Preliminary Programme

During the Nazi period many Jewish children succeeded in escaping from Austria with socalled "Kindertransporten" to England, Holland etc. They left their home country without their parents, who, in many cases, were killed by the Nazis. Many of the children were seledted by Christian families on a kind of "children market". Growing up in those families they felt more or less comfortable. Most of them also practised the religion of their foster parents. In some cases the parents fortunately survived the Shoa, and the children were returned to them after the war. This meant a second break in their biographies and in many cases a return to Jewish religion. This difficult situation very often resulted in serious psychological problems and identity conflicts. The paper analyses the loss of identity and the long term psychological consequences. (Show less)

Denunciations have to be seen as essential components of everyday life under Nazism affecting almost every aspect of life. In this paper the attention will proceed from a short general discussion of the term of “denunciation” to a specific interpretation of a one-case reconstruction on the basis of biographical interviews. Of special interest are the motives, the room for manoeuvring of men and women and the communicative mechanisms that led to political denunciation. Thereby the present actors’ viewpoints are centred in the analysis. The interviewees are accused and accusing witnesses and other persons involved in such proceedings of denunciation. The interviews will be evaluated as case studies on a deep hermeneutic level. The leading questions are: How is the act of reporting incorporated in the narrated life story; how is a consistent whole created with it today? What were the earlier motives and how are these brought into accord with the currently and individually prevailing value and norm system of the interviewee? In which social environment and in which network of relations did the reporting to the authorities take place? Can a subjective meaning be gained today from the earlier behaviour, and if so, then what? Can gender-specific motives be recognised? Is denunciation a problematic subject at the narrative level at all? What was the relationship between the reporting and the reported persons? Was there a change in their attitudes to Nazism, military service and with regard to social relationships in general as a result? These and similar questions will be discussed in the paper. (Show less)