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| 2. |
- Bortz, Olof, 1984-
(författare)
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"I wanted to know how this deed was done" : Raul Hilberg, the Holocaust and History
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Raul Hilberg was a pioneer of Holocaust studies and for many decades the Holocaust scholar par excellence. He embarked upon the study of the Nazi genocide after the war, and established the understanding of the Holocaust as a bureaucratically administered “destruction process,” carried out by men who were not different from the German population in general. The present study analyzes and contextualizes his understanding of the Nazi genocide and the Jewish victims’ response to it, as well as the reception of Hilberg’s magnum opus, The Destruction of the European Jews, in relation to scholarly, political and personal contexts. It shows that Hilberg’s major work was far more favorably received than previously believed and that the negative reactions to his thesis on Jewish reactions was a response to the positive reception of his book, as well as an expression of a wider shift in scholarly and popular perceptions of the behavior of Jewish victims during the Holocaust.Hilberg’s interest in bureaucracy allowed him to depart from the focus on the Nazi leadership and the interpretation of the Holocaust as a premeditated and centrally organized genocide. The connection to modernity made him interpret it as a form of ominous progress, carrying implications for modern societies in general, as opposed to the interpretation of Nazism and the Holocaust as a form of atavistic aberration. However, Hilberg’s emphasis on the modern character of the genocide also led to a form of veneration of its efficiency.Hilberg has been much criticized for his argument that the Jewish victims contributed to their own demise by repeating an outdated and historically conditioned reaction to persecution, which assisted the perpetrators. This study explores his thesis regarding the “Jewish reaction pattern,” as an integral part of his work, which he used as a contrast to what he regarded as the successful and future oriented destruction process. It moreover advances a novel interpretation of this controversial part of Hilberg’s research, seeing it as a call for political action emptied of its positive dimension, and a form of negative historiographical empowerment of the victims.
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- Byström, Mikael, 1963-
(författare)
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En broder, gäst och parasit : Uppfattningar och föreställningar om utlänningar, flyktingar och flyktingpolitik i svensk offentlig debatt 1942-1947
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Earlier studies have proposed that Swedish refugee policy started to change around 1942, when a restrictive refugee policy became more generous and humanitarian. From a quantitative point of view this statement is true: there were about ten thousand refugees in 1941, compared to almost two hundred thousand by the end of the war. However, this does not tell us whether the well-known discourses of Swedish inter-war anti-Semitism, nationalism and xenophobia underwent the same changes. The aim of this dissertation is to analyse the public debate concerning foreigners, refugees and refugee policy in 1942–1947.The dissertation puts forward the hypothesis of The Nordic prerogative. In brief, this prerogative meant that Sweden primarily held itself obliged to accept ethnical Northeners as refugees, and looked upon this obligation as more important than other considerations, such as the refugee’s ideological views, need of protection or humanitarian needs. Symptomatically, the groups which could not be entirely encompassed within the idea of a Nordic prerogative, particularly the Balts and the Danish Jews, were perceived as the most problematical refugee groups, both on a general level of the debates, and in specific issues.The idea of a Nordic prerogative did not derive from a sense of ethnical fraternity and humanitarian considerations alone, however. Several undertakings were also brought about by pragmatic considerations. Sweden sought goodwill, and reception of refugees was seen as one way of winning it.The dissertation also shows that the idea of a Nordic prerogative seems to become less important when the refugee comes closer to the everyday life of Sweden, where the Nordic refugees too were referred to as ”foreigners”, ”aliens” etc. As such, they had to put up with being spoken of in negatively loaded expressions, in the same way as other foreigners.
