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A Country Torn Asunder: Deliberations Over The Fate Of Post-Wwii Germany, Ziv R. Y. Carmi

Student Publications

This diplomatic history examines the development of Germany’s post-WWII borders. Beginning in 1941, this thesis traces the myriad of proposals and debates about German territory, focusing particularly on the matter of division and dismemberment. This work focuses on two main topics: Allied proposals and counterproposals for a divided Germany and zones of occupation, and the relationship and interactions between the Big Three leaders and powers, focusing on how East-West tensions affected the diplomatic talks.

Gesundheit, Glück Und Schrecken: Der Krankmachende Eroberungszug Der Nationalsozialisten Für Die Hygiene Aus Wissenschaftlich-Humanistischer Sicht, Nic Zacharewski

Senior Theses and Projects

Hygiene and Horror- The Ethical Considerations of The National Socialists' Conquest for Health and the Parallels to Contemporary Considerations and Consequences;

A Scientific Humanist Perspective

Nicholas Zacharewski

It is a long-held misunderstanding that evil has exceptional origins. Time and history have proven that evil is banal. An environment of economic crisis, extreme patriotism, and social rejection have all played an essential role in creating some of the greatest atrocities known in human history. The National Socialist (Nazi) party, which controlled the German state from 1933-1945, epitomizes evil. Infamous for its crimes against humanity, however, relatively unknown otherwise, are the origins …

Bigger Is Better? Re-Evaluating Nato Enlargement In The Post-Cold War Period, Matthew Mccracken

Senior Honors Theses

Since the end of the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance has grown substantially from its pre-1990 boundary between the two Germanys to encompass 15 new members with its border pressing eastward toward the former Soviet states and up to Russia proper. At the same time, East-West relations have sunk from a high point in the 1990s to a new low unseen since the Cold War culminating in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Top-ranking officials on both sides of the Atlantic cautioned successive U.S. administrations against heedlessly seeking to admit new members into NATO for fear that it …

Eu Migration Policy: Analyzing The Coercive Responses Of Transit Countries Within The Eu’S Framework Of Externalization, Emily Swan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper seeks to analyze the intersection between the EU’s increasingly securitized and externalized policies towards migration, and instances of the weaponization of migration on the EU’s external borders. Although scholars have analyzed cases in which states harness migrants as political weapons, depoliticized most depictions apply a moralistic lens that frames these cases as aberrant, decontextualized, and political events. This paper will complicate understandings of the weaponization of migration by analyzing how EU policies of externalization and securitization systematically shape the environment in which it becomes politically advantageous for leaders, such as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Alexander Lukashenko, to resort …

U.S. Government Information Resources For Accountability On U.S. Assistance To Ukraine, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides detailed coverage of U.S. Government information resources documenting accountability for U.S. civilian and military assistance to Ukraine. Includes U.S. laws, agencies involved in U.S. arms export policy, Defense Department resources and data, Defense Dept. Inspector General reports, Government Accountability Office reports, congressional committee hearings, a letter from a congressional committee to the Secretaries of Defense and State and U.S. Agency for International Development administrator, congressional debate, and congressional recorded votes.

'Gave His Life For The Empire': Memory, Memorials, And Identity In The British Empire After The First World War, Bryan Mcclure

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation examines the construction of personal memorials after the First World War across the British Empire nations of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, to understand how individuals sought to make their own memorial to remember their loved one killed in the conflict. In comparison to other studies on the construction of national or other community memorials, this dissertation explores how individuals accepted or rejected dominant discourses in creating their own memorials that spoke to how they remembered the war. It is based on a large database of more than 2,000 private memorials to individuals that …

To Be Necessary: The Remarkable Life Of Mary Wollstonecraft, Elisabeth Phillips

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Although overshadowed by her daughter, Mary Shelley, in the public imagination, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) stands as a significant figure in her time who left a significant legacy. Her writings advocating for women’s education, equal rights, and career opportunities established her as the progenitor of the modern women’s rights movement. Wollstonecraft’s ideas resonated in the era of the Atlantic world revolutions and laid the foundation for later advances of women in the Western world; therefore, it is important to study her contributions in the present.

