Restrictions at German universities before the Nazi seizure of power and during the National Socialist consolidation Dr. Taja Kramberger
Summary: Article sets out a socio-historical context and a conceptual orientation of the National Socialist university reforms in the Third Reich. In the first sequel the author outlines a short history of repressive policy and politicizing of universities in the German social space. Prehistory (from the perspective of National Socialism as our focal research point), respectively history of German universities shows in comparison with other European countries some specific characteristics. Namely, in Germany strong hierarchical differentiation so of university positions as of university disciplines has been more stressed, authoritarian or state supervision over the universities has been more visible, and each transgression of (anti)intellectual (cognitive) limits was more sharply sanctioned as – for example – in France. After the decline of relatively free spirit of the Aufklärung research university, when University of Göttingen was one of the high points and it attracted many young people and excellent scholars, early 19th Century was confronted with a new ideological project of Nationbildung (retrospectively integrated into history). In these new powerful and unifying paradigmatic frames gradual enclosing of universities and self-sufficiency of German Sonderweg myth began to appear, and soon took the form of so called idealistic representation of German university. This process is, however, not single-colored but a complex one, full of inner contradictions; within it the reactionary university forces recovered, strengthened and built grounds on which a National Socialist »revolution« would place a reformed »political university«.