Arts and Humanities Commons^™

At The End Of Life: Conceptualizing Human Dignity And Assisted Suicide Debates In Contemporary Germany, Edith-Marie Green

Honors Theses

As medicine improves and breakthroughs on cures for illnesses formerly thought deadly continue to develop, the global population continues to age. This has introduced new concerns about aging and end-of-life health care. One proposed end-of-life healthcare solution is assisted suicide, although the practice is not without its controversies. The case of assisted suicide in Germany is of particular interest for a variety of reasons, and the practice has not had an easy path there. A series of debates in 2015 led to the practice being banned, but that ban was overturned in 2020 by Germany’s Constitutional Court. While assisted suicide …

Die Deutsche Nationalversammlung Und Weimar: On The Creation Of Democracy In Weimar Germany, Jason Wendling

Honors Theses

This paper is a historical analysis of the creation of the Weimar Republic, as well as a political analysis of the Weimar Republic’s constitution. In reviewing both Weimar’s history as well as the constitution, I hope to inspire learners to look back to the Weimar Republic, and not focus primarily on the failures that led to the rise of the Nazi Regime, but rather celebrate the successes that the drafters of the constitution were able to achieve. I review the history of the 1918 November Revolution, the history and party programs of the three important parties of the Weimar Republic, …

Zerschlagen: German Unification And Divided Identity, Harrison Quinn

Honors Theses

The Unification of East and West Germany ended one of the Cold War’s longest divides, but only on paper. After decades under a unified German state, former East Germans face lower standards of living, economic opportunities, and access to national utilities compared to their Western counterparts. This inequality stems from the bifurcated German identity, which remains largely unaddressed amid German state ambitions for a central role in international institutions. The failure to properly acknowledge East German identity and the suppression thereof demonstrates the failure of Unification to unite the German nation. Political ambitions outweighed a true reconciliation of German nationhood, …

Money Moves: An Analysis Of Chinese Foreign Direct Investment In Europe, Susan Soh

Honors Theses

In recent years, China has begun engaging in outward foreign direct investment (FDI). There is a significant amount of literature dedicated to understanding China’s FDI in developing nations. However, very little research has been conducted over Chinese FDI in advanced economies. As a result of this gap in existing literature, the question arises, what explains Chinese FDI in Europe?

As FDI is a transaction to which both the donor and recipient countries must agree, this thesis has a dual focus. One chapter of the thesis analyzes the effects of and motivations for Chinese FDI on European nations. In this chapter, …

German Odysseys Of The First World War, David Terence Hillman

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the journeys of four separate German military units away from the European theater and forced to operate without aid or allies in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans, as well as in Africa. Each group had a clear goal to accomplish, to strengthen the German war effort from abroad, either by disrupting, evading, or diverting Allied personnel and war materiel. To accomplish this, each group required cunning, discipline, deception, and strong leadership. These odysseys, although more aptly compared to Xenophon’s Anabasis, demonstrate the global nature of the First World War, the deterioration of international good will …

The Black Experience In Early To Mid-20th-Century Great Britain, France, And Germany: The Positioning Of A Community As The “Other”, Tawreak Gamble-Eddington

Honors Theses

This essay looks at the experience of Blacks during the early to mid-20th-century in Germany, Great Britain, and France. Drawing on the autobiographies of Black Germans and African-Americans living in France—as well as various secondary sources, government documents, newspaper articles, and accounts from African-American reporters visiting Europe—Blacks can be firmly placed within the context of early to mid-20th-century Europe and more generally European history. Due to the accessibility of primary accounts by mixed-race Europeans in the 20th century, special attention is paid to the experiences of mixed-race members of the Black community and their perception in each country. Coinciding with …

Germania: The Nazi Party And The Third Reich Through The Lens Of Classical Architecture, Maggie L. Smith

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the influence of classical architectural styles and principles on architectural projects in Germany during the Third Reich. My research focuses on major projects completed by the state and does not delve into private buildings or other structures. All of the data was gathered from scholarly publications of repute and photographs to determine how Adolf Hitler’s regime utilized Greek and Roman stylistic elements in an attempt to revive the power and culture of Germany during a time of strife, as well as how Nazi architecture reflected Hitler’s personal ambition as dictator. Additionally, the thesis doubles as an expansion …

Nationalism And Education: A Case Study Of Germany And Japan, Sarah Vrtiska

Honors Theses

In this piece I ask the question: How has education contributed to the formation or prevention of nationalism in Germany and Japan? In examining this, after defining the standard conceptions of nationalism, I apply these definitions to pre-war and post-war Germany and Japan. Ultimately, I conclude that the goals of education, concepts of national identity that are taught, history curricula, and control of education all historically have the potential to contribute to the rise of nationalism within a country. Based on these fields, I find that although there are similar nationalist trends in both countries during the pre-war period, in …

Cartel Practices And Policies In The World War Ii Era, Caleb Yoken

Honors Theses

The goal of this thesis is to examine cartels in the World War II era: how and why they operated, why they existed, and any assistance they may or may not have received from their respective governments. This thesis, in particular, will focus on three countries, the United States, Germany, and Britain. Cartels are typically defined through the lens of monopolized business activity that can deal with anything from petroleum and steel to pharmaceuticals, and take actions to restrict output and raise prices to eliminate their competition. The research finds that cartels that operated in Europe during this era were …

L'Évolution De La Présence Et La Reconnaissance Des Afro-Allemand(E)S En Allemagne, De La Colonisation Jusqu’À Nos Jours, Oumou-Hani Zakaria