Bookends: Freemasonry In Russia, Past And Present, James Patrick Greene

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to explore Russian Freemasonry in both the reign of Peter I and in theRussian Federation following the collapse of the Soviet Union, two periods where the relevant scholarship has largely fallen silent. The first chapter argues that early Masonic influences were both present at the court of Peter I and accepted by the Tsar. These intellectual trends, traceable in the libraries, social connections, and writings of individual Jacobites, would reemerge in the institutional Freemasonry in the reign of Catherine II. The printing and translation activities of Novikov and Lopukhin indicate a strong interest in these mystical ideas …

Hist20600: Modern Europe, Benjamin Diehl

Open Educational Resources

This syllabus was created for the introductory course to Modern European history offered by City College's Department of History. It was designed by Benjamin Diehl, PhD candidate in History at CUNY Graduate Center as part of City College's OER Initiative. As such, it attempts to provide the outline of a Modern Europe course which is completely free, zero-textbook-cost, using open access resources.

The Avenger - March 2023, Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum

The Avenger

No abstract provided.

The Soldier, The Parliamentarian, The Statesman, And The Historian, Keith C. Sewell

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

I Was Looking For God: A Study Of Wehrmacht Personnel And Their Personal Relationships With Religion, Christopher Bishop

Master's Theses

The Wehrmacht was Germany’s fighting force in the field during World War II. Its brutality and discriminatory practices rivaled that of the Nazi paramilitary and police units dispatched alongside them in newly conquered areas during this conflict. Coming from a society that was not at all unfamiliar with Christianity, some within the Wehrmacht related to Christianity in some form and attempted to use it to either justify actions or make sense of the world around them.

While considerable scholarship exists on the Nazi Party’s relationship to Christianity as a convenient propaganda tool for both soldier and civilian alike, the historiography …

Review- Archives And Human Rights, Alexandra Pucciarelli

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Archives and Human Rights edited by Jens Boel, Perrine Canavaggio, and Antonio González Quintana utilizes seventeen case studies to examine the role archives and archivists can play in international justice after human rights violations. The cases include but are not limited to; Rwanda, Spain, and Cambodia.

The Nazis, The Vatican, And The Jews Of Rome, Patrick J. Gallo

Purdue University Press Books

On October 16, 1943, the Jews of Rome were targeted for arrest and deportation. The Nazis, the Vatican, and the Jews of Rome examines why—and more importantly how—it could have been avoided, featuring new evidence and insight into the Vatican’s involvement. At the time, Rome was within reach of the Allies, but the overwhelming force of the Wehrmacht, Gestapo, and SS in Rome precluded direct confrontation. Moral condemnations would not have worked, nor would direct confrontation by the Italians, Jewish leadership, or even the Vatican.

Gallo underscores the necessity of determining what courses of actions most likely would have spared …

Combating The Hydra: Violence And Resistance In The Habsburg Empire, 1500–1900, Stephan Steiner

Central European Studies

Combating the Hydra explores structural as well as occasion-specific state violence committed by the early modern Habsburg Empire. The book depicts and analyzes attacks on marginalized people “maladjusted” of all sorts, women “of ill repute,” “heretic” Protestants, and “Gypsies.” Previously uncharted archival records reveal the use of arbitrary imprisonment, coerced labor, and deportation. The case studies presented provide insights into the origins of modern state power from varied techniques of population control, but are also an investigation of resistance against oppression, persecution, and life-threatening assaults. The spectrum of fights against debasement is a touching attestation of the humanity of the …

Wikipedia’S Intentional Distortion Of The History Of The Holocaust, Jan Grabowski, Shira Klein

History Faculty Articles and Research

This essay uncovers the systematic, intentional distortion of Holocaust history on the English-language Wikipedia, the world’s largest encyclopedia. In the last decade, a group of committed Wikipedia editors have been promoting a skewed version of history on Wikipedia, one touted by right-wing Polish nationalists, which whitewashes the role of Polish society in the Holocaust and bolsters stereotypes about Jews. Due to this group’s zealous handiwork, Wikipedia’s articles on the Holocaust in Poland minimize Polish antisemitism, exaggerate the Poles’ role in saving Jews, insinuate that most Jews supported Communism and conspired with Communists to betray Poles (Żydokomuna or Judeo–Bolshevism), blame …

