-1969, S. 205-219

The system of the GDR in the 1960s was strongly characterized by consolidation in different sectors and therefore after the construction of the Berlin Wall employees in the educational sector were faced with great political pressure. The following essay handles with the relations between the political system and its pressure on the one side and the career and the ambitions of the medicine university teachers on the other. Quantitatively seen the university lecturers have been a small part of the GDR’s medicines as a whole but these were not just responsible to shape the “hochquali-fizierte sozialistische Persönlichkeit”, but also controlled in their function the access to the medical profession. Therefore they have performed an important key position among the medicines. Using three biographical sketches of the Medizinische Akademie Magdeburg (MAM) the following essay outlines the extent to which indi-viduals had a free choice in their relations to the dictatorial regime: (A) adaptation, (B) defensive loyalty and (C) flight because of augmenting repression. The goal of this paper is to determine and outline the borders and the limits of political penetra-tion in individual life and to re¬construct individual determinants that influenced the personal scope of action.

II. Miszellen

Gunter Stemmler:
Die Ehrenbürger der Hochschulen. Das Beispiel der Universität Frankfurt am Main, S. 221-228

A number of honorary titles were created at Germany’s universities and institutes of science and technology after the First World War. The aim was to provide a new sign of gratitude for donors as an alternative to the honorary doctorate. The honor was established by an unanimous resolution of the rectors at their regular meeting in Halle in the year 1919. The minutes of their discussion forecast how this academic honor would develop: It was an award given by the university as a whole and not by a single faculty, at least a small number of women, also, were to be honored, the honorees were to receive a medal and a special treatment at festivities of the universities, and their names were to be printed in the front part of the academic catalogs. During the first years three different titles were chosen: „honorary member“, „honorary citizen“, and „honorary senator“. The novel honor spread rapidly, but never became popular enough to replace the honorary doctorate. We therefore present the University of Frankfurt as an example, which quite likely was typical for colleges in Germany.

Jens Blecher, Marek Ďurčanský:
Universitätsjubiläen und Universitätsarchive. Die Jahrhundertfeiern an den Hochschulen Prag und Leipzig als Chance für die Universitätsarchive, S. 229-234

University anniversaries usually bring demands on a new elaboration of university history and its presentation in exhibitions, public lectures and media. This article is focused on two cases from the last two decades: Leipzig (2009) and Prague (1998). Both universities belong to the oldest middle age university foundings in central Europe. In both cases university archives belong since their institutional establishing to the traditional organizers of university festivities and had to harmonize their common administrational tasks with the rhythm of the anniversary. The archivists also belonged to the main contributors of newly prepared university history volumes, including the selection of the pictures. The anniversaries also influenced the image of university archives in public. The comparison of both cases can help to specify, what seems to be common in the role of university archives in university festivities.

III. Aus den Universitätsarchiven

Dietmar Schenk, Antje Kalcher:
Archive zur Musikkultur nach 1945. Nachweis und archivgeschichtliche Bestandsaufnahme. Ein DFG-Projekt des Archivs der Universität der Künste Berlin, S. 235-244

The article introduces a project on musical culture in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland since 1945: the aim is to draw up a subject guide of archival records. This work is part of a musicological research project entitled “Continuities and Breaks in Musical Life during the Post-War Era”. The project starts from the observation that music plays an important role for communication in the aftermath of Nazi tyranny, World War II, and the Holocaust. Music used to be the “most German of the arts”, and then it seemed to possess the power of facilitating understanding between victims and offenders. The impact of musical exile is effective in this context, comprising the return of persons, works, and ideas.In this perspective, receiving and collecting archives should be regarded as a topic in the field of music history. The announced subject guide is intended for serving as a finding aid as well as a survey of archivists’ efforts.

IV. Rezensionen

Rüdiger Hachtmann:
Für die Jahre des „Dritten Reichs“ vorbildlich ausgeleuchtet: Neuerscheinungen zur Geschichte der Universität Jena, S. 245-251

Michael Eckardt:
Jubiläumsnachlese(n) in Jena, S. 251-253

Kurt Schilde:
Universitätsgeschichte, Regionalgeschichte, Lebensgeschichten. Neues zu den Universitäten Frankfurt am Main, Leipzig und Rostock, S. 254-257

Guido Hausmann:
Neues zur Geschichte der russischen Universitäten im 19. und Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts, S. 257-263

Alexandra Pawliczek:
Akkulturiert, aber sozial segregiert: Juden in der akademischen Welt des 19. Jahrhunderts, S. 263-267

Marie-Luise Bott:
Universitäten in Nordeuropa: „Elitäre Institutionen in egalitären Gesellschaften?“ Ein Tagungsbericht, S. 267-274

Autorenverzeichnis, S. 276-277