Public broadcaster SWR has digitized debates in the Reichstag which had been recorded by the Berliner Rundfunk between 1931 and 1933, from budget debates to discussions about unemployment and Hitler’s speech after the burning of the Reichstag. The material runs 24 hours in total and documents the deteriorating political culture in the German parliament.
Category: Digital History
Time Travel to 1920s Berlin
A group of enthusiasts has set up an online version of 1920s Berlin in the virtual 3D world Second Life, complete with a Hotel Adlon, Eldorado club, a Red Wedding and the city’s very own group of chorus girls, the Fabulous Flaperettes. The community that frequents this online world has even run a successful donation campaign to pay for a Stolperstein monument in real-life Berlin, commemorating Rosa Bleiberg, a Jewish victim of the Holocaust. (Even virtual) Berlin ist immer eine Reise wert!
Research on Weimar on LISA portal
LISA, the online portal of the Gerda Henkel Foundation, offers two very interesting video series about the Weimar Republic. The lecture series Dimensionen der “Machtergreifung” – Von der Weimarer Republik zum NS-Staat features talks by esteemed German experts on the rise of the Nazis in Weimar Germany, including Stefanie Schüler-Spingorum on anti-Semitic violence 1932-34.
The 9-part documentary The New Objectivity in Dresden introduces and presents the research project of the same name, based at the Dresden State Art Collection, from its initial inception to the final exhibition.
Archives Portal Europe
The Archives Portal Europe provides access to information on archival material from different European countries as well as information on archival institutions throughout the continent.
One of the many documents found via the Portal is the file of the SS High Command Security Service Main Office on Weimar-era political and legal theorist Carl Schmitt, held at the Wiener Library, London.
International Encyclopedia of WWI launched
Yesterday, 1914-1918-ONLINE, an English-language virtual reference work on the First World War, was launched. The multi-perspective, open-access knowledge base is the result of an international collaborative project involving more than 1,000 authors, editors, and partners from over fifty countries (incl. from FU Berlin, German Historical Institutes, Instituto de Historia Contemporanea Lisboa, Government of South Australia). More than 1,000 articles will be gradually published.
Online Lecture: Weimar Germany
In this online lecture, Moritz Foellmer gives an in-depth introduction to the complex history of the Weimar Republic. This webinar is a perfect resource for undergraduate students from one of the leading experts on Weimar Germany.
German PoWs in London
The Guardian has published an interesting photo of German prisoners of war sightseeing in London on 22 September 1919. A great reminder that many Germans only experienced the foundation of the Republic from afar. The last of the German prisoners was freed from custody in 1920.
Files of the Foreign Ministry, 1918-1945
The collection of ‘Files on Germany’s Foreign Policy‘ (Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik) has been digitized and made available online, cross-referenced and fully searchable. An indispensable source for research on Weimar politics!
Modernist Journals Project
The Modernist Journals Project at Brown University and the University of Tulsa has been an important digital archive since 1995, offering scans of English-language avant-garde publications from 1890 to 1922. The archive includes titles like Wyndham Lewis’ Blast, The Crisis and Scribner’s Magazine, and more will be added in the future.
Ullstein-Berichte online
The Ullstein-Berichte, a public relations magazine distributed by the Ullstein publishing house from 1926-1933, has been digitized by the DFG-funded project Illustrierte Presse. The magazine is not only an important source for research on Ullstein and the Weimar press, but also on the developing marketing industry in Germany in the early 20th century.
European History Online
EGO (European History Online) is a multi-media portal to 500 years of European history in transnational perspective, featuring articles by esteemed scholars and experts: ‘EGO | European History Online is a transcultural history of Europe on the Internet. The project investigates processes of intercultural exchange in European history whose impact extended beyond state, national and cultural borders. Continue reading “European History Online”
The Rise of Fascism in the 1930s
The Political Quarterly has opened its vast archive to present digitalized collections of articles about important topics of the last eighty years. The first virtual issue “Reading the Thirties: The Rise of Fascism and Totalitarianism” includes articles by Leon Trotsky, Benito Mussolini and Harold Laswell.
(Many thanks to Emma Anderson)
European Film Gateway
The European Film Gateway is a single access point to films, images and texts from selected collections of 24 film archives across Europe: ‘The EFG Portal gives you quick access to hundreds of thousands of film historical documents as preserved in European film archives and cinémathèques: photos, posters, programmes, periodicals, censorship documents, rare feature and documentary films, newsreels and other materials.’
Klaus Mann diaries online
The Monacensia archive in Munich has digitalized the original pages of Klaus Mann’s diaries (1931-1949). An amazing source for literary scholars and historians alike.
Online Encyclopedia of the First World War
In 2014, the project “1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War” will go live. It promises to be an indispensable source for research on the Great War and its aftermath, but the website is already worth a look. Particularly the collection of WWI websites is a handy guide for anyone interested in the era.