Wrocławscy posłowie do śląskiego sejmu prowincjonalnego (1824–1921) — ewolucja?

Wrocław deputies to the Silesian provincial assembly (1824–1921) — an evolution? The paper focuses on the personal profile, professional background, and length of tenure of deputies to the provincial assembly in Silesia representing the province’s capital almost throughout the entire period of the assembly’s functioning, i.e. from its establishment in 1824 until the end of the term of the last Landtag of Imperial Germany. The observations and inquiries contained in the paper make it possible to present the life stories of the deputies to the provincial Landtag in Silesia. The background of these life stories was provided by significant transformations of the political system in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The fate of the Landtag was part of the general history of Germany, especially Prussia and as a result the systemic transformation of the analysed institution stemmed straight from these events; these were not rapid changes, but a process unfolding across over one hundred years. The subject matter and chronological framework of the paper have not been chosen accidentally. So far authors of the literature on the subject have been interested mainly in the administrative apparatus of the executive power in Prussia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the system of self-government and its legislative bodies, that is provincial assemblies, has not attracted much interest of scholars. Only partial studies have been published, examining selected aspects of the history of parliamentarism in Prussian provinces in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. That is why the author has chosen to follow the functioning of the personal profile, shaped in the 1810s, as well as major manifestations of the activity of Wrocław deputies to the provincial assembly in Silesia. Yet no evolution of deputies, mentioned in the title, has been demonstrated. In the three periods of the Landtag’s existence they were municipal officials and representatives of the economic elite. Die Breslauer Abgeordneten in den Provinziallandtag der Provinz Schlesien (1824–1921) — Evolution? Zum Gegenstand dieses Beitrags wurde die personelle und berufliche Struktur sowie die Länge der Amtszeit der Abgeordneten in den Provinziallandtag der Provinz Schlesien, die die Hauptstadt der Provinz in der Zeit von seiner Einberufung im Jahre 1824 bis zur Beendigung der letzten Amtsperiode des letzten Landtages des Zweiten Reiches vertreten haben. Die in der Arbeit enthaltenen Beobachtungen und Ermittlungen erlauben die Schicksale der Breslauer Abgeordneten in den Provinziallandtag der Provinz Schlesien in der Zeit wichtiger Änderung der Staatsform im 19. und zum Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts zu schildern. Die Geschichte des Landtages war mit der allgemeinen Geschichte Deutschlands und insbesondere Preußens verbunden, daher ergab sich die Umwandlung der Ordnung dieser Institution direkt aus diesen Ereignissen; das waren keine gewaltigen Änderungen, der Prozess ging auf ausgetretenen Wegen über die Zeit von mehr als hundert Jahren. Das Thema und der Zeitrahmen wurden nicht zufällig gewählt. Die bisher erschienene Literatur befasste sich vor allem mit dem Verwaltungsapparat der Exekutive in Preußen im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, die Ordnung der Selbstverwaltungsbehörden und ihrer Gesetzgebungsorgane, also der Provinziallandtage, fanden kein größeres Interesse der Forscher. Die erscheinenden Arbeiten sprachen nur gewählte Teilelemente der Geschichte des Parlamentarismus in den schlesischen Provinzen im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert an. Unter diesen Umständen fand es der Verfasser für zweckmäßig, das Funktionieren der sich im zweiten Jahrzehnt des 20. Jahrhunderts herausgestalteten personellen Struktur und die grundlegenden Erscheinungsformen der Aktivitäten der Breslauer Abgeordneten in den Provin-ziallandtag der Provinz Schlesien zu untersuchen. Die im Titel erwähnte Evolution der Abgeordneten konnte nicht bewiesen werden, in den drei Perioden des Bestehens des Landtages waren das Stadtbeamte und Vertreter der wirtschaftlichen Elite.

Law, Love and the Limits of Liberalism

The creation of Imperial Germany in 1871 sparked a nationwide debate about the nature of marriage and the family. Behind these discussions was a common assumption: families were anchored in monogamous marriage. The assumption was so widely held that it was, with few exceptions, unspoken. It was revealed only in exceptional instances, for example, in confrontation with colonial others, bigamists who were deemed criminals or life reformers living on the fringes of mainstream society. By tapping into a discourse about civilization and human progress, it also linked discussions about the homeland and its overseas Empire. Drawing on a matrix of jurisprudence, social-scientific writings, tracts by social reformers, missionaries and government discussions, this article suggests that Germans embraced monogamy as the tacit rule of marital life within the boundaries of the metropole. Nonetheless, monogamy as a marital standard did not apply consistently within Germany’s overseas colonies. Instead, understandings of racial and religious difference, couched in a specific logic of imperial liberalism, predominated and meant that indigenous people were of ten lef t to continue their own family practices.

Anti-Semitism, Denunciation, and the Frankfurt Trial against Rosa Luxemburg

This paper examines the largely overlooked role of denunciation in initiating the Frankfurt trial of Rosa Luxemburg in early 1914 for inciting disobedience among German soldiers, and corrects errors that have entered the scholarly literature on the topic. This is then taken as the starting point for wider reflections on the connections between denunciation, anti-Semitism, and anti-socialism in Germany in the ‘long nineteenth century’. It will be argued that the practice of denunciation, directed both against the political Left and against Jews, long preceded the now well-documented salience of denunciation in the Nazi dictatorship. Denunciation was thus an asymmetrical political weapon – it could be invoked against the political Left by their right-wing and conservative opponents in nineteenth-century Germany, but was not available to the democratic Left, nor would it have been palatable to them. The capacity of German anti-Semites to resort to denunciation of Social Democrats also highlights the extent to which anti-Semites could count on being regarded as among the ‘state-supporting’ parties in Imperial Germany.

National Socialism

National Socialism was a political and social movement built on ideas and traditions that were already prevalent throughout Imperial Germany. In the early years of the Weimar Republic it was just one of many antisemitic splinter groups of the völkisch and ultranationalist right, yet it had emerged as Germany’s most successful political party at the polls by 1932. This chapter argues that the National Socialists achieved this remarkable success not only through cunning political propaganda and successful exploitation of the post-1929 economic crisis, but even more so because they managed to present themselves as a genuine people’s party. By setting up a multitude of party-affiliated organizations, they penetrated different milieus of German society. For many voters it was ultimately the NSDAP’s promise of individual success as part of a wider national renewal that proved most attractive, rather than the party’s antisemitic platform that was key for the mobilization of party activists.

The Weimar Republic and the War of Memory

World War I dismantled Imperial Germany and, long after the fighting had ceased, continued to shape the newly-born Weimar Republic. This paper argues that a war over the memory of the Great War in Germany led to Weimar’s downfall. The Weimar Republic’s lack of a collective memory of the first total war became the center of the political debate on the republic’s viability and Germany’s future. This war debate was potently wielded in the arenas of literature and art to heighten political conflict and ensure that the war’s memory seeped into every aspect of society. Ultimately, Weimar’s inability to promote any consensus on the war’s meaning in the face of opposition from the conservative and extremist right weakened the republic significantly and led to its downfall.