Honors Theses

The history of the presence of Afro-Germans in Germany is a complex path that goes back thousands of years ago. Nevertheless, the fight to be recognized as real Germans was only taken serious in 1980, with the arrival of Audre Lorde, an American writer, feminist, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist, to Germany. Audre Lorde initiated the Afro-German movement with Afro-German women including May Ayim, Dagmar Schultz, Katharina Oguntoye, Ika Hügel-Marshall, and many others. Before her arrival, Afro-Germans were alienated from society and were only referred to as “war babies,” “occupation babies,” and many other racist names. So this movement …

Berlin Opera Wars : Institutional And The Quest For German Identity, Rebecca Robinson

Honors Theses

In October 2000, Berlin’s Minister of Culture Christoph Stölzl proposed a merger of the city’s opera houses. In the midst of German reunification, Berlin was struggling financially and the cost of three separate opera houses was too much for the city to bear. This proposal to combine the former East-German Staatsoper Berlin and Komishe Oper with the former West-German Deutsche Oper under the administration of “The Opera Stages of Berlin” was met with public backlash. Newspapers all over the world reported daily as the directors of both the Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper—Daniel Barenboim and Christian Thielemans— fought bitterly for their …

Euthanasie Und Menschenversuche Im Dritten Reich, Mit Einer Ethischen Analyse Der Menschenversuche, Max J. Roehmholdt

Honors Theses

The idea in Nazi-Germany of a “pure” Germany culminated in the systematic murder of millions of people, and within that, the crimes against humanity of euthanasia and human experimentation. The memories of child and adult euthanasia pervade society even today. This project looks at the development of Nazi-euthanasia and the memoirs and films about it, which leave lasting impressions by engraining in audience member’s minds the real facts about euthanasia and euthanasia institutions. The victims of euthanasia were often used in Nazi human experimentation, a product of the Nazi pursuit of scientific advancement. This project also examines these human experiments, …

The Germination Of The German Nation: A Case Study On The Art Of Drawing Political Borders, Maximilian Tirey

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the unification of Germany in 1871 as a case study for successful political border drawing in the modern age. Germany’s rise from 39 separate kingdoms into a single, stable, economic world power is interesting; it reflects a similar environment currently found in the Middle East and Africa. There, too, many smaller ethnic, religious, cultural, or tribal groups are found within a single country. However, why was Germany able to hold together, while many Middle Eastern and African countries struggle with constant internal strife? The rise of Germany into an industrial world power is best analyzed through the …

A House Divided: The Development Of The Ideological Divide Of American Jewry And Its Influence On The American Response To Nazi Germany 1933-1943, Daniel Gross

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the response from the different American Jewish groups during Hitler’s rise to power and the subsequent Holocaust, and how the ideological divide that formed between Zionists and non-Zionists ultimately shaped the ultimately limited their ability to exert political influence toward policies to aid European Jewry. The main groups that were analyzed were the American Jewish Committee, the Joint Distribution Committee, B’nai B’rith, the American Jewish Congress, the World Jewish Congress, and the Zionist Organization of America. For purposes of analysis and clarity, the groups can be divided along the lines of extreme Zionist, which included the two …

Obstacles And Stepping Stones To The Hero’S Pedestal: Reunified Germany’S Selective Commemoration Of Resisters To National Socialism, Suzanne J. Swartz

Honors Theses

Bombs, propaganda, graffiti, espionage, murder. Normally these words carry a negative connotation, unless used with regard to German resistance to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. The resistance, which included groups and individuals from all areas of German society but failed to produce a single mass anti-Hitler movement, has gained little recognition outside of Germany but much within, particularly during the past thirty years. Germany has taken the one positive light from that dark time period and used it as a tool of legitimization for the government and other institutions, and as a source for heroic figures of whom Germans can …

Spiritual Leaders And Political Resisters: The Confessional Church In Nazi Germany, Heidi Johanna Klarhorst

Honors Theses

As the Weimar Republic deteriorated and Adolf Hitler rose in popularity, individual church leaders, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, began to worry. Others, like Martin Niemoller, rejoiced at first, thinking that Hitler could restore Germany to its former glory, but changed their opinions and denounced Hitler's government when the Nazis attacked the churches. What motivated those two men and others to stand up for what they believed, and what obstacles did they overcome in order to be heard? To fully understand their story and the story of the Confessional Church in Nazi Germany, it is necessary to look at some of the …

An Analysis Of Success And Failure: The Manhattan Project And German Nuclear Research During The Third Reich, Jon Tate Self

Honors Theses

Without doubt, the years since World War II have seen a new player on the international scene. Not a person, yet to many, it personifies man's inhumanity to man. Neither is it a nation, yet it wields more power than the most powerful empire or state. Nor is it good or evil in and of itself, but like all fruit of knowledge, it defers to man in its use. The new player is the atom by virtue of its awesome explosive power.

The atom did not burst onto the scene in our context until 1939. That year saw the discovery …

Cultural Barbarism And The Romantic Ideal An Analysis Of Three Cases Of Hero-Worship In 19th Century Germany, Gregory R. Chemnitz

Honors Theses

The 19th century produced numerous intellectual currents which were expressions of an incompatibility with the modern age. In reaction to the emergence of a now, urban, petty bourgeois world the 19th century intellectual of ten assumed the role of a prophet, warning of the decadent course of history while portraying an ideal form of existence which could eventually be achieved. One manifestation of this expression of dissent was Romanticism, and especially German Romanticism. In Germany there arose a passionate outcry for the internal purification of man and the return to an earlier condition. Associated with this was the worship of …