Tea As A Motivator For British Imperialism In China, Grayden R. Varisco

CAFE Symposium 2023

This poster is based on a research paper that sought to find out what influence the tea trade had on developments in Sino-British relations in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Through research, the paper concluded that the strong British desire for tea influenced British attempts to change its relationship with China, as a more "open" China would lead to more and cheaper tea for Britain. Ultimately, this desire led to Britain flooding China with addictive, illicit opium, and waging the imperialistic Opium Wars against China.

The Development Of Uniforms And Equipment In Trench Warfare From 1914-1918, Katherine M. Tyson

CAFE Symposium 2023

The First World War was one of incessant destruction, but the birth of a new modernized era with an abundance of technological advancements. These advancements ranged from the introduction of the first ever tank, to the individual details that soldiers changed on their uniforms. The uniform is also a vehicle to express a soldier’s memories and experiences, preserving their story.

David Versus Goliath: The Power Of Weakness In Asymmetric Warfare—Lessons From History, Nicholas K. Petaludis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Under what conditions do violent nonstate actors (VNA) succeed against states? Why does David sometimes beat Goliath? Since at least the time of Thucydides and the Peloponnesian Wars, the realist narrative in international relations measures power primarily in relative, coercive, and deterrent terms. Strong states should accordingly face fewer constraints and enjoy more options while pursuing their national interests. Unconventional warfare, and its subsets of terrorism and insurgency, should—given these circumstances, end in VNA failure. Sometimes, however, VNAs find success. By comparing the literature on historical and current case studies, I propose that a set of preconditions and two mechanisms …

The Rise Of Russian Peasant Witchcraft: A Response To Social Unrest In Imperial Russia, Katrina Sommer

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Imperial Russia became home to a unique form of witchcraft from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. Combining its religious history, patterns of imperial expansion and governance, and social hierarchies, witchcraft accusations arose during especially troublesome economic and political times. Differing from eighteenth-century America Witchcraft trials, these trials were not only femicide. Targeting anyone who might subvert established social or cultural norms, these accusations often led to violent expungement, ending with a ritual of communal bonding.

Interpreting The Intentional Inaccessibility Of The Early Modern Roman Catholic Church, Kristen P. Quesada

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Many may wonder why, in the modern day, the Roman Catholic Church continues to incorporate Latin, a now barely extant language, into its canonic religious rituals and public services. However, to understand whether there is a latently malicious intent lurking beneath this esoteric tradition, we must look back to the 1545 Council of Trent, in which these traditions were first canonized. This choice on the part of the Catholic Church helped incense the Protestant Reformation’s criticisms against the Church for exclusivizing the very religion its followers were practicing. This paper investigates the origins of the Catholic Church’s suppressive practices against …

Lord Northcliffe And The Fall Of The Liberal Party, Jonathan Briffault

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

The decline of the Liberal Party following their 1906 triumph has prompted countless historical analyses. Despite their significant majorities, popular agenda, and divided opposition, the Liberal Party was unable to convert its support into political success. This paper suggests, through an analysis of the papers and writings of Lord Northcliffe, that the rise of New Journalism and, in particular, Lord Northcliffe’s dominance of the press, laid the foundation for the Liberal Party’s demise. Lord Northcliffe, through his monopolization of the press, offered a coherent and unified opposition to the Liberal agenda, successfully splintered the Liberal leadership, and guided the Conservative …

Soviet Commemoration And Myth-Making Of The Nazi Extermination Camps: Case Studies On Treblinka, Sobibór, And Majdanek, Isaac Bluestein

