Remembering the ‘unwanted’ victims: initiatives to memorialize the National Socialist euthanasia program in Germany

Between 1939 and 1945, approximately 200,000 patients were murdered under the National Socialist euthanasia program in Germany and Austria. For many years, these victims were largely excluded from post-war commemorative culture and they are yet to attain legal equality with the victims of political or racial persecution. This article considers recent initiatives to commemorate the victims of euthanasia, focusing on three examples: 1) the national memorial and information point for the victims of National Socialist “euthanasia” killings in Berlin; 2) the web portal http://www.gedenkort-t4.eu” www.gedenkort-t4.eu; and 3) the national competition “Andersartig Gedenken”, which invited young Germans to design their own memorial

Charakteristika der staatlichen Einbindung von Eliten und Bevölkerung in Ideokratien

"This paper shows that ideocracies, especially communist ideocracies, have a specific pattern of cooptation and incorporation of elites and ordinary citizens, which is different from all other political regime types. Ideocracies dominate society through and through by a net of measures that make the citizens materially dependent on the state, from which the individual citizen cannot escape. The strong concentration of the distribution of goods and positions in the hands of the ideocratic state goes hand in glove with the great power to repress non - co - opted people. However, there are trade - offs in the ideocratic pattern of cooptation. The tendency of ideocracies to infantilize its citizens, may provoke reluctance even among otherwise politically indifferent citizens. Nevertheless, despite the trade - offs, the specific pattern of cooptation and incorporation of citizens and elites might help to explain why communist ideocracies were very durable in comparison to other types of political regimes." (author's abstract

Fighting inflation in Greece, and the deportation of the Jews of Saloniki

Research on the linkage between financing the war and the deportation of Jews stands just at its beginnings. Götz Aly demonstrates how the German occupational administration in Greece, in 1942, started to fight Greek currency inflation, brought about by the Wehrmacht’s exorbitant monetary demands, by selling gold and other valuables belonging to Saloniki Jews. This operation met with some success. Arranged as it was with the Greek Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Greece, it was carried out highly secretly – only very few documentary traces were left. But they suffice to show that Hitler’s special commissioner for the economic and financial stabilization of Greece, the Viennese Hermann Neubacher, in order to fulfil his mission was accompanied by a special officer in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Judenreferent). The fact that properties of Greek Jews were sold to non-Jewish Greeks, and the equivalent went to the Wehrmacht in form of paper money, the present Greek government seems to be more interested in covering up than bringing light into the operation.Research on the linkage between financing the war and the deportation of Jews stands just at its beginnings. Götz Aly demonstrates how the German occupational administration in Greece, in 1942, started to fight Greek currency inflation, brought about by the Wehrmacht’s exorbitant monetary demands, by selling gold and other valuables belonging to Saloniki Jews. This operation met with some success. Arranged as it was with the Greek Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Greece, it was carried out highly secretly – only very few documentary traces were left. But they suffice to show that Hitler’s special commissioner for the economic and financial stabilization of Greece, the Viennese Hermann Neubacher, in order to fulfil his mission was accompanied by a special officer in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Judenreferent). The fact that properties of Greek Jews were sold to non-Jewish Greeks, and the equivalent went to the Wehrmacht in form of paper money, the present Greek government seems to be more interested in covering up than bringing light into the operation