In deze scriptie zal worden geprobeerd een antwoord te geven op de vraag wat voor gewone mensen nou écht de belangrijkste thema’s uit de nazi-ideologie waren. Met andere woorden; Waarom voelden...Show moreIn deze scriptie zal worden geprobeerd een antwoord te geven op de vraag wat voor gewone mensen nou écht de belangrijkste thema’s uit de nazi-ideologie waren. Met andere woorden; Waarom voelden mensen zich aangetrokken tot de NSDAP? Daar zal worden getracht in deze scriptie een antwoord op te geven. Om antwoord te kunnen geven op deze vraag is gebruik gemaakt van de zogenaamde Abel Papers. In 1934 deelde de Amerikaanse socioloog Theodore Abel, met toestemming van de NSDAP in totaal 400 Reichsmark prijzengeld uit aan diegenen die vóór 1 maart 1933 lid waren geworden van de NSDAP, en het best een essay konden schrijven over hun levensloop en motivaties om lid te worden van de partij. Dit resulteerde erin dat maar liefst 683 brieven werden opgestuurd, bronnenmateriaal dat nog steeds één van de mooiste inzichten biedt in de identiteiten en motivaties van doodnormale NSDAP-leden. In deze essays schreven de NSDAP-leden uitgebreid over onder andere hun achtergrond, werkervaringen, economische omstandigheden, politieke visies en hun beeld van de recente Duitse geschiedenis. De respondenten die deelnamen aan de prijswedstrijd vertelden vooral ook hoe ze bij de NSDAP terecht waren gekomen. Daarmee bieden de essays een unieke bron in het onderzoek naar de beweegredenen van mensen om lid te worden van de NSDAP.Show less
The experiences of contemporaries have been neglected in the research of the far-reach-ing changes in Austria in the early 1930s. With the historiography focussing on institutions and structures as...Show moreThe experiences of contemporaries have been neglected in the research of the far-reach-ing changes in Austria in the early 1930s. With the historiography focussing on institutions and structures as well as mostly the time since 1933, significant gaps exist and underlying assump-tions which do not reflect the experiences of people living in the troubled times. In contrast, this thesis uses a bottom-up approach to unravel the lives of contemporaries, their hopes and fears and the impact of the various crises in politics, economics and identity from 1930 to 1934. It thus asks how ordinary members of society experienced their times and witnessed the slow slide towards fascism and how they reacted to it. Based on the accounts of seven diarists, these troubled times are analysed through the lenses of contemporaries writing soon after the events and often still under the impression of them. Hence, they paint unblurred pictures of their times influenced by their surroundings. Their views shed light on the past as it ‘actually was’ and unravel the stories beyond the institutions. The first chapter analyses the end of parliamentary democracy in Austria in 1934 as witnessed by the diarists with a focus on the turning point of February 1934. The second chapter situates the diarists within the political and financial crises of the violent times. Lastly, the third chapter looks at the profound unsolved questions of identity, linked to religion and political decisions within the framework of the diarists’ perceptions of the past. In this fascism in Austria is understood as existing in two similar yet distinct variants: clerical Austrofascism and Nazism. The former tried to establish itself foremost by eliminating its biggest enemy, the Socialists, at the same time as creating a collective identity based on religion, German nationalism and the Habsburg past. The diarists’ experiences change the external narrative especially in view of February 1934: they showed the necessity of reinterpreting February 1934 as the turning point in the timeline of Austrian history as which it was perceived in comparison to the Anschluss in 1938. Furthermore, the accounts revealed the interconnectedness of the many crises of their times and how these as well as the remembered past and anticipated future shaped their perceptions and everyday life. However, also the split into distinct ‘Lager’ and the thesis of Austrofascism op-posing the threat of Nazism have to be revisited. The latter was insofar challenged as the step from democracy to an authoritarian regime was seemingly more impacting the diarists’ lives than the step from one variant of fascism to another.Show less
Master thesis | Theology and Religious Studies (Master)
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In this master thesis I explore whether we can discover a link between the positions on nationalism and Nazism taken by Ṭāhā Ḥusayn and Sayyid Quṭb. In other words, does their particular...Show moreIn this master thesis I explore whether we can discover a link between the positions on nationalism and Nazism taken by Ṭāhā Ḥusayn and Sayyid Quṭb. In other words, does their particular redefinition of Egypt after independence from Britain lead them through a tunnel of love/hate, directly to the other end, i.e. a particular response to Nazism? Or is the path not necessarily as straight as we might think it to be?Show less
This paper aims to compare the effects of economic slumps on the electoral gains of European radical far-right populist parties by comparing the impact of the Great Depression on the rise of the...Show moreThis paper aims to compare the effects of economic slumps on the electoral gains of European radical far-right populist parties by comparing the impact of the Great Depression on the rise of the Nazis in Germany and the impact of the Great Recession on the contemporary electoral gains of far-right parties, such as the Front Nacional in France. Parallels are drawn between the xenophobic ideologies of both types of party, the views these parties had regarding the existing European political structures and dynamics, and their shared use of populism as a pragmatic political tool. All in all, it is found that, even though both phenomena share inherent similarities, due to the fact that the Great Recession was not as “bad” as the Great Depression and that contemporary Europeans remain skeptical of far-right parties, the great difference remains the discrepancy in scale between the two series of events, which is reflected in exactly how much ground both types of far-right parties gained during their respective time periods.Show less
