Founded in 1743, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg can look back on a history spanning more than a quarter of a millennium. This makes it one of the thirty oldest of the more than 400 universities in Germany today. Of course, the history of the university in Erlangen has always been strongly influenced by the course of time.
Erlangen Castle, seat of the university administration, 1936, Erlangen City Archives (Photo J. Junge)
Adolf Hitler described the University of Erlangen as the "first National Socialist university in the Reich", as the Franconian university already had nationalist, anti-Semitic, racist and ethnic thinking during the Weimar Republic. After the National Socialists seized power, Erlangen University did not distinguish itself as a model National Socialist institution, but it proudly upheld its former role as a brown champion. The professors and lecturers, who were essentially national conservatives, proved to be just as much enemies of the republic as the students, who leaned towards National Socialism early on. The smaller of the two Franconian universities thus blended seamlessly into Franconia, which was already "brown" at an early stage.
The eventful period between 1918 and 1945 is the focus of this volume on the history of Erlangen University, which was presented on May 24, 2022 at the Erlangen City Archive. The authors of the ten articles deal with the five university faculties and the university library as well as the students and their organizations. This is preceded by an overview of the relationship between the university and politics in the period. A special chapter in the history of the university is closely linked to the medical crimes committed in the sanatorium and nursing home and the university clinics. This darkest chapter is also examined in depth.
Based on a broad range of sources and richly illustrated, a well-founded insight into the history of the university in this crucial phase has been created in cooperation with the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, which is aimed at a broad readership. A second volume (to be published in the second half of the year) will finally take a summarizing look at the development of the university and examine the question of why it was precisely in Erlangen that Nazi ideology began its early triumphal march.
"Die Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen 1918-1945" is also the prelude to a series of books on the history of Erlangen during the Weimar Republic and National Socialism, which will be published in the following years. This will close an important gap in the research of the city's history, which is still awaiting appropriate academic treatment.
Erlangen in the Weimar Republic and under National Socialism
THE FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER UNIVERSITY OF ERLANGEN 1918-1945, Part I
(Research and Sources on the History of Erlangen, Volume 1)
published by the Erlangen City Archive
640 pages, approx. 340 illustrations, hardcover
Schmidt printing house, Neustadt a. d. Aisch, 2021
Price: 39,90 €
The contributions:
Clemens Wachter
University and politics in the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era
Hanns Christof Brennecke
The Protestant Theological Faculty of the University of Erlangen under National Socialism
Bernd Mertens
The Erlangen Faculty of Law in the Weimar Republic and under National Socialism
Philipp Rauh
Reactionary monarchists, völkisch propagandists and almost a little Hitler. The university physicians of Erlangen 1918-1945
Susanne Ude-Koeller
Men who believed in the resurgence of Germany. The dentists Johannes Reinmöller and Edwin Hauberrisser
Marion Voggenreiter/Susanne Ude-Koeller
... the best selection and absolutely healthy and hardy. Medical care for forced laborers in Erlangen
Georg Seiderer
The Faculty of Philosophy in the Weimar Republic and under National Socialism
Clemens Wachter
Natural sciences at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität during the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era
Matthias Klaus Braun
From student self-administration to the intellectual Wehrmacht. Organization of Erlangen students between the Weimar Republic and the "Third Reich"
Heinrich Hirschfelder
The Erlangen University Library as a place of salvage for the Great Heidelberg Manuscript of Songs (Codex Manesse) from August 1939 to August 1942. Aspects of German cultural heritage protection during the Second World War