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

The Nazi extermination camps of Treblinka, Sobibór, and Majdanek, all located in Eastern Europe, are understudied, underdiscussed, and undermemorialized in public and scholarly memory. In this paper, I seek to conduct case studies of these three camps, their histories, and their commemoration efforts. Ultimately, four main factors prevented these camps from achieving the solemn recognizability they deserve and from having their victims’ stories adequately told; little remains of these camps compared to concentration camps in Germany, fewer individuals survived them to emphasize their importance, the Soviet Union possessed near complete control of their study and commemoration, which allowed for them …

“This Little Patch Of Earth Is Inexhaustible”: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner And The Outdoors Movements, Erica Evans

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the influence of reform movements and hiking and mountaineering organizations on the life and work of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. I explore how principles of these outdoors movements, including a healthy mind/body connection and rustic lifestyle, inform Kirchner’s works created while living in Davos, Switzerland.

Airplane Hangars And Triple Hills: Renovation, Demolition, And The Architectural Politics Of Local Belonging At The Our Lady Of Csíksomlyó Hungarian National Shrine, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

In 2019, Pope Francis, leader of the global Catholic Church, celebrated an outdoor Mass at the Our Lady of Csíksomlyó Hungarian national shrine in Romania. When the Franciscan Order that runs the shrine published renovation plans for the altar where the pope would appear, the Facebook post received over 800 outraged comments, including one man who asked, “How can such a beautiful Hungarian symbol, so perfectly integrated into the landscape, be humiliated like this?” By situating these expressions of outrage in the history of Eastern European material politics, I argue that the aesthetic value the commentators were defending – a …

The Parish Choir Movement And Generational Festivals In Romania’S Socialist Period: New Community Festivities In Transylvania’S Gheorgheni (Gyergyó) Region, Eszter Kovács

Journal of Global Catholicism

Among the post-1945 East European socialist regimes, Romania and Poland were the only countries where the Catholic Church—despite government interventions, controls, and bans—managed to play a significant social and political role in community life. This case study provides an ethnographic description of the parish choir movement and graduating class reunions, called “generational festivals” in Hungarian, in the Gheorgheni (Hu: Gyergyó) region in the 1970s and 1980s. The gatherings will be analyzed in the context of everyday life, the socialist system’s distinctive shortage economy, and official limits on religious activity that characterized the era. I will first describe the world of …

Overview & Acknowledgments, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

Characterization And The Aesthetic Representation Of Violence In The Graphic Novel "Esperaré Siempre Tu Regreso", By Jordi Peidro, Deirdre Kelly

Books/Book Chapters

The graphic novel, Esperaré siempre tu regreso (2016, Desfiladero Ediciones) by the author and illustrator, Jordi Peidro (Alcoy, 1965), is a biographical and historical text that centres on the life in exile of Francisco Aura Boronat (or Paco Aura, Alcoy, 1918-2018), a Spanish communist and Republican who survived the horrors of the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. Drawing on comics studies and memory studies, the analysis will discuss how Peidro navigates ethical and aesthetic issues when representing traumatic and violent memories related to the Spanish experience of Civil War, exile and deportation to a Nazi concentration camp. Firstly, it will …

Engl 157: Great Works Of Global Literature, Scott R. Kapuscinski

Open Educational Resources

Syllabus for a general education course bringing together celebrated texts by Joseph Conrad, Chinua Achebe, Bessie Head, and Marjane Satrapi. Survey of perspectives beginning during the "scramble for Africa" via Conrad, through postcolonial writers Achebe and Head, and finally making a connection via dehumanization to Orientalism and undoing monocultural presumptions in the near East through Satrapi's Persepolis.

Architecture In Berlin: Developing A New German Identity During The Weimar Republic, Samuel Roy

Honors Theses

In my honors thesis project, I will be analyzing architectural developments in Berlin from the late nineteenth century and up until the end of the Weimar Republic. I will analyze why such developments occurred and will explain the historical background of German society to better explain to uninformed readers. Some of the new architectural styles and forms I will be discussing include expressionism and naturalism, and the prominent architects whose works will be most thoroughly analyzed include Erich Mendelsohn, Bruno Taut, and Walter Gropius, all who helped to lead the search in finding new architectural styles. I’ve chosen these three …