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- Glover, Nikolas, 1979-
(författare)
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National Relations : Public diplomacy, national identity and the Swedish Institute 1945-1970
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis considers the first twenty-five years of the semi-governmental Swedish Institute for Cultural Exchange with Foreign Countries. Specifically, this is done through an analysis of the Institute’s funding, its policy discussions and its produced materials. The history of the actors involved shows how Swedish public diplomacy was characterised by contending notions of political, commercial and cultural representation. Different organisations and groups claimed to represent the nation in different ways at different times. The history of prevailing ideas at the Institute shows how the communication of Sweden was not simply conceived of as a process of manipulation or as an altruistic engagement with humankind. Rather, it promised potential solutions to a wide array of problems. And although scholarly enlightenment and neutral information were held up as ideals, these were discourses that attributed power and influence to certain groups of experts and particular societal interests. The history of the produced narratives shows how notions of Sweden’s uniqueness were closely related to changing ideals of normalcy. Different methods were used to communicate the nation as something appealing rather than as something imposing. They changed along with economic, political and social processes at the national and global level. The thesis draws attention to how Sweden in the post-war world had to be popularly communicated in the wake of democratisation and trends towards internationalisation. At the same time, such communication increasingly became the domain of professionals in advertising, public relations and marketing. It also argues that transnational discourses of science and associated international hegemonic interpretations of modernity provided specific models for how Sweden was imagined and theorised. For this reason, the planned and professionalised communication of the nation became a crucial part of legitimising its continued existence.
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- Heuman, Johannes, 1980-
(författare)
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The Quest for Recognition : The Holocaust and French Historical Culture, 1945–65
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis investigates the development of Holocaust remembrance in France, taking the activities of the Centre de documentation juive contemporaine in Paris as its focus. By looking at the construction, function, and reception of Holocaust narratives in the twenty years following the end of the War, it shows how remembrance took shape within French historical culture, and, conversely, how representations of the genocide influenced France’s national-historical culture.Despite the lack of an established name of this genocide, two principal narratives can be distinguished during the two first post-war decades. The most important has been called the affirmative narrative, which served to confirm the post-war French republic and positive relations between Jews and non-Jews. The project to build the Tombeau du Martyr Juif Inconnu, Europe’s first major Holocaust institution to combine a research centre, museum, and a memorial, embodied this way of representing the genocide.A functional perspective on historical culture has been employed to contextualise the representations of the Holocaust, and to trace the historical-cultural shifts and the various interests and needs that propelled them. History-writing in the late 1940s, for example, was related to a moral use of history, influenced by the war crimes trials, whereas the dawning political radicalisation in the 1960s prompted public protests against antisemitism where the Holocaust had a legitimating function.The thesis proposes that the development of Holocaust remembrance in France was a gradual process, not primarily dictated by sharp turning-points such as the Eichmann trial in 1961. By associating the genocide with heroic aspects in the French historical culture, and avoiding the conflicting heritage of the Vichy regime, the quest for recognition of the Jewish experiences was successful in the late 1950s and 1960s.
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- Rabenschlag, Ann-Judith, 1982-
(författare)
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Völkerfreundschaft nach Bedarf : Ausländische Arbeitskräfte in der Wahrnehmung von Staat und Bevölkerung der DDR
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The claim to successfully have eliminated racism and xenophobia in socialist Germany was crucial for the GDR’s demarcation against the Federal Republic and for GDR’s political self-conception. According to the state party SED, both the GDR’s government and its people met with all members of the working class, regardless their ethnicity or culture, in the spirit of Völkerfreundschaft – the peoples’ friendship. In the early 1960s, suffering from a lack of work power, the GDR began to recruit foreign workers, and continued to do so up until German reunification. When workers arrived from Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, the propositions of antiracism and peoples’ friendship were tested in practice.Following a discourse-analytical approach this study analyzes how the ideal of Völkerfreundschaft was dealt with and how it was exploited and altered both by citizens communicating with the state and within party-loyal circles. It examines when, why and by whom ethnicity was downplayed in favor of common class affiliation, and under which circumstances it regained importance.While latest research on foreigners in the GDR has focused on diagnosing the discrepancy between ideological claims and reality this study goes beyond such an approach and analyzes how this discrepancy was dealt with – both by state authorities, the state-owned factories and ordinary people – in everyday life. This study is a contribution to migration research, as well as to everyday-life-history and history of mentality in the GDR.
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- Runefelt, Leif, 1971-
(författare)
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Hushållningens dygder : Affektlära, hushållningslära och ekonomiskt tänkande under svensk stormaktstid
- 2001
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A basic assumption in the thesis is that every economic as well as political and ethical doctrine contains a conception of man, and, thus, that this conception needs to be scrutinised in order to achieve deeper understanding of the doctrine. The purposes of the thesis is (1) to account for conceptions of man within the rarely studied Swedish seventeenth-century economic thought, (2) to examine how conceptions of man and of society influence and shape this thought, and (3) to do this from a synchronous approach, by which emphasis is laid on economic thought as an integral part of the intellectual culture of the epoch. In chapter 2 is explored the conception of man as expressed in economic thought. Man is conceived as selfish and irrational. In chapter 3, this conception is explained as it is placed within a wider context, the most common psychological theory of the epoch, the theory of the passions, which is thoroughly examined. Chapter 4 consists of an analysis of the theory of householding, as it was expressed in the literature of the epoch. It is shown that this theory, not focused on by earlier research, to a large extent is a part of ethics and a prolongation of the theory of passions. The householder or “house-father” is obliged to control his own as well as the other household-member’s passions, and to maintain the hierarchical order within the household. Chapters 5 to 8 deal with the central areas within economic thought. These areas are domestic production and trade (ch. 5), the sumptuary laws and attitudes towards luxury (ch. 6), the use of the concept of free trade (ch. 7) and the issues of idleness and employment (ch. 8). It is shown that the king or government is viewed as the “house-father” of the realm, and that the core of the theory of the passions, the taming of the passions through reason and virtue, is vital also within economic thought, in which four virtues were central: justice, diligence, temperance and frugality; the same virtues as in the theory of householding.
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- Scherp, Joakim, 1968-
(författare)
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De ofrälse och makten : En institutionell studie av riksdagen och de ofrälse ståndens politik i maktdelningsfrågor 1660-1682
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this thesis the constitutional policies of the three Commoner Estates (Priests, Burghers and Peasants) of the Swedish Riksdag between the years 1660 and 1682 is examined. While many previous historians have focused on the power-struggle between the Crown and the nobility, the Commoner Estates have been presumed to be staunch supporters of absolutism. I argue that the picture is far more complex. Case-studies of a number of political negotiations that concerned the distribution of political power show that the Commoners were flexible in their constitutional policies. When they sensed they were in a strong position, they were explicit in their demand for a say in political decisions. But when they were weak, they were deferential to the government. If there is one constant in their policies it is not blind reverence to royalties: the thesis show that they could sacrifice the interests of powerless members of the royal family in favour of security and defence of Protestant faith. In comparison, the Commoners were more eager to protect the rights of their own Estates and of the Riksdag as a whole. One important feature of Commoner politics was the willingness of Priests, Burghers and Peasants to co-operate, which sometimes made them quite influential. In the thesis the relations between the Estates are examined. I also have endeavoured to examine the political institutions, the rules that governed politics in the Riksdag during the period. It is observed that the institutional structures were quite complex and unclear, which gav an advantage to well-oriented Estates like the Priests and the Nobility in comparison with the Peasants. The Priests also was the best organized Estate of the Commoners. Other factors that favoured the clergy was that they were led by politically experienced bishops; that they had common privileges that all priests were interested in defending; and that they were strengthened and united by their religious ideology.
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| 9. |
- Sennefelt, Karin, 1972-
(författare)
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Den politiska sjukan : Dalupproret 1743 och frihetstida politisk kultur
- 2001
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The dissertation deals with political culture in the Age of Liberty as it is manifested in the uprising in Dalarna in 1743. The object of the study is the political repertoire used by the peasants – a combination of utilisation of political institutions and different forms of protest such as tax boycotts and a march from Dalarna to the capital. Emphasis has been placed on the interactive aspects of the movement. Thereby, the repertoire used by central authorities to suppress the movement is equally important. Results show that the peasants formed their actions in close connection with the reactions they were met with by the authorities. Initially, the attempts to demobilise the peasants’ movement actually facilitated its mobilisation.As the peasants’ political repertoire is uncovered, it has been possible to study the movement’s mobilisation process through the use of mobilising structures, political opportunities, and interpretative processes. Hence, the significance of the uprising to the protesters is clarified. The protesters viewed their actions as part of an ongoing political debate, legitimised by the government’s neglect of its obligations towards the people, rather than as a subversive uprising.The Dalarna uprising of 1743 was an integral part of political culture in the Age of Liberty through its combined use of formal and informal political institutions and arenas. The uprising is an eloquent expression of the increasing political assertiveness among the peasantry and the peasant estate in Sweden in the eighteenth century.
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