Arms intervention: Weimar Germany, post-imperial influence and weapons trafficking in warlord China

The Treaty of Versailles aimed to strip Germany of both its colonial empire and the global reach of its arms industry. Yet the conflicts in warlord-era China led to the reestablishment of German influence on the other side of the world via the arms trade. Weimar Germany had declared a policy of neutrality and refused to take sides in the Chinese civil war in an effort to demonstrate that as a post-colonial power, it could now act as an honest broker. From below, however, traffickers based in Germany and German merchants in China worked to evade Versailles restrictions and an international arms embargo to supply warlords with weapons of war. Although the German state officially aimed to remain neutral, criminal elements, rogue diplomats, black marketeers and eventually military adventurers re-established German influence in the region by becoming key advisors and suppliers to the victorious Guomindang. Illicit actors in Germany and China proved to be crucial in linking the two countries and in eventually overturning the arms control regimes that were imposed in the wake of World War I.

When the “Ostjuden” Returned: Linguistic Continuities in German-Language Writing about Eastern European Jews

This article examines the dynamics that allowed the derogatory term “Ostjuden” to reappear in academic writing in post-Holocaust Germany. This article focuses on the period between 1980’s and 2000’s, complementing earlier studies that focused on the emergence of the term “Ostjuden” and on the complex representations of Eastern European Jews in Imperial and later Weimar Germany. It shows that, despite its well-evidenced discriminatory history, the term “Ostjuden” re-appeared in the scholarly writing in German and has also found its way into German-speaking public history and journalism. This article calls for applying the adjectival term “osteuropäische Juden” (Eastern European Jews), using a term that neither essentializes Eastern European Jews nor presents them in an oversimplified and uniform manner.

When the “Ostjuden” Returned: Linguistic Continuities in German-Language Writing about Eastern European Jews

This article examines the dynamics that allowed the derogatory term “Ostjuden” to reappear in academic writing in post-Holocaust Germany. This article focuses on the period between 1980’s and 2000’s, complementing earlier studies that focused on the emergence of the term “Ostjuden” and on the complex representations of Eastern European Jews in Imperial and later Weimar Germany. It shows that, despite its well-evidenced discriminatory history, the term “Ostjuden” re-appeared in the scholarly writing in German and has also found its way into German-speaking public history and journalism. This article calls for applying the adjectival term “osteuropäische Juden” (Eastern European Jews), using a term that neither essentializes Eastern European Jews nor presents them in an oversimplified and uniform manner.

Liberal-democratic values of the Polish Сonstitution of 1921

Examining the liberal-democratic values ​​of the Polish Сonstitution of 1921, the author clarified the conditions under which the Polish state was formed in 1918. In general, the paper examines all sections of the constitution of March 17, 1921, carried out an article-by-article analysis of the basic law of the Polish state. Polish statehood was restored as a result of geopolitical changes following the First World War, including the victory of the Entente. Based on the guarantees contained in Woodrow Wilson's program, the Poles restored the Polish state. The Polish state in the postwar period faced a large number of political, social, economic and psychological problems that stood in the way of land integration and overcoming the gap with Western European states. It was found that the Constitution of March 17, 1921, in contrast to previous constitutional acts, established a clear division of power into legislative, executive and judicial, proclaimed the rights and freedoms of citizens. The Constitution stated that the supreme power in the republic belongs to the people. Both houses of parliament - the Seimas and the Senate - were not equal under the 1921 Constitution. Constitutional powers enabled parliament to revise and amend the constitution. It is noted that the executive power belonged to the President together with the relevant ministers. As for the judiciary, it belonged to independent courts. The constitution guaranteed broad rights to its citizens, as well as clearly defining the range of responsibilities that everyone had to perform properly. Thus, on the basis of the analysis conducted by the author, it was found that the Polish state adopted the model of the democratic system of France, and in terms of legislative activity also Weimar Germany. The Constitution of Poland incorporates such values ​​as citizenship and responsibility of the citizen, constitutionalism, freedom of speech, human dignity, honor and tolerance, freedom of conscience and justice, social order and equality.

Beyond Weimar: The Long Crisis of Liberalism, the Political Economy of the Interwar Conjuncture and the Foundations of Neo-liberalism

<Online Only>This chapter examines authoritarian liberalism as a more general phenomenon ‘beyond Weimar’. It looks outside Weimar Germany and takes a longer historical perspective, revealing deeper tensions in liberalism itself, specifically its inability to respond to the issue of socio-economic inequality in a mass democracy. The major Weimar constitutional theorists—Hans Kelsen, Carl Schmitt, and Hermann Heller—had no answer to the social question as a matter of constitutional self-defence. The chapter then discusses the political economy of the various crises across Europe—in Italy, France, and Austria—revealing a similar quandary. As Karl Polanyi argued, in these contexts, the turn to authoritarian liberalism fatally weakened political democracy and left it disarmed when faced with the fascist countermovement. Later in the interwar period, proposals for neo-liberalism would be introduced, symbolized by the organization of the Walter Lippman Colloquium in 1938.</Online Only>

The landmark nature of visual art in of Weimar Germany and the principle of visual narrative

The subject of this research is the art practices of Weimar Germany, first and foremost displayed in photomontage works of the Dadaist artists, as well as paintings and photographic compositions of the representatives of &ldquo;New Objectivity&rdquo; since the early 1920s until coming to power of the Nazi in 1933. The relevance of this topic is substantiated by the heightened interest of modern researchers in the cultural processes of the early XX century, which had a significant impact upon the establishment of modern visual imagery system. Within the framework of study, the author also touched upon the problem of assimilation of modern art practices associated to the integration of art into all spheres of social life. The interpretation of this trend is one of the most relevant vectors of modern art history. The novelty of this work lies in the use of complex methodology that implies the unity of socio-analytical and philosophical-anthropological approaches, as well as the method of structural-semiotic analysis that leans on both classical theories and works of the contemporary art historians and culturologists of post-structuralism (P. McBride, R. Krauss, B. Buchloh, P. Stettler, and others.). The result of the conducted research lies in determination of interinfluence of photomontage practices of the Dadaists and the art of &ldquo;New Objectivity&rdquo;, which clearly demonstrate the &ldquo;landmark&rdquo; nature of the works created during the indicated historical period. The acquired conclusions may be valuable for further research of the German art of &ldquo;New Realism&rdquo;, reflected in the works of the artists of &ldquo;New Objectivity&rdquo; and &ldquo;Magic Realism&rdquo;, and as well as the upcoming trends in art of the XX century.