The Mental Aftermath: The Mentality of German Physicists 1945-1949
Klaus Hentschel
Abstract
This book identifies and discusses the puzzlingly uniform behaviour and mentality of German physicists in the immediate aftermath of World War II. During the first half-decade of the Allied occupation of post war Germany, former deep internal rifts within the physics community were obliterated by concerted resistance against externally imposed denazification, nor did the personal ethics of each individual upset this sense of solidarity. The causes and motivations behind this curious social phenomenon are explored, using tools from the history of mentality. A variety of historical sources are c ... More
This book identifies and discusses the puzzlingly uniform behaviour and mentality of German physicists in the immediate aftermath of World War II. During the first half-decade of the Allied occupation of post war Germany, former deep internal rifts within the physics community were obliterated by concerted resistance against externally imposed denazification, nor did the personal ethics of each individual upset this sense of solidarity. The causes and motivations behind this curious social phenomenon are explored, using tools from the history of mentality. A variety of historical sources are closely analyzed, including a representative serial publication, correspondence, and contemporary observations by visiting emigré scientists. The main chapters focus on individual features of this mental aftermath.
Keywords:
post war Germany,
history of mentality,
resistance,
denazification,
German physicists,
Allied occupation
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2007 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199205660 |
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2010 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199205660.001.